Rock Hill, S.C. -- Freshman Lindsey Bert needed just 77 pitches to toss her first career no-hitter and lead Furman to a 3-0 victory over host Winthrop in the Paladins' opening game of the Winthrop Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Terry Field.
Bert, a Tallahassee, Fla., native, fanned six batters, issued just one walk and worked around two errors to no-hit the Eagles and improve to 6-2 in the circle. Bert faced just 24 batters and went to a three-ball count only twice while hurling her second shutout of the week.
Furman got all the runs it would need early. Bert and Sieara Bishop reached on back-to-back singles with one out in the first before Elise Smith singled off of the glove of Winthrop first baseman Leah Young to put the Paladins in front. After adding a second run on an Eagle throwing error, Ambree Muller belted a solo homer to center field in the second inning to provide the final 3-0 margin.
Winthrop's Dallas King surrendered three runs on four hits in one and 1/3 innings of work to suffer the loss. She fell to 1-4 on the season.
Bishop went 2-for-3 to pace the Paladins six-hit attack.
In the second game of the Winthrop Invitational, Albany's Devin Durando turned the tables on Furman by allowing just four hits and striking out 13 in a complete-game effort as the Great Danes downed the Paladins, 7-1.
Durando, who moved to 2-0 in the circle, allowed just an unearned run in the opening frame and got a four-spot from her offense in the bottom of the inning to take control. Back-to-back singles sandwiched around a stolen base helped Albany tie the game in the bottom of the first and Marlin Solano highlighted the frame with a two-run blast to left field.
The Great Danes added another run in the fourth and two more in the bottom of the fifth to pull away from the Paladins (9-4) and improve to 5-2. Kelly Costello went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI for Albany, while Elizabeth Snow tripled and scored two runs.
Alex Sappington suffered the loss for Furman to drop to 2-2. The right-hander gave up six earned runs on six hits in five innings. She walked four batters and fanned three.
Furman returns to action at the Winthrop Invitational on Sunday morning when it faces Albany again at 10 a.m. The Paladins cap tournament play with a 12:00 p.m. contest against Belmont.
Live stats for each Furman game at this weekend's Winthrop Invitational will be available thru StatBroadcast by logging onto FurmanPaladins.com or on your mobile device at PaladinsMobile.com. Fans can follow in-game updates of each Furman game this week by following @FurmanSoftball on Twitter.
Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information
