Softball Thunders Past Chattanooga 6-2 in SoCon Tournament Opener
5/8/2013 9:30:28 PM | Softball
BOX SCORE (PDF) | Post Game Interviews with Annie Smith and Shelby Morrill | Highlights
GREENSBORO, N.C. – A pair of two-run home runs in the first two innings paved the way for Georgia Southern Softball to post a 6-2 win in the opening round of the 2013 SoCon Softball Tournament. Shelby Morrill and AJ Hamilton pounded the balls over the fence early while Sarah Purvis worked around eight Chattanooga hits to take the win. The third-seeded Eagles will face the seventh-seeded Western Carolina Catamounts on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the next round of the tournament.
“We hit the ball really well today,” said Head Coach Annie Smith. “It was good to get that win today and now we’ll turn our attention to tomorrow’s game against Western Carolina.”
Georgia Southern got opening inning runs for the third-straight game when Shelby Morrill hit a two-run home run to the power alley in right. It was her fifth home run of the season and seventh in her three years at Georgia Southern. Morrill also drove in Kourtny Thomas who doubled earlier in the inning for a 2-0 Eagle advantage.
After the Mocs went quietly in the second, the Eagles tacked on two more runs with a two-run job from AJ Hamilton. The freshman catcher hit her first home run in nearly two months to straight-away centerfield to record her third bomb of the year. Kaitlyn Johnson, who walked just before Hamilton came to the plate, also scored on the play.
The Eagles posted two more runs in the fourth, producing some two-out lightning. Back-to-back hits from Brianna McLendon and Alexa Lewis put runners on base for Lexi Allen who plated two with a double to the gap in right. Those runs extended the lead to 6-0 through four complete innings.
Chattanooga answered back in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs. The Mocs strung together three-straight hits to start the inning, an error by Johnson trying to gather in Sam Taylor’s single allowed the first run to score. A sacrifice fly later in the inning drove in the second run as the Mocs cut the Eagle advantage to 6-2.
SoCon Pitcher of the Year of the Year Sarah Purvis worked around eight Chattanooga hits to post the win. She struck out just three while pitching with a lead for the duration of the game. Purvis improves to 15-13 and tallies her second-straight postseason victory over the Mocs.
Georgia Southern as a team tallied 11 hits to take the win in an even two hours.
The Eagles are back in action on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. against Western Carolina. The game can be seen live on SoConSports.com by using the league’s SoCon TV service.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.
