STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Softball suffered a pair of defeats on Saturday in the second day of the 2015 Eagle Classic. The Eagles fell 6-3 to the ACC's Boston College, and dropped an eight inning, 4-2 decision to Tennessee Tech. The Eagles close the Eagle Classic on Sunday at 2 p.m. in a rematch against the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech.
"We have fought hard this entire tournament and played our best defensive game in the night cap," said Head Coach
Annie Smith. "The team responded, and is making important adjustments each game."
GAME ONE – GS 3 – BOSTON COLLEGE 6Georgia Southern opened Saturday with a 6-3 loss to Boston College, but it was the Eagles who got on the scoreboard first frame. A leadoff single from
Taylor Rogers turned into a run with a sacrifice bunt, a walk, and two hit batsmen. The run gave the Eagles an early 1-0 lead which would hold through the first three innings.
Boston College scored a pair of runs off two hits and a fielding error from the Eagles in the fourth inning. The visitors tacked on four more off five hits and three errors in the fifth to stake claim to a 6-1 advantage with six outs remaining for Georgia Southern.
A solo home run for AJ Hamilton in the sixth, and a leadoff home run for
Alesha Mann in the seventh made the final score 6-3 as Georgia Southern pounded out six hits, but committed five total errors. Mann's home run was the first of her career, while Hamilton hit her second of the tournament following her grand slam on Friday night.
GAME TWO – GS 2 – TENNESSEE TECH 4 – 8 Innings The Eagles earned their second extra innings contest of the Eagle Classic with a seventh-inning rally, but dropped the 4-2 decision thanks to two Golden Eagle runs in the eighth inning.
A first inning home run from Tennessee Tech gave the visitors on the scoreboard a 1-0 lead that held up through the first four innings.
Senior
Lexi Allen worked a one-out walk in the fifth inning, and made her way around to score off an RBI double from Mann to level the game at 1-1 through five innings.
Tennessee Tech played small ball in the sixth to take another one-run lead, this time 2-1 over Georgia Southern.
With Georgia Southern down to its final three outs, Allen ripped a one-out triple and scored later in the inning with a two-out single by leadoff hitter
Taylor Rogers.
A two-run home run by Tennessee Tech in the eighth inning gave the visitors the 4-2 advantage entering the final half inning of play. The Eagles got a one-out walk from freshman designated player
Rowan McGuire, but could not get the ultimate hit to drive her in and cut into the TTU advantage.
The 2015 Eagle Classic concludes with three games on Sunday at Eagle Field. Georgia Southern will get a rematch against Tennessee Tech at 2 p.m. to close the weekend. Watch that contest live on GS All-Access at GSEagles.com.
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