Purvis Tosses One-Hit Shutout as Softball Cruises Past Furman
3/29/2013 10:42:21 PM | Softball
VIDEO: Postgame Interviews with Pitcher Sarah Purvis and Head Coach Annie Smith
STATESBORO, GA. – It was a very Good Friday as Georgia Southern Softball took a 6-0 win over Furman behind a one-hitter from junior hurler Sarah Purvis on Military Appreciation Day. Two runs in the third and four more in the fourth gave GSU an insurmountable advantage behind Purvis’ solid outing in the circle. The same two teams will be back in action on Saturday morning with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m.
“Every conference win is important in this league and I’m really happy with the way we played today,” said Head Coach Annie Smith. “We got great at bats, played some great defense and Sarah Purvis pitched a great game for us to get the win.”
Sarah Purvis pitched a gem, taking a perfect game through four and two-thirds. A walk followed by a single was the only blemish on the junior’s first one-hitter in regular season Southern Conference play. She fanned four Paladins and induced 12 pop ups in the game to improve to 9-11 on the year and 3-0 in SoCon play.
With two outs in the third inning, Shelby Morrill’s RBI double sent shortstop Kourtny Thomas in for the first run of the game. Later in the frame, another run scored as a result of Andrea Tarashuk’s RBI single up the middle to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
An inning later with the bases loaded, Kaitlyn Johnson plated two more runs with a single to right. Later in the inning two more runs crossed off a fielding error by the Furman second baseman on a routine ground ball by Shelby Morrill. The four-run fourth gave GSU the 6-0 advantage through four frames.
In total, GSU tallied 10 hits, their highest total since March 9th, en route to the first shutout in the last 29 contests. The last shutout for the Eagles came on February 15th in Purvis’ perfect game win over Southern Illinois.
The Eagles and Furman close the series on Saturday morning with a doubleheader from Eagle Field. Please note the early first pitch with the twinbill starting from 11 a.m.
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.
