Georgia Southern Takes Two From UNCG
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Georgia Southern opened its Easter Weekend series at UNCG with a pair of victories by 4-2 and 9-3 margins. The Eagles trailed early in both contests, but responded with enough offense to go 10-1 in Southern Conference play. The Eagles close the series on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
"It is great to get the first two games of this series," said Head Coach Annie Smith. "We battled back in both games. We were very good defensively and our offense got the hits when we needed them. I was really happy with the bottom of the order, 7-8-9, getting hits today. It was also a plus to get Allie (Miles) a complete game, her first of the season."
-GAME ONE-
UNCG got off to a good start, hitting a home run to dead centerfield in the bottom of the first inning. The Eagles, however, answered by opening the second frame with a pair of hits, followed by two walks to score the first run of the game. The Spartans, however, would work out of the bases loaded jam to allow no further runs in the second as the Eagles tied the contest, 1-1.
After allowing the home run, Georgia Southern starting pitcher Sarah Purvis (Warner Robins, Ga.) struck out the next four batters, dismissing the UNCG side in the second. She finished the afternoon contest with 10.
The Eagles took their first lead of the afternoon in the fourth inning as Alexa Lewis (Lawrenceville, Ga.) lit a single through the left side, plating Kourtny Thomas (Warner Robins, Ga.) from second base.
UNCG leveled the scores in the bottom of the inning when Alex Emeterio hit her second home run in as many at bats to right field, tying the game 2-2.
The Eagles roared back in the top of the fifth, posting a pair of runs. Thomas lofted a bases loaded sacrifice fly to right which scored pinch runner Breanna McLendon (Soperton, Ga.) from third. The other two runners advanced with another run coming home off a wild pitch on the first pitch to Tabby Douberley (Clyo, Ga.). A walk to Douberley, followed by a walk to Lexi Allen (Metter, Ga.) loaded the bases for the top of the Eagle lineup. Lewis hit what looked to be a three-run smash to the gap, but the UNCG left fielder made a miraculous play to strand three Eagles as the Eagles took a 4-2 lead.
Purvis closed out the win to improve the Eagles to 23-12 on the season and 9-1 in league play. She allowed just the two runs off three hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks to pick up her 13th win of the season in the circle.
-GAME TWO-
After a scoreless opening inning and a half, UNCG drew first blood in the second inning of game two, scoring two runs in the inning. The Spartans played small ball and took advantage of two Eagle wild pitches to score the breakthrough runs.
The UNCG runs woke up the Eagle offense as Georgia Southern matched its biggest single-inning haul of the season with six runs off three hits. The Eagles benefited from three Spartan errors. Lewis and Thomas carded doubles in the inning as the Eagles took a 6-2 lead into the middle of the third.
Douberley extended the Eagle lead to 7-2 in the fifth frame with a solo home run with two outs in the inning. In the seventh, Georgia Southern tacked on a pair of insurance runs on a two-out single by Allen up the middle to make the score 9-2. UNCG scored one in the seventh to make it a 9-3 final.
Allie Miles (Dacula, Ga.) went the distance for the Eagles, continuing her strong play against the Spartans. She allowed just the three runs off six hits to pick up her second win of the season.
Georgia Southern and UNCG close out their three-game series on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. series finale from the UNCG Softball Stadium.
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- Category: Softball
- Published on Friday, 06 April 2012 21:46
