Birmingham, Ala. – Virginia Irby delivered a walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh to help Colgate escape Furman, 5-4, in non-conference softball action Saturday night in the UAB Tournament at Mary Bowers Field in Birmingham, Ala.
Sabrina Odierno worked a leadoff walk to start the seventh and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt before Irby laced a double into the gap to help the Raiders break a 4-4 tie and improve to 12-7 on the season.
Colgate held a 4-1 lead entering the seventh inning, but Furman pulled even with a three-run rally in the top of the frame.
Amanda Fleming earned a leadoff walk and scored on
Savannah Hughes' RBI double off of Raider reliever Jess Hay. Two batters later, sophomore
Natalie Morgan lined a two-run homer to right-center field to knot the game at 4-4.
Senior
Morgan Smith (3-9) suffered the loss for the Paladins. She allowed five runs on five hits in six and one-third innings of work while striking out six and walking three. Kaitlyn Borruso (1-0), who came on two retire the final two batters in the top of the seventh, earned the win for Colgate.
Morgan and
Emily Bartlett led the Furman offensive collecting two hits apiece.
Furman faces host UAB on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET in the tournament finale. Fans can follow live statistics for Sunday's game at FurmanPaladins.com and updates will be available throughout the weekend by following @FurmanSoftball on Twitter. A live stream will be available for a subscription fee.
