Georgia Southern Sweeps Past Western Carolina

STATESBORO, Ga. -Georgia Southern Softball took a pair of wins on Saturday afternoon at Eagle Field to sweep the first two games of a three-game set against Western Carolina on St. Patrick's Day. The Eagles were blessed by the gift of runs in the opener, winning 5-1. In the finale, Western tied the game in the top of the sixth, but a pinch hit double by Shelby Morrill (Madison, Ga.) won the game and moved the Eagles to 16-10 and 5-0 in league play to lead the Southern Conference.

"It's always great to get league wins," said Head Coach Annie Smith. "Our pitchers are continuing to improve and that's what we want this time of year. I'm so happy for Shelby getting that hit, we've got a lot of great hitters and it's a shame that we've only got nine slots in the lineup."

-GAME ONE-

In the bottom of the first, Georgia Southern turned a leadoff walk into an opening inning run with the help of a throwing error by the Western Carolina pitcher. Another walk with the bases loaded and two outs gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead after the opening inning of play.

The Catamounts clawed back in the third, slicing a run back by working a leadoff single in for a run in the inning and making the score 2-1.

In the fifth, Georgia Southern added two more runs. Savanah Coon (Appling, Ga.) drove a double to left with two outs which plated Marie Fogle (Rincon, Ga.) from third base. On the next play, Kourtny Thomas (Warner Robins, Ga.) hit what looked to be an inning ending grounder to short. The ball was fielded cleanly, but a bad throw allowed Coon to score from second and put the Eagles up 4-1.

Freshman Lexi Allen (Metter, Ga.) made her first career start in the right field in game one of the doubleheader and posted two hits from three chances along with a pair of stolen bases. In the sixth inning, Allen scored GSU's fifth run of the game off a triple by Fogle which took a strange carom off the fence down the left field line.

Pitcher Sarah Purvis (Warner Robins, Ga.) tossed another gem for the Eagles to post her eight win of the season. She went the distance allowing just one run while striking out the first eight outs of the game. Purvis finished the outing with 10 strikeouts.

-GAME TWO-

The Eagles broke the 0-0 deadlock in the bottom of the second by taking advantage of a pair of Catamount errors with two outs in the frame Tabby Douberley (Clyo, Ga.) grounded to second base but an errant throw bounced off the Eagle dugout and into right field. The ball got away from the WCU fielder, allowing Coon to scamper home from first base after pausing at third momentarily for a 1-0 Eagle lead.

Fogle added to the lead in the fifth with her second triple of the day. The frozen rope to the gap in left hit off the base of the fence and allowed Fogle to reach third while Alexa Lewis (Lawrenceville, Ga.) scored on the play to give GSU a 2-0 lead.

Western Carolina mustered a pair of runs to tie the game in the top of the sixth inning by taking advantage of a Georgia Southern throwing error. The wild throw put runners on second and third as Kelly Bramen's single to right drove in two runs. It was her third hit from as many trips to the plate in the game.

The single forced a Georgia Southern pitching change as starting pitcher Allie Miles (Dacula, Ga.) was replaced by Brooke Red (Warner Robins, Ga.). The catamounts would put runners on the corners before Red got out of the jam with no further damage. Miles left allowing four hits over 5.1 innings while striking out five Catamounts.

In the bottom of the frame, Morrill delivered a clutch pinch hit double with a runner on second to give GSU the lead, 3-2. The hard-hit ball barely stayed within the park, hitting off the base of the wall, allowing pinch runner Breanna McLendon (Soperton, Ga.) to score easily for a 3-2 Eagle lead.

Red came back out for the top of the seventh and mowed through the Catamount batters en route to her sixth win of the season against no losses.

The Eagles close out the three-game set on Sunday afternoon with a 1 p.m. contest against the Catamounts from Eagle Field. The game can be heard live on 91.9-FM The Buzz with live streaming for free on Eagle Vision.

Fans can follow their Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics.

Category: Softball

Published on Saturday, 17 March 2012 17:44