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Furman Downs Western Carolina, Earns Spot In SoCon Championship Round, 4-2
May 11, 2007
Greensboro, N.C. - Sophomore Blake Murray baffled the opposition for the second straight day limiting Western Carolina to just two unearned runs on five hits as Furman edged the Catamounts 4-2 Friday to clinch a berth in Saturday's Southern Conference Tournament finals.
The seventh-seeded Lady Paladins (20-33-1) advance to Saturday's 1:30 p.m. contest to play whichever team emerges from the loser's bracket (UNCG, Georgia Southern and Western Carolina).
Murray (10-16) fanned five Catamounts while issuing just one walk to pick up her third win in as many days. The Snellville, Ga., native frustrated Elon yesterday allowing just one run on four hits.
Furman jumped ahead in the top of the second. Three of the first five Furman batters drew walks and Amber Kiser delivered a two-out, two-run single to plate Lynn Parmer and Danielle Franklin.
Kiser triggered another two-run outburst in the fifth. The sophomore opened the inning with a single, stole second and advanced to third on Abby Robertson's groundout. Stephanie Cushing followed with an RBI single and upped the Lady Paladin lead to 4-0 by scoring on Brythe Blankenship's two-out base knock.
Three singles and an error led to two Catamount runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Murray set down Western Carolina in the seventh to secure Furman's third straight victory.
Kiser, Cushing and Parmer each notched two hits for Furman while Kiser drove in two runs.
Savannah Filley and Lauren Ross combined to surrender four runs on six hits in five innings for the Catamounts. Ross suffered the loss to fall to 11-8.
The Lady Paladin victory clinches Furman's second straight trip to the SoCon finals.
