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Furman Shocks Second-Seeded Charleston In SoCon Tounament First Round 4-1
May 11, 2006
Chattanooga, Tenn. - Sophomore Blake Murray limited Charleston to one run and collected two hits at the plate, while Megan Jaudon doubed and homered to lead the seventh-seeded Lady Paladins to a 4-1 victory over the Cougars in the first round of the Southern Conference Softball Tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn., Thursday morning.
Furman (27-35) faces sixth-seeded Elon at 6 p.m. in the winner's bracket. Charleston (29-29) falls into the loser's bracket and will battle Georgia Southern in an elimination game at 4 p.m.
"I'm very proud of this team for staying focused after yesterday's game was rained out," said Furman head coach Dana Jenkins. "We were ready to play today and got a great pitching effort from Blake."
Jaudon opened the scoring for the Lady Paladins in the top half of the fourth inning. Stephanie Cushing drew a one-out walk and Jaudon blasted a two-run homer into the centerfield bleachers to put Furman ahead 2-0.
Furman added to its lead in the sixth. Amber Kiser, a second team All-SoCon pick, opened the inning with a bunt single and moved to third on a sacrifice. Jaudon laced a double to right-center two batters later to up the advantage to 3-0. Abby Robertson reached base on a double in the seventh and Murray followed with a single up the middle to plate the freshman and give the Lady Paladins a 4-0 lead.
Charleston attempted to rally in the bottom of the frame by starting the inning with three straight hits. After Jessica Lyness plated the Cougars' first run with an infield single, Robertson fielded an Izmena Cabrera grounder, stepped on third and fired to first to complete the double play. Murray fanned Leshe Russell for her fifth strikeout to cap the Lady Paladin victory and strand one base runner.
Murray scattered seven hits, allowed only one run and walked two in the complete-game effort to improve to 7-16. The one earned run snapped Murray's streak of 23 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
Shannon Howard (15-16) surrendered four runs on eight hits over seven innings to suffer the loss for the College of Charleston.
Jaudon went 2-for-3 with a double, homer and three RBI to lead Furman offensively. Kiser and Murray also chipped in two hits. Kolby Schooley and Lyness recorded two safeties for Charleston.
The victory marked Furman's first in a SoCon Tournament opener since downing UNC Greensboro 4-1 to open postseason play in 2002.
Fans can follow the double elimination tournament with live stats at www.soconsports.com.
