Jacksonville, Fla. – Jacksonville plated three runs in the first inning and added two in the third on its way to a 5-3 victory over Furman in the final game of the day on Friday at the River City Leadoff in Jacksonville, Fla.
With the victory, the Dolphins improved to 2-0. Furman, 3-2 winners against Georgetown in the season opener earlier in the day, dropped to 1-1.
Furman jumped on top in the first when
Ashlee Lykins opened the game with a single, advanced to second base on
Riley Ludlam's base hit, and scored on
Kiley Perry's single. Jacksonville took advantage of two walks and a Paladin error to tie the game in the bottom of the first and grabbed the lead on Alison Carter's two-out, RBI base hit.
Sophomore
Ainsley Yoshizumi started the top half of the third inning with a triple and scored on Lykins' single to center field, but the Dolphins answered with two more runs in the bottom of the frame. With two outs, Paladin starter
Lauralee Scott plunked two batters and Madison Reynolds followed with a two-run single to extend the margin to 5-2.
The Paladins loaded the bases in the fifth inning as freshman
Sylvia Burroughs collected her first collegiate hit, Lykins was hit by a pitch and
Caitlin Goldwait reached on a single. With two outs, Jacksonville booted a Perry grounder to allow a run before the Dolphins' Emma Whitfield induced a popup to end the frame.
Whitfield (1-0) allowed just two earned runs on seven hits over seven innings to earn the win. She walked one and struck out one. Reynolds and Carter each drove in a pair of runs for the Dolphins.
Scott (0-1) suffered the loss for the Paladins after allowing five runs on five hits over three innings. She walked four batters, hit two, and notched two strikeouts. Fellow sophomore
Emme Buzhardt tossed three innings of scoreless relief for the Paladins.
Lykins reached base three times, including a pair of singles, to pace the Paladin offense.
Furman is scheduled to return to action on Saturday when it faces Georgetown at 2:30 p.m. and North Florida at 5 p.m. at the UNF Softball Complex in Jacksonville. Links for Saturday live video streams are also posted on the schedule page at FurmanPaladins.com. Log onto Twitter and follow @FurmanSoftball for updates and schedule changes.
