Mobile, Ala. – Furman dropped a pair of games on the final day of the South Alabama Invitational on Sunday as the Paladins fell 7-3 to Louisiana Tech and 4-0 to Mississippi State at Jaguar Field in Mobile, Ala.
Game 1: Louisiana Tech 7, Furman 3
Louisiana Tech (9-4) struck for three runs in the first inning without the benefit of a hit and added two more in the third inning on its way to a 7-3 victory over the Paladins on Sunday morning.
After back-to-back walks to open the bottom of the first, an error allowed two Lady Techsters to score. Following another base on balls, Amanda Gonzalez drove in a run with a ground out to up the Louisiana Tech lead to 3-0.
Furman got on the board on
Kiley Perry's solo blast in the second inning, but Louisiana Tech's Kate Cooper singled up the middle to plate two more runs in the bottom of the third to increase the margin to 5-1. The Paladins and Lady Techsters traded runs with Furman's
Hana Suniga hitting her first homer of the season in the fifth and Tech's Kylie Neel driving in a run in the sixth.
Down 7-2, Furman's
Hana Hashioka scored on an RBI single from
Chloe Fabio, who recorded two hits for the game, in the seventh before reliever Alys Martin retired the next batter to end the game. Emma Hutchinson (2-0) earned the victory for Louisiana Tech allowing two runs on four hits over five innings. She fanned one without issuing a walk.
Carol Easom went 3-for-4 and reached base four times for Louisiana Tech while Neel collected two hits.
Paladin starter
Sierra Tufts gave up five runs on three hits and four walks over 2.1 innings in the circle to absorb the loss and drop to 3-4 on the year.
Game 2: Mississippi State 4, Furman 0
Mississippi State righthander Josey Marron tossed one-hit shutout and fanned 13 Paladins to power the Bulldogs to a 4-0 victory in Furman's final game at the South Alabama Invitational.
Marron, who improved to 5-0 in the circle, allowed just a second-inning single to Slyvia Burroughs and one base on balls to help the Bulldogs up their record to 11-4 and finish unbeaten in Mobile.
Mississippi State loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning against Paladin starter
Lauralee Scott, but the Furman sophomore limited the damage to a single run. Paige Cook reached base on a one-out single and scored on Aquana Brownlee's double into the gap to up the Bulldogs advantage to 2-0 in the third inning.
In the top of the sixth, Nadia Barbary roped a one-out double and scored on Shea Moreno's base hit before Moreno scored on a single off the bat of Chloe Malau'ulu.
Scott (1-3) took the loss for Furman allowing two runs on six hits in three innings. Reliever
Sierra Tufts gave up a pair of runs on three hits over four innings of work for the Paladins.
Furman (4-10) returns to action next weekend, March 3-5, at the Campbell Invitational in Buies Creek, N.C.
