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Lady Paladins Drop Pair At Buzz Classic
March 3, 2007
Woodstock, Ga. - Radford's Ashley Taylor tossed a one-hit shutout while fanning eight Lady Paladins to lead the Highlanders to a 5-0 win over Furman Saturday afternoon at the Buzz Classic. Troy upended the Lady Paladin in extra innings 4-3 in the day's first game.
Taylor (3-6) gave up a first inning single to Abby Robertson before retiring the next 14 batters and 20 of the next 21. The righthander also delivered at the plate going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
Freshman Lana Mackey took the loss to drop to 4-3 on the season. Mackey surrendered four earned runs on eight hits while striking out eight Radford (7-10) hitters.
In game one, Furman rallied from a 3-0 deficit only to see Troy escape with a 4-3 victory in eight innings.
With the game tied and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Furman had a chance to score its third victory of the tournament. Trojan reliever Michelle Grinage (3-1), however, got Robertson to pop up and Stephanie Cushing to line out to center to retire the side.
Using the international tiebreaker in the eighth inning, Troy sacrificed Stacey Dwyer to third and plated the run on a Courtney Davis groundout to take a 4-3 lead.
Megan Jaudon opened the bottom of the eighth reaching on an error to move Cushing to third, but Grinage worked out of trouble getting Brythe Blankenship to strike out, and Mackey and Christina Campoli to groundout to end the threat.
Troy (14-4) grabbed an early 3-0 lead with single runs in the second, third and fifth innings. After pulling within two in the fifth, Furman completed the rally in the sixth as Blankenship blasted a two-run homer to left field.
Grinage earned the win for the Trojans allowing no hits over two innings of work. Leadoff hitter Heidi Johnson led the Troy offense going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs.
Reliever Blake Murray (4-4) took the loss for Furman despite not allowing a hit or earned run in three innings of work. Jaudon collected two hits and Campoli registered a double and a run for the Lady Paladins.
Furman, 8-7-1, qualified for Sunday's bracket play at the 15th annual Buzz Classic on the strength of a 2-2 tournament record. The top three teams in each five-team pool earn a spot in Sunday's championship rounds. The third-seeded Lady Paladins will face second-seeded Georgia State in the Bronze Bracket semifinals at 9 a.m. The winner will play in the bracket championship at 1 p.m.
