Greenville, S.C. – Freshman Meaghan Houston hurled a two-hit shutout to lead Furman to a 3-0 victory over Western Carolina in the finale of a three-game Southern Conference softball series on Sunday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium.

The win improved the Paladins to 19-17 overall and 7-7 in league play while the Catamounts, who won the series with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday, fell to 15-26 overall and 5-10 in the SoCon.

Houston (7-5), a native of Fort Worth, Texas, allowed just a fourth-inning single and fifth-inning double en route to her first career shutout.  She did not allow a walk and fanned two batters in her seven scoreless innings in the circle.

The fourth inning proved to be the turning point of the game.  Jordan Fulton opened the frame with a single and the Catamounts had runners on the corners with one out after Sieara Bishop was unable to handle Haley Pace's grounder to shortstop.  Pace attempted to swipe second but was thrown out by Paladin catcher Hannah Pace before Houston induced a ground ball to second base from Shemekia Scotton to end the threat.

In the bottom of the inning, Ambree Muller lined a one-out double off of the glove of leftfielder Amelia Griffin and advanced to third on Lauren Collier's ground out for the second out of the inning.  After Stephanie Field worked a two-out walk, Taylor Jenkins bounced a single through the left side to plate Muller and notch her team-leading 31st RBI of the campaign.  Pace followed with a line drive to center field to score Field and Stephanie Spain beat out an infield roller to drive in Jenkins with the third run of the frame.

Heather Chastain began the top of the fifth with a double into the gap off of Houston, but the left-hander retired the next three batters in order to strand the Catamount runner.

Taylor Sigmon (0-10) suffered the loss for Western Carolina allowing three runs on five hits in three and 2/3 innings.  She walked two batters and recorded four strikeouts.

Furman will step out of SoCon play for its next seven contests beginning with a doubleheader on Wednesday at Charlotte.  First pitch of the twinbill is set for 4 p.m.

Fans can follow live statistics for the doubleheader by logging onto www.FurmanPaladins.com.  Live updates are also available on Twitter by following @FurmanPaladins.