Mt. Pleasant, S.C. – Sophomore
Lauralee Scott and junior
Sierra Tufts turned in outstanding pitching performances to lead Furman to a 5-4, 3-0 doubleheader sweep of College of Charleston on Wednesday afternoon at Patriots Point Athletic Complex in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
The sweep extended Furman's winning streak to four games and upped the Paladins' record to 16-22. Charleston dropped to 13-23 on the season.
Scott entered the opener with Furman trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the third inning and retired 15 of the 17 batters she faced over 5.1 innings while surrendering only one hit.
Furman got on the board with two outs in the top of the fifth inning with a pair of runs.
Alex Rose Molinar opened the frame with a walk and
Caitlin Goldwait and
Riley Ludlam worked two-out walks to load the bases. Freshman
Kiley Perry followed with a line drive single to center field to drive in two runs and halve the deficit.
Junior
Hannah Poole led off the top of the sixth with a towering homer down the left field line that stayed inside the foul pole. After Scott drew a walk and Molinar singled, pinch runner
Natalie Aiello raced home from second base on
Chrissy Fleming's single up the middle to knot the score at 4-4.
Poole was placed on second base, according to the international tiebreaker rule, to start the eighth inning and promptly swiped third. Scott followed with a single to center field to give the Paladins a 5-4 advantage.
In the bottom half of the eighth, Malaka Belser flew out to center and
Ashlee Lykins fired a throw to third to erase Charleston's Karlee Hughes, who was attempting to advance on the play. Scott, who improved to 2-8 in the circle and finished the contest with three strikeouts, induced a popout by the next batter to secure the win.
Molinar went 2-for-4 with a double and Poole homered and scored a pair of runs to lead the Paladin offense in game one.
Reliever McKenna Kelly (0-3) suffered the loss for Charleston despite allowing just an unearned run on three hits over three innings of work.
Leadoff hitter Aniz Roman went 2-for-4 at the plate and Mia Dittoe batted in two runs for the Cougars.
In game two, Tufts tossed a two-hit shutout and fanned eight batters to improve to 9-8 in the circle. The Chula Vista, Calif., native, who picked up her sixth career shutout, worked around singles in the third and seventh innings to earn the victory, Furman's fifth straight over the Cougars.
The Paladins got all the offense they would need in the fifth inning with the help of three Charleston miscues. Fleming reached on a throwing error by Charleston's third baseman to start the innings, moved to second base on Lykins' sacrifice, and scored when Goldwait reached on a fielding error by the second baseman and a miscue by the rightfielder on the same play. After Ludlam walked, Perry lined an RBI single to center field to increase the lead to 2-0.
Furman added to its advantage in the top of the seventh. Ludlam and
Sylvia Burroughs reached base on singles and
Lauren Woodall drew a walk to load the bases. Molinar singled off the first base bag to drive in a run before the Cougars were able to escape the bases loaded jam.
Perry and Burroughs each collected two hits to pace the Paladins nine-hit effort in the nightcap.
Payton Lemire (5-12) suffered the loss for the Cougars after allowing three runs on nine hits over seven innings. She walked two Paladins and struck out five.
Furman, currently leading the Southern Conference with a 6-2 league mark, will host Mercer in a three-game conference series at Pepsi Stadium this weekend. The first pitch of Saturday's doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. with the series finale scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday.
