Eagles Fall Twice at Chattanooga to Close Regular Season
5/1/2011 10:34:00 PM | Softball
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Georgia Southern Softball closed the 2011 regular season winning six of its last 10 games, but lost both games of a doubleheader Sunday, May 1st, against Chattanooga at Frost Stadium. The Mocs won game one 7-4 and took the series finale 5-3. Senior Kelly Burnett (Boynton Beach, Fla.) carried the torch for the Eagles, batting 4-for-5 with a home run.
"It's clear we have specific things to work on before the tournament," said Head Coach Maggie Johnson. "With the next weekend off, we have the time to prepare ourselves to defend our home field for the Southern Conference Championships."
Junior Hanna Ennis (Snellville, Ga.) hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning of game one for an early Eagle lead. Junior Marie Fogle (Rincon, Ga.) bookended the opening game of the day with a home run of her own in the seventh inning. Her bomb off the scoreboard moved her even with Jenny Side's 2008 total for second place on the Georgia Southern single-season home run list at 14.
Georgia Southern closes the regular season at 28-27 overall and 16-8 in the Southern Conference. With the victories, Chattanooga clinched the Regular Season SoCon Championship with a 17-3 mark in league play and 35-12 overall record.
-Game One-
Ennis got the Eagles off to a proper start with her sixth home runs of the season. She crushed the one-out pitch down the left field line for a 1-0 Georgia Southern lead with a half inning in the books.
Chattanooga responded in the third inning to tie the game and then take its first lead of the game. The Mocs plated four runs off five singles for a 4-1 lead. In the fourth, Chattanooga's Tiffany Baker hit a home run for the second consecutive game to left-center. The three-run homer extended Chattanooga's lead to 7-1.
Georgia Southern's Burnett led off the seventh inning for Georgia Southern with her second hit of the game and moved to second with a walk by Jorie Walker (Dublin, Ga.). Eagle leadoff batter, Fogle, cleared the bases with a two-out home run off the scoreboard in centerfield. The rally, however, would not continue as Chattanooga retired the side for a 7-4 win.
-Game Two-
Chattanooga scored the game's first runs with Jessica Traxler's three-run home run in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead. Later in the inning, Michelle Fuzzard stretched the lead to 5-0 with a two-run home run to right-center.
Georgia Southern got on the scoreboard in the fifth with two runs in the frame. Fogle's 39th RBI of the season brought Walker home with no outs and moved Fogle into a tie for sixth on the GSU single-season RBI list. An errant throw on Megen Smith's (Springfield, Ga.) infield single allowed Fogle to score and cut the Chattanooga lead to 5-2.
Burnett continued her big day in the sixth inning with her second home run of the season. She ripped the solo shot to the power-alley in left-center and slashed Chattanooga's lead to 5-3. The Eagles were unable to do any further damage in the seventh inning and fell, 5-3.
The next game for Georgia Southern will be in the Southern Conference Softball Championships at Eagle Field in Statesboro, Ga. The full bracket for the double-elimination tournament will be released after conference play is complete with Eagles in line for either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed. The tournament, featuring all nine teams, gets underway on Wednesday, May 11th.
Fans may follow all the action of the 2011 Georgia Southern Softball season by visiting GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/softball or check in for scores at twitter.com/GSScores or facebook.com/GSAthletics for updates.
