STATESBORO - Three Eagle pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout as Georgia Southern softball celebrated Senior Day with a 2-0 Sun Belt Conference victory over visiting Georgia State on Saturday at Eagle Field.
The win completes a Sun Belt series sweep for the Eagles (23-27, 9-17 SBC) and gives Georgia Southern momentum heading into next week's Sun Belt tournament in San Marcos, Texas. Georgia Southern will be the No. 7 seed and will play sixth-seeded Coastal Carolina at 11 am ET on the campus of Texas State in Wednesday's first round of action.
Click here for the full 2019 Sun Belt Tournament Bracket. Georgia State ends its season at 8-46 overall and 5-22 in the Sun Belt.
"Just getting into the tournament, everyone's got a 0-0 record," Georgia Southern Head Coach
Kim Dean said. "Anytime you can go in playing your best ball, really playing together as a team, trusting one another and enjoying the game, you're in a pretty good position going into postseason."
Prior to Saturday's contest, Georgia Southern honored its six seniors -
Macy Weeks,
Kaylee Ramos,
Hannah Farrell,
Shelby Wilson,
Macy Coleman and
Shelby Wilson - playing in their final home games as Eagles.
"All the underclassmen were fighting for them," Dean said of her six seniors. "Great group, they deserve to go to the conference tournament. They represent Georgia Southern and the sport of softball better than most. They did a great job all season, and they definitely stepped it up this weekend when we needed them."
Ramos (4-2) notched the win for the Eagles with 5 1/3 innings of two-hit shutout ball, walking one and striking out three.
Shelby Barfield finished off the sixth inning and
Jodi Handler worked a perfect seventh inning to notch her first save of the season.
The Eagles got both of their runs in the fourth inning as
Shelby Wilson's RBI groundout scored
Hannah Farrell, then
Faith Shirley delivered a solo home run down the left field line. It was the 10th home run of the season for Shirley, tying the freshman home run record set in 2002 by Crystal Crews. The home run was also the 48th of the season for the Eagles, tying the single season record set in 2012 and tied last year.