Win Over Furman Secures SoCon Tournament Spot
5/9/2010 9:30:00 PM | Softball
GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Georgia Southern Softball team secured a spot in the Southern Conference Championship later this week with a 5-1 win over Furman in game two of today's (May 9) doubleheader. Junior Megen Smith (Springfield, Ga.) belted her 15th home run of 2010, a Georgia Southern single-season record, to help her own cause. Smith gave up only one run and three hits in a complete game for her seventh win of the year.
Senior shortstop Nina Iduate (Norcross, Ga.) led off the game with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and then third on a throwing error. She scored when senior third baseman Jenny Side (Loganville, Ga.) had a bunt single up the right side to put the Eagles up 1-0.
Smith hit her record-breaking home run in the third and gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
In the sixth, senior Kelly Burnett (Boynton Beach, Fla.) singled up the middle, with Mackenzie Williams (Baxley, Ga.) following her with a single to right. Williams was out at second on a fielder's choice by pinch hitter Andrea Tarashuk (Flemington, N.J.), but Burnett moved to third on the play. Iduate had an infield single, moving Hanna Ennis (Snellville, Ga.), who pinch ran for Tarashuk, to second.
Sophomore Marie Fogle (Rincon, Ga.) singled up the middle, then advanced to second on a Paladin fielding error. The error allowed Iduate to score with Ennis and Burnett crossing the plate to give Georgia Southern a 5-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Paladins' Katie Michaels led off with a double, and eventually scored off two sacrifice flies, giving Furman its only run of the game.
Furman used three pitchers with starter Kayla Suskauer getting the loss. Lana Mackey returned for game two after picking up the win with a complete game in game one. Hannah Bradley finished the game, giving up the three runs, two earned, to the Eagles, in three innings of action.
After Samford took a win from UNC Greensboro Saturday, the Eagles needed only one win to guarantee their inclusion in the SoCon Tournament Thursday-Friday, May 13-14 in Chattanooga.
Two fielding errors in the first inning of game one led to four unearned Paladin runs and the Furman 4-1 win. Junior Brianna Streetmon (Winder, Ga.) would hold Furman scoreless through the rest of the game, but she was tagged with the loss.
Iduate singled to third base to lead off the sixth, then scored when Smith doubled to left center for the Eagles' only run. Georgia Southern had six hits to Furman's four in the first game.
Smith went 3-6 on the day with two total RBI. Iduate had a 3-7 outing with three runs scored. Side batted in one run and went 2-4 in game two.
Georgia Southern can finish either third or fourth in the SoCon standings and details on its tournament schedule will be complete after the Eagles-Paladin game Monday. Follow the action tomorrow beginning at 1 p.m. from Furman at twitter.com/GSScores.
