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Furman Softball Shocks Second-Seeded Charleston In SoCon Tourney, 12-5
May 9, 2007
Greensboro, N.C. - Stephanie Cushing and Lana Mackey each drove in three runs and Brythe Blankenship went 4-for-5 at the plate to power seventh-seeded Furman past the College of Charleston 12-5 in the opening round of the Southern Conference Softball Tournament Wednesday at UNCG Softball Stadium.
Furman (18-33-1) advances to face sixth-seeded Elon at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. The Phoenix downed Appalachian State 2-1 in opening round play.
Furman, facing the Cougars in the opening round of tournament play for the fourth straight year, rallied from an early 2-0 deficit in the second inning on the strength of an RBI double from Blankenship and run-scoring single from Lynn Parmer.
The Lady Paladins took the lead for good the next inning. After two outs to start the third, Megan Jaudon and Blankenship registered and Lana Mackey followed with a three-run blast to stake Furman to a 5-2 lead.
The Lady Paladin lead grew to 6-2 with an unearned run in the fourth before Charleston (33-25) put together a rally. Kristie Shifflett cut the lead in half with a two-run single and Jennifer Golden followed with an RBI single to trim the margin to 6-5.
Furman bounced back in the fifth to throw the knockout punch with a six-run inning. The Lady Paladins opened the inning by loading the bases on a Blankenship single and walks by Mackey and Danielle Franklin. After a strikeout and fielder's choice, Amber Kiser singled to drive in the first run of the inning. Abby Robertson drew a bases loaded walk to up the lead to 8-5 and Cushing cleared the bases with a three-run double to give Furman an 11-5 advantage. Jaudon drew a walk before Blakenship registered her second hit of the frame, an RBI double, for the final 12-5 margin.
Blake Murray (8-16) earned the win in the circle surrendering five runs on 10 hits in seven innings. The sophomore struck out five and walked six. Charleston's Terri Mesko allowed five earned runs on seven hits in four innings to take the loss.
Seven Lady Paladins collected at least one hit while eight scored at least one run. The win marked Furman's second straight triumph over Charleston in SoCon Tournament play.
