Softball Opens SoCon Play With Doubleheader Sweep Over Elon
3/10/2013 12:43:35 AM | Softball
GAME ONE BOX SCORE // GAME TWO BOX SCORE
BURLINGTON, N.C. – Georgia Southern Softball started the league season on a winning note with a pair of wins over Elon at the Hunt Softball Stadium. GSU needed extra innings to take the opening game, 8-5 and added a second win with a 6-4 triumph. Georgia Southern goes for the sweep on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. on Tobacco Road.
“After the game I told the team that I was very proud of the total team effort today,” said Head Coach Annie Smith. “Everyone stepped up for us and we got great hits throughout the lineup. We made some great catches in the outfield and our pitchers did a good job. It really felt like three games today, so we are very happy to have two wins to show for it.”
- GAME ONE –
League play opened with the longest game of the season as the Eagles needed 11 innings to down Elon, 8-5. Brooke Red went seven and two-thirds innings in relief to pick up her fourth win of the season. She fanned a career-high 11 batters in the game.
First blood went to the Eagles who scored three runs over the first two innings. A Tabby Douberley single to the power alley in right allowed Kaitlyn Johnson to score from second. The hit was the first of Douberley’s three hits and three RBIs in the game.
In the second inning an A.J. Hamilton leadoff home run sparked a two-run frame which included an RBI single from Johnson that plated Nicole Benton in the junior’s first career start. Benton earned her first career hit to reach base earlier in the inning.
Up 3-0, Georgia Southern allowed two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth which tied the game up through five innings. That would represent the balance of scoring for regulation and the first two extra frames.
In the 10th inning came the international tiebreaker which the Eagles took advantage of by plating Kourtny Thomas off a double by Douberley. The Phoenix answered in the bottom of the 10th with a run off an RBI double of their own.
The Eagles broke the game open with four runs in the top of the 11th with the first coming off small-ball to move a runner to third and a pinch hit double by Lindsey Wilcox scoring the runner. An error and a walk loaded the bases with one out and a passed ball allowed the Eagles’ second tally of the inning to score. A Shelby Morrill single followed by Douberley’s third RBI of the day gave the Eagles an 8-4 lead.
Elon would add one run in the bottom of the 11th, but it wasn’t enough as the Eagles improved to 12-10 overall and 1-0 in the SoCon.
- GAME TWO –
The Eagles completed the sweep with another win in the nightcap, 6-4. Allie Miles got the pitching victory as the junior went five and a third scattering four runs off seven hits. Sarah Purvis was called on to get the final five outs with five of the outs coming via the strikeout.
Douberley continued her strong hitting day with a second inning solo home run that gave GSU a 1-0 lead. A pair of walks to start the fourth inning opened the door for a four run inning. Savanah Coon singled up the middle for two RBIs. Johnson drove in another run and scored later in the frame with two outs to give the Eagles a 5-0 lead.
Another run came across in the top of the fifth as Gabrielle Story laced a single through the right side as GSU took a 6-0 lead.
Elon added four runs in the sixth frame to cut Georgia Southern’s advantage down to just two. In the seventh, Elon got the tying run into scoring position, but stranded the runners on back-to-back strikeouts by Purvis, ending the game.
The teams will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. for the series finale from Elon’s Hunt Softball Complex.
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