Game 1 Boxscore

Game 2 Boxscore

Cullowhee, N.C. -- Freshman Lindsey Bert tossed a two-hit shutout in game one and earned a save in game two as Furman completed a 3-0, 8-6 doubleheader sweep of Western Carolina on Saturday afternoon in Cullowhee, N.C., to extend its winning streak to six games and move into fourth place in the Southern Conference standings.

GAME 1

Bert, who recorded her second consecutive shutout, limited the Catamounts to just a two-out single in the fourth inning and one-out base hit in the fifth to improve to 18-11 in the circle with a 3-0 victory in game one.

The Tallahassee, Fla., product fanned five batters and issued three walks to follow up her 12-0 shutout of ETSU in her last outing on April 18, in Johnson City, Tenn.

Western Carolina's Jordan Garrett matched Bert pitch-for-pitch through the first four innings before Furman's Ambree Muller broke a scoreless tie with a solo blast to right-center field, her fourth of the season, to lead off the top of the fifth.  Garrett (14-14) escaped a bases loaded, one-out situation later in the inning to keep the score at 1-0, but Furman added to its lead in the sixth inning.  With Muller on second base and two outs against reliever Taylor Sigmon, Furman's Natalie Clemmons lined a base hit to left field that kicked off of left fielder Courtney Price's leg and rolled to the wall allowing Muller and Clemmons to score on the play.

Bert retired the final eight batters she faced to close out the game.  Garrett, who worked five and 1/3 innings, took the loss by allowing two runs on four hits.  She fanned eight batters and walked four.

Clemmons went 2-for-3 at the plate, while Muller homered and scored two of Furman's three runs.

GAME 2

In the second game of the doubleheader, Bert entered the game in relief of Alex Sappington to record the final four outs as Furman held on for an 8-6 triumph.

Leading 8-4 entering the bottom of the sixth, Sappington retired the first two Catamount batters before Sigmon reached on a dropped fly ball in left field and Amber Kimrey lined a single through the left side.  Bert entered the game and uncorked a wild pitch to allow Sigmon to score and Kimrey came home on Karley Harkey's two-out single, but the left-hander retired Victoria Mariscal to end the frame.  In the seventh, Bert worked around a single to complete the save.

Sappington, who allowed four earned runs on five hits in five and 2/3 innings, earned the victory to improve to 5-10.  She retired the first 12 batters she faced on just 37 pitches before running into trouble in the bottom of the fifth.  Singles by Heather Chastain, Kimrey and Harkey set the table for Mariscal who hammered a two-out grand slam to center field to trim Furman's 5-0 lead to a single run.

The Paladins answered in the sixth inning as Taylor Collins greeted WCU reliever Courtney Buchanan with a leadoff homer to left-center before Clemmons followed a Muller base on balls with a two-run blast to right-center.

Furman had grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning as Muller reached on a leadoff double and scored on Taylor Jenkins' bunt single.  Elise Smith laced a two-out, two-run double to right field later in the inning and Jenkins added a two-run blast in the top of the fifth for the Paladins.

Garrett suffered her second loss of the day by allowing three runs on five hits in four innings in game two action.

Jenkins went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI for Furman, while Clemmons went 2-for-4 with a two-run roundtripper and two runs.

The Paladins clubbed three homers in the nightcap to give them a school single season record 41 long balls in 2015.

The three-game series concludes with a single game on Sunday at the Catamount Softball Complex at 1 p.m.  Fans can follow live stats of the series finale via StatBroadcast at FurmanPaladins.com. In-game updates will be available through Twitter by following @FurmanSoftball.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information