Eagles Split Senior Day Doubleheader with Appalachian State
5/4/2013 9:57:14 PM | Softball
BOX SCORE (GAME ONE) | BOX SCORE (GAME TWO) | SENIOR DAY PHOTO GALLERY | POST GAME INTERVIEW WITH HEAD COACH ANNIE SMITH
STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern Softball earned a Senior Day doubleheader split on Saturday afternoon with a 2-0 loss to Appalachian State in game one and a 1-0 win in game two. The Eagles will face Appalachian State again on Sunday in the regular season finale at 1 p.m.
“I was happy for our seniors to get the win in game two,” said Head Coach Annie Smith. “We’ve said all year that our goal is to win series and we put ourselves in position to do that tomorrow with the win in game two. Brooke (Red) pitched a great game and we got some timely hitting. We played great defense and I was really happy that our seniors played well today.”
The Eagles finish the day 27-27 overall and 13-9 in the Southern Conference. Appalachian State moves to 30-19 with a 17-6 SoCon mark. Prior to the game, Georgia Southern honored its 2013 senior class with a pregame ceremony. Alexa Lewis, Andrea Tarashuk and Tabby Doubereley were each recognized for their contributions to Georgia Southern Softball.
– GAME ONE –
After three blank innings to open the game, Appalachian State got on the board with back-to-back home runs by Lindsay Loudermilk and Meghan Smith. Loudermilk’s home run snuck around the foul pole in right field while Smith’s stayed fair by inches down the left field line. Both home runs were solo shots as the Mountaineers posted a 2-0 lead.
Those runs were enough as Alissa Schoelkoph stymied the Georgia Southern offense. The Eagles produced just two hits, but were the beneficiary of three walks in the game. Alexa Lewis and Shelby Morrill each posted hits in the game.
With the win, Appalachian State secured its first SoCon Regular Season Softball Championship in program history.
– GAME TWO –
The Eagles got on the board in the first inning by cashing in a leadoff single by Lewis with Tabby Douberley’s RBI double with two outs in the inning. The gap shot to left allowed Lewis to score standing up as the Eagles took their first lead of the day, 1-0.
That would be enough for Brooke Red who tossed a brilliant two-hit shutout to give the Eagles a doubleheader split. Red fanned three and walked one on the afternoon to pick up her eighth win of the season against the Mountaineers.
The teams are back in action on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. for the series finale. The Southern Conference Tournament starts on Wednesday in Greensboro. The Eagles will enter the postseason as either the second or third seed for the 2013 SoCon Tournament. A win by GSU and a loss by College of Charleston to UNCG would hand the Eagles the second seed.
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