Softball Travels to FSU Sunshine Classic

VIDEO: Interview with Head Coach Annie Smith

GAME NOTES (PDF)

STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Softball opens its’ spring break road trip with four games in Tallahassee as part of the 2013 FSU Sunshine Classic. The Eagles face Minnesota and Florida State starting from 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday the Eagles will get an early start, beginning play at 10 a.m.

The Eagles (14-10) are just a week removed from opening Southern Conference play with three-straight wins over Elon in the Tar Heel State. GSU needed 11 innings to dispatch the Phoenix in game one and took close victories in games two and three to begin defense of the team’s 2012 Southern Conference Championships.

Shelby Morrill leads the team in batting with a .377 average. The junior designated player is slugging .522 while reaching base at a .488 clip with a league-best 14 walks. Kourtny Thomas ranks third in the SoCon with seven home runs and 14 RBI. First baseman Tabby Douberley has drove in the most runs with 17 RBI through the first 24 games of the season.

The Eagles pitching staff has stymied opposing batters this season being a 1.64 ERA from Sarah Purvis. She leads the league with an opponent batting average of .186 while striking out 97 batters en route to seven wins. Allie Miles picked up three saves last weekend and has a 2.21 ERA while Brooke Red has a 4-1 record with a 2.29 ERA.

The tournament’s host, Florida State, enters the weekend riding a 10-game winning streak to post a 20-8 overall mark and a 3-0 record in ACC play. Over the last 10 games, the Seminoles are hitting .326 with 14 home runs. FSU’s ace pitcher Monica Perry tossed a no-hitter on Wednesday versus Tennessee State.

The Gophers are 13-9 on the season after a 3-2 weekend at the Louisville Slugger Classic in Stanford, Calif. Minnesota has two hitters above the .400 mark with Kaitlyn Richardson (.453) and Tyler Walker (.405) leading the offense, but no players in the .300 bracket. In the pitching circle, Sara Moulton has a 13-5 record in 19 appearances with a 0.99 ERA. She has fanned 138 batters and has a pair of no-hitters this season.

Following the four games in Tallahassee, GSU travels further west to face LSU on Tuesday in an evening doubleheader. The first game of the series can be seen on Cox Sports Television which is available on Dish Network and Cox Cable starting at 6 p.m. (ET).

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 Friday, 15 March 2013 11:57