Cullowhee, N.C. -- Furman left-hander Lindsey Bert tossed a five-hit shutout to lead the Paladins to a 1-0 victory over Western Carolina on Sunday afternoon and a three-game series sweep of the Catamounts in Cullowhee, N.C.

The victory in the series finale marked the seventh straight win for the Paladins and improved Furman to 26-21 overall and 9-6 in Southern Conference play.  Western fell to 20-29 overall and 8-9 in the league.

With Furman clinging to a 1-0 lead, Western Carolina's Heather Chastain and Taylor Sigmon opened the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back singles and moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt.  Bert fanned Karley Harkey for the second out before striking out pinch hitter Brooke Coggins to secure the victory.

The win was the 19th for Bert (19-11), who became the first Furman hurler to notch 19 victories in a season in more than a decade.  The freshman struck out eight batters while scattering five hits in the complete game effort after tossing a two-hit shutout in game one of the series and earning a save in game two on Saturday.  Bert finished the weekend with a 2-0 record, save and 0.00 ERA in 15 and 1/3 innings of work.

Western Carolina senior Jordan Garrett (14-15) suffered the loss despite holding Furman to just a run on two hits in seven innings. She tallied seven strikeouts in the loss, but also issued seven walks.

With the game scoreless after six innings, Furman's AnnaRose Borrelli lined a pinch hit single back up the middle to leadoff the seventh inning.  After Garrett erased pinch runner Andrea Abbatiello on Emma Ogburn's bunt and Courtney Jacobs was thrown out on a sacrifice bunt that advanced Ogburn to second base, Ambree Muller and Natalie Clemmons worked two-out walks to load the bases.  Junior Sieara Bishop fouled off a pair of two-strike pitched before drawing a bases loaded walk to force in Ogburn with the game's lone run.

Bishop went 1-for-2 with a single, two walks and the game's only RBI while Muller and Bert drew two walks apiece.

The win marked Furman's eighth triumph in its last nine meetings with Western Carolina and gave the Paladins five wins in their last six games in Cullowhee.
 
Furman caps its non-conference schedule with a 3 p.m. twinbill at Gardner-Webb on Wednesday before hosting league rival UNCG in the final SoCon series of the regular season on Saturday and Sunday at Pepsi Stadium.

Fans can follow live stats for all five game via StatBroadcast at FurmanPaladins.com. In-game updates will be available through Twitter by following @FurmanSoftball.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information