Georgia Southern 7, Samford 4BIRMINGHAM, ALA. – Georgia Southern took an eight-inning, 7-4 win over Samford to close the 2014 regular season. Morgan Robinson's three-run home run in the eighth inning secured the win. Georgia Southern is the Southern Conference Regular Season Champion and begins defense of its SoCon Tournament Championship on Wednesday at 3 p.m. against Elon in Greensboro.
The Eagles grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Samford's starting pitcher Grey Adams hit Morgan Robinson with the bases loaded and one out. That pushed leadoff batter Taylor Rogers home after the freshman laced a single to right to open the game.
Samford took a 2-1 lead in the third inning with a pair hits to spoil starting pitcher Allie Miles' no-hitter bid. Abbie Miranda's double drove in Arica Dykes, while an infield single by Abby Adams allowed Miranda to round third and score.
Kaitlyn Johnson got the Eagles back on level terms in the fifth with a pair of runs. She drove double to the gap in left to push in two runs and level the score at 3-3.
The Eagles went back on top in the top of the seventh when Savanah Coon delivered a pinch hit RBI single to the outfield. The hit allowed pinch runner Michelle Mazur to score from third.
Samford tied the game again in the bottom of the inning with a bases loaded ground out by Abby Sweeney. The slow roller to second base allowed the tying run to scamper home as the Eagles picked up the second out of the inning.
A pair of walks put ducks on the pond for Morgan Robinson with one out in the eighth. The freshman southpaw crushed a frozen rope home run to centerfield to tally her fifth home run of the season which gave the Eagles the 7-4 victory.
Brooke Red earned the victory, allowing one run in her four innings of work to improve to 13-6 on the season. She tallied five strikeouts on the day in relief of Miles. The Eagle starter went four innings in her first start of the season. She allowed three runs off five hits with a pair of strikeouts, but did not factor in the decision.
Appalachian State 5, Furman 3GREENVILLE, S.C. — Appalachian State University softball closed its regular season with a 5-3 victory on Sunday at Furman. The win clinched the series victory and the No. 7 seed at the Southern Conference tournament.
Cara Parker put the Apps on the board first in the second inning with a two-run home run way out beyond left field with Caroline Chambers aboard for the early 2-0 lead.
The Mountaineers (19-30, 7-13 SoCon) would put together the second of back-to-back two-run innnigs in the third. Dani Heichen led off the inning with single to extend her hitting streak to 17-straight games. Following the Heichen single, Cynthia Gomez would single with both advancing on a great Sarah Warnock sac bunt.
With second and third, Lindsay Loudermilk would single up the middle and plate both runners to extend the Appalachian lead to 4-0.
The Paladins (28-24, 12-8 SoCon) would plate its only three runs of the game in the fourth inning. After back-to-back doubles from Ambree Muller and Natalie Clemmons, Furman would cut the deficit to 4-1. A couple of batters later, Hannah Pace would homer to left field and close the gap to 4-3.
It would remain this way until the sixth inning when Parker would blast her second homer of the game over the left field fence for a 5-3 advantage. Parker finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate with two home runs and three RBIs, which gives her 10 home runs and 29 RBIs on the season.
Loudermilk finished 2-for-3 and tallied two RBIs to give her 29 on the season – tied with Parker for the team lead.
Sydney Laws (6-8) earned the start for the second consecutive game and pitched four innings and allowed five hits and three runs to go along with one strikeout. Alissa Schoelkopf pitched the final three innings and allowed no hits or runs and struck out two for her first save of the season.
UNCG 8, Elon 0GREENSBORO, N.C. – After honoring its three seniors on Senior Day, the UNCG softball team delivered a stellar performance run-ruling Elon, 8-0, Sunday afternoon at the UNCG Softball Stadium. The Spartans improve to 27-24 with a 10-11 conference mark while Elon falls to 24-27-1 and 6-15 in the SoCon. UNCG has won seveen-straight conference games and has claimed the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament played at the UNCG softball stadium. Senior Raeanne Hanks threw 2.2 shutout innings with six strikeouts, including five-straight to end her outing. Sophomore Nicole Thomas finished the final 2.1 innings to earn her eighth win of the season. Alli Burdette took the loss after allowing seven runs (five earned) off five hits to earn her fifth loss of the season. Sophomore Lindsay Thomas went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run to pace the Spartans. Senior Katelyn Bedwell added a solo home run. UNCG took a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Lindsay Thomas blasted her eighth home run of the season. In the third inning, Bedwell launched a solo home run to left center tying the school record for most home runs with 17. The home run gave the Spartans a 3-0 lead and it was Bedwell’s 40th career blast. The Spartans took control with five runs off three hits in the fourth inning to lead Elon, 8-0. UNCG loaded the bases after a costly error by Elon. Junior Dominique Madruga earned a RBI walk and Lindsay Thomas singled home a run to make it 5-0 Spartans. Bedwell lined a RBI sacrifice fly to push the lead to 6-0. The last two runs came home after two wild pitches from Elon’s Chelsea White. Chattanooga 8, Western Carolina 0CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Chattanooga Mocs softball team locked up the No. 2 seed going into the Southern Conference Tournament on Senior Day Sunday afternoon with an 8-0, run-rule shortened win over Western Carolina at Frost Stadium.
The Mocs took the convincing win with a second straight shutout of the Catamounts. Starting pitcher Katie Henderson came away with her team-leading 16th win of the season and her second shutout in as many days.
The offense backed the ace with 14 hits, scoring in every inning except two. UTC put deuces on the board in the second and fifth, scored three in the third and one in the sixth to walk it off.
Freshman first baseman Jesslyn Stockard continued her tear of the Catamounts with a 2-for-4 perfromance, scoring two runs, while fellow Peach-Stater sophomore Sam Taylor recorded a couple of hits and three RBI – including the game’s final run on a double to the fence in left-center.
The second inning saw senior Kaiti Dutton lead off with a hit-by-pitch, Stockard followed up with a single through the left side and Stephanie Rieck walked to set up Chattanooga’s first run-scoring strike. Sam Taylor walked to score the first run of the game and an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Alyssa Taylor plated the second run.
The three-run third came courtesy of five hits, including a two-RBI Rieck double and another Sam Taylor hit. Along with Taylor’s run-scoring single up the middle, Blanco, Stockard and Sarah Beth Roberts each tallied hits in the inning.
Chattanooga added on two runs in the fifth on four hits. Roberts singled, her second hit of the afternoon, to lead off and Alyssa Taylor reached on an infield single. With two on and one out, sophomore Anyssa Robles laced a single to right to bring home Roberts, and a pop-up single off the bat of Nicole Osterman scored Taylor to take UTC’s lead to 7-0.
The final straw came in the bottom of the sixth as Sam Taylor drove a double to center to drive in Dutton from second.