Greenville, S.C. -- Lindsey Bert fanned a career-high 12 batters and tossed her seventh shutout of the season to lead Furman to a 1-0 victory over Mercer in the opening game of a three-game Southern Conference softball series on Friday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium.

Lightning delays followed by steady rains forced game two to be postponed until 10 a.m. on Saturday. Game three of the series will begin approximately 30 minutes after the completion of game two.

The victory improved the Paladins to 22-16 overall and 6-1 in SoCon play, while Mercer slipped to 19-25 overall and 5-5 in the league.

Bert doubled to the left-center field gap to open the bottom of the second. Pinch runner Carolina Nageotte advanced to third on Brittany Houston's sacrifice bunt and scored when Emma Ogburn popped up an attempted squeeze, but the catcher's throw to third base to try and double up Nageotte bounced into left field.

Bert retired 17 of the next 18 batters after allowing a second-inning single, including striking out the side in the third and fourth innings. After striking out the first two batters in the seventh, she plunked pinch hitter Taylor Rodgers, but the left-hander fanned Danielle Castleberry to seal the victory.

A Tallahassee, Fla., product, Bert fanned 12 while walking just three batters to improve to 12-8 in the circle. She surrendered only two hits in seven innings.

Fans can follow video streaming of the series on YouTube and live statistics via StatBroadcast. Links for both will be available at FurmanPaladins.com.



Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information