A two-RBI double by Jennifer Marshall in the first inning proved to be the difference in game one after a late-inning rally by the Paladins fell short, giving the Presbyterian College softball team the 3-2 win in the first game of a doubleheader this afternoon at the PC Softball Complex in Clinton, S.C. The Paladins answered with a three-RBI double in the fourth inning of game two to give Furman the 7-5 win, preventing the sweep by PC. The second game was called after the sixth inning due to darkness.
PC moves to 4-6 on the season, while Furman improves to 6-2.
Earning the win for the Paladins on the mound in game two was Meghan Houston (3-0), who went the distance, striking out five while giving up four earned runs off nine hits. Lauren Collier (3-1) picked up the loss in game one, with three surrendered earned runs off seven hits.
Kensley Loudermelk went to 3-2 on the year after giving up two earned runs off seven hits and striking out six in a complete game one. Kelsey Barnette (0-1), who threw 2.2 innings of relief in the second game, picked up the loss after surrendering one earned run off three hits.
Morgan Durham led the Blue Hose effort with her three-for-five effort with a triple, a home run and two RBI. Marshall recorded three this and posted two RBI for the Blue Hose as well.
Sieara Bishop led Furman with three hits in five at-bats, one home run and two RBI. Taylor Jenkins had two hits and three RBI.
The Blue Hose jumped on the board early in the first inning of game one with three straight singles, the last one a RBI shot up the middle by Cat Tarvin to drive in Erin Ruff, who was the first to collect a PC base hit. Marshall stepped up to the plate two batters later and laced a single to center field, driving in Erin Taylor and Tarvin, to give the Blue Hose the 3-0 lead.
Furman's Ambree Muller led off the third with a triple to left field and came home two batters later off the RBI ground-out from Stephanie Spain. The Paladins made it a close game again with a lead-off home run by Collier in the top of the sixth. Furman put runners at second and third with just one out, but the next two batters went down in order to end the threat.
After a scoreless top of the seventh inning by PC, Loudermelk retired the next three Furman batters in a row to help the Blue Hose preserve the 3-2 win.
PC led 4-1 after three innings of game two, helped in part to a RBI single by Ruff in the first inning that drove home Tarvin after she knocked a double to right field her at-bat. Marshall doubled in the second and scored two batters later when Durham knocked a triple to center field. Durham came home herself off the bat of Tera Powell, who hit a RBI up the middle to make it 3-1 in favor of the Blue Hose.
PC's fourth run came in the third from Kersten Legacki, who collected a single to right her at-bat and scored a Furman error.
Furman, which has scored a run in the second, stormed ahead of the Blue Hose in the fourth with four runs to take a 5-4 lead. With one out, the Paladins strung together four hits in a row, including a three-RBI double to left field by Jenkins. She would score the two batters later off a wild pitch.
The Blue Hose tied the game at 5-5 the bottom of the fourth inning off a solo home run by Durham, her third of the season.
The eventual game-winner came in the fifth when Bishop hit a two-run home run over the left field wall to give the Paladins the 7-5 lead and eventual win after the game was call for darkness in the sixth.
PC next travels to Spartanburg for the Coke Zero Spartan Classic this coming weekend, Feb. 22-23. The Blue Hose take on Georgetown and Kentucky on Friday before facing Howard and host USC Upstate on Saturday.
