Softball Wins UNC Greensboro Series with a 8-2 Win Sunday
4/19/2009 8:45:00 PM | Softball
“Sunday is championship day for us. We tell them to go out there and find a way to finish the series with a win,” said head coach Maggie Johnson. “We have been able to do that a lot this year.”
Brianna Streetmon (Winder, Ga.) earned her 13th win of the season after allowing only one run. The sophomore pitcher struck out four and walked none in four innings of work.
Marie Fogle (Rincon, Ga.) continues to hit well after being moved to the top of the lineup. She is five for 11 with six RBIs since the move and reached base in all four plate appearances Sunday. The sophomore outfielder started the game with three straight singles before reaching on an error in the fifth inning.
“She has found a groove and is crushing the ball right now,” said Johnson.
The Eagles were unable to score a run in the first inning after Fogle reached third with less than one out but rebounded to score four runs in the second inning. Megen Smith (Springfield, Ga.) hit a no doubter over the left field fence with one out for her second home run of the season. “Megen is so competitive out there and plays hard,” said Johnson. “She hits the ball hard and runs the bases well.” Hanna Ennis (Snellville, Ga.) walked and scored the second run of the inning on Jenny Side's (Loganville, Ga.) double to center. Fogle plated Side with her second hit in as many innings. The freshman outfield scored the fourth run of the inning on Nina Iduate's (Norcross, Ga.) base hit.
Streetmon faced the minimum the first time through the order but ran into some trouble in the fourth inning, allowing a run on a pair of hits. Brittany Ausley led off with a single past a diving Iduate into left field and scored on Alex Emeterio's double into the left field gap.
Sam Russo (Snellville, Ga.) drove in three more runs in the fourth inning with her seventh home run of the year. Russo got just enough of a two-out pitch to drop it in on the other side of the left field fence. Fogle and Iduate started the inning off with back-to-back singles, but two fielder's choices before the homer kept the Eagles from reaching third and put Cory Mattson in position to get out of the inning without any damage.
“Sam is a very good two-strike hitter and usually finds a way to come through for us,” said Johnson.
UNCG added another run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Ausley. Whitney Miller led off the inning with a base hit and moved to second on a passed ball before Kayla Hensley walked to load the bases. Ausley drove a ball to deep left field to score the run, but Gabel was thrown out at second base to end the inning.
Robyne Siliga (Oceanside, Calif.) got the run back in the bottom half of the inning on a sacrifice fly to the wall in left and just missed hitting a grand slam by a few feet after Iduate walked to load the bases.
Smith earned her third save of the season after pitching the final three innings. The sophomore pitcher allowed only one run on two hits.
Softball hits the road next weekend to take on Southern Conference leader Chattanooga in a critical three game series.
