Chattanooga, Tenn. -- Courtney Price highlighted a four-run sixth inning for Western Carolina with a go-ahead, two-run home run to propel the Catamounts to a 6-1 victory over Furman in the opening game of the Southern Conference Softball Championship on Wednesday morning at Frost Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The loss drops fourth-seeded Furman (29-24) into a 7 p.m. elimination game on Thursday while fifth-seeded Western Carolina (21-29) advances to face top-seed Chattanooga at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday.

With the game tied at 1-1 in the top of the sixth, Price belted a 1-2 pitch from Furman freshman Lindsey Bert over the right field wall with two outs to stake the Catamounts to a 3-1 lead.  Crystal Cyr followed with a double on a towering fly ball to left field that Taylor Collins lost in the sun and Taylor Sigmon was intentionally walked.  Amber Kimrey made the Paladins pay for the free pass by ripping a two-run double into the gap to up the WCU lead to 5-1.

The Catamounts added an insurance run on a two-out, RBI single by Price in the top of the seventh and senior hurler Jordan Garrett finished off the complete game in the bottom of the frame to earn the victory.  Garrett held Furman to just one run on five hits to improve her record to 15-15 in the circle.  She walked four Paladins, but also totaled seven strikeouts.

Furman grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Natalie Clemmons legged out an infield single with two outs to start a the rally, Sieara Bishop worked a base on balls and senior Taylor Jenkins followed with an RBI single down the right field line.

Western Carolina tied the contest in the top of the fifth on Karley Harkey's RBI single up the middle with two outs after Sigmon had reached base on a one-out double. The Catamounts, who totaled nine hits on the day, scored all six of their runs with two out.

Bert (21-13), who saw her streak of 20 consecutive shutout innings versus the Catamounts snapped on Harkey's RBI single in the fifth inning, suffered the loss for Furman as she surrendered six runs on nine hits in seven innings.  The left-hander recorded punch outs while issuing one walk.

Thursday's elimination game, against an opponent yet to be determined, will be streamed live and for free on the SoCon Digital Network and live stats will be available at FurmanPaladins.com.  In-game updates of each Furman game will be available through Twitter by following @FurmanSoftball.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information