GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Georgia Southern softball team split a pair of games on Friday to open up action at the University of Florida Aquafina Invitational in Gainesville. The Eagles dropped a 1-0 decision to Iowa State in eight innings in the morning contest, but returned in the afternoon to down Illinois State, 7-4.
The Eagles move to 8-3 on the season with the split. Georgia Southern continues action at the Invitational on Saturday, taking on Maryland at 9 a.m. and Illinois State again at 11:30 a.m. Georgia Southern's action in the tournament concludes on Sunday when the Eagles face top-ranked and host Florida at 1:30 p.m.
"I think that we're gaining real game experience against the competition we will be facing week in and week out in the Sun Belt," Georgia Southern Head Coach Kim Dean said about Friday's action. "I think the girls are putting us in positions to win, and just getting a few more timely hits or finding a hole that we didn't seem to find today in the first game will come.
"I loved the resiliency and bounce back from us and we were a better offensive threat in the second game," Dean said. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow and our team building off of our second game today."
The morning contest featured a fantastic pitcher's duel between the Eagles' Kierra Camp and Iowa State's Brianna Weilbacher. Each hurler gave up just four hits through seven innings, forcing the game to extras.
Georgia Southern's best chance to score came in the sixth inning, as Mekhia Freeman led off the frame with a single, then stole second. Logan Harrell followed with a single to right field, but Freeman was cut down at the plate by Iowa State right fielder Kaila Konz.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, with the international tiebreaker runner placed on second, Camp got the first two batters to pop out, but the Cyclones;' Kaylee Bosworth delivered a two-out RBI single for the winning run.
Camp (5-1) hurled 7 2/3 innings in the circle, giving up five hits and four walks while striking out three. Weilbacher (3-2) notched the win with eight innings of four-hit shutout ball, walking two while striking out five. Sydney Fisher had the Eagles' lone extra-base hit of the contest, a double coming in the seventh.
The second game saw four Eagles register multi-hit games in picking up the 7-4 win over the Redbirds in the first meeting between the two teams in school history.
Illinois State struck first with an RBI double from Allison Spence in the top of the first, but the Eagles answered with three runs in the bottom of the first, on an RBI triple from Logan Harrell, an RBI single from Macy Coleman and a single and error off the bat of Allyssah Mullis.
The Redbirds cut the lead in half on Alex Caliva's RBI single in the second. The Eagles quickly answered in the bottom of the second on a passed ball, then Mullis' first collegiate home run in the third built a 5-2 advantage after three innings.
Georgia Southern tacked on two more in the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles from Harrell and Coleman. Illinois State threatened in the sixth, loading the bases with nobody out and getting a pair of runs on a bases-loaded walk by Spence and a wild pitch, but Kaylee Ramos pitched out of the jam with no further damage.
Coleman, Harrell, Hannah Farrell and Mullis all had two hits in the contest, while both Harrell and Coleman drove in a pair. Mekhia Freeman had a hit, two runs scored and drew a pair of walks.
Ramos (1-0) earned the win for the Eagles with four innings of two-hit, two-run relief, walking four while striking out two. Sarah Finck (3-3) took the loss for the Redbirds, giving up eight hits and seven runs - five earned - in 3 2/3 innings of work, walking two while striking out one.
