BOX SCORE (GAME ONE) | BOX SCORE (GAME TWO)
STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Softball dropped a pair of close defeats to Furman on Saturday to close out a three-game set at Eagle Feld. Furman took the opener 5-4 and added a 3-2 win in eight innings to take the series.
In the opening game of the doubleheader, GSU scored three runs in the first three innings to take a 3-0 lead before Furman scored one in the fourth inning. GSU tacked on an insurance run in the sixth, but a four-run seventh doomed the Eagles and gave Furman the 5-4 win. The Paladin victory snapped a nine-game losing streak at the hands of Georgia Southern.
Furman got a fifth inning run to take a 1-0 lead in game two, but a home run by Kourtny Thomas sent the contest to extra innings. In the eighth, Furman got a pair of runs off hit batsmen to go up 3-1. GSU answered with a run, but left the tying run at first base as the Paladins took the series with a 3-2 win in the finale.
- GAME ONE -
A dropped fly ball by the Furman centerfielder paved the way for a two-run Eagle second inning. Tabby Doubereley, the benefactor of the error, scored on an infield ground out to give the Eagles their first run. Andrea Tarashuk came home later in the frame off Breanna McLendon’s first career RBI. The sophomore slapper hit a bloop single to centerfield, allowing Tarashuk to score.
In the next inning, Kaitlyn Johnson hit a leadoff double which turned into a run later in the frame off a sacrifice fly by Tarashuk. Furman scored its first run of the series in the fourth inning when a two-out double by Taylor Jenkins pushed Lauren Collier around to score from first base on the play. The run made it a 3-1 game in the middle of the fourth.
The Eagles tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when a leadoff single by A.J. Hamilton matriculated into Georgia Southern’s fourth run of the game on Alexa Lewis’ RBI single.
That run was very valuable as Furman exploded for three runs to open the seventh inning and level the score at 4-4 as starting pitcher Allie Miles was chased from the game. She was replaced by Brooke Red who got the first out on a foul out, but the go-ahead run was able to score and give the Paladins a 5-4 lead through the middle of the seventh inning.
Despite a leadoff single to start the bottom of the seventh, Furman dismissed the final three outs to take the 5-4 win and even the series at 1-1 entering the rubber match.
- GAME TWO –
Brooke Red opened game two with three and two-thirds of no-hit ball as the Eagles held the Paladins scoreless early in the game. Furman, however, tallied an unearned run after a Stephanie Span single was followed by back-to-back passed balls, allowing her to get into scoring position. She scored with two outs off a Sieara Bishop single for a 1-0 Furman advantage.
Thomas leveled the scores at 1-1 when she hit the first pitch of the sixth inning of the fence in left field for her eighth home run of the season.
In the top of the eighth, Furman got a single and two walks to load the bases as Sarah Purvis came on in relief of Red with one out in the inning. The Furman designated player leaned into a pitch to score the Paladins’ go-ahead run. After a strikeout, another batter was hit to give the Paladins a 3-1 advantage.
After the first two Eagles were retired in the bottom of the eighth, Morrill laced a double to the gap in left, followed by an RBI single by Douberley off the wall in right. The runners, however, would be stranded as Furman held on for the 3-2 win. Lauren Collier came on to get the final out and her first save of the year for Furman.
Georgia Southern will stay home this week for a midweek contest against Mercer on Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. before traveling for a three-game set against rival Chattanooga this weekend in Rock City.
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