Greensboro, N.C. -- Mercer plated three runs in the top of the ninth inning to slip past Furman, 5-2, in the opening round of the Southern Conference Softball Championship on Wednesday afternoon at UNCG Softball Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.

The loss knocks the Paladins (29-27) into the losers bracket where they will take on the loser of this afternoon's Western Carolina versus Chattanooga contest in an elimination game at 10 a.m. on Thursday. Mercer (22-33) advances to face the winner of this afternoon's game tomorrow in the winners bracket.

With the game knotted at 2-2, Mercer's Meghan Rud tripled over the head of Furman leftfielder Taylor Collins to open the ninth inning and snap Paladin starter Lindsey Bert's streak of 17 consecutive batters retired. Rud raced home to give the Bears the lead on Taylor Rodgers sacrifice fly to center and Maxine Rodriguez added two insurance runs by following a pair of two-out singles with a double to center.

Mercer's Megan Bilgri retired Furman in order in the bottom of the frame to finish the complete game and improve to 7-7 in the circle. Bilgri limited the Paladins to just two runs on eight hits over nine innings, while recording four strikeouts and walking two batters.

Bert (18-16), who worked a career-high nine innings, suffered the loss by allowing five runs on eight hits. The sophomore fanned five batters without issuing a walk.

Furman's pitcher helped herself by opening the game with a single and gave the Paladins the lead when she scored from first on a double into the gap by Candace Johnson. Mercer plated two runs in the top of the third inning on an RBI single from Rud and sacrifice fly from Natalie Shiver, but Johnson tied the game in the bottom of the fourth with her single season school record 13th home run of 2016.

The score remained tied until Mercer pushed across Rud with the go-ahead run in the ninth inning.

Johnson went 2-for-3 with a double, homer and two RBI, while Bert finished 3-for-4 at the plate. Rud collected two hits for the Bears.

The tournament runs through Saturday and all of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday's games will be streamed live on the SoCon Digital Network with Saturday's championship round set to be streamed on ESPN3. Links for both live streaming and live statistics will be available at SoConSports.com and FurmanPaladins.com.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information