Greenville, S.C. – The first-place Furman softball team continues its quest for a Southern Conference regular season title when it faces preseason league favorite Samford in a three-game series this weekend at Samford Softball Field in Birmingham, Ala.
 
The series between the SoCon leaders opens with a 2 p.m. ET doubleheader on Saturday and concludes with a single game at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live statistics available through StatBroadcast. Links for the live streams and live stats can be accessed at FurmanPaladins.com.
 
Furman (19-24, 7-4 SoCon) has won seven of its last nine games and has gone 15-9 in its last 24 contests since beginning the season 4-15. The Paladins enter the weekend with a half-game lead over Samford (18-26, 7-5 SoCon) and UNC Greensboro (26-18, 5-3 SoCon) in the SoCon standings.
 
On Wednesday night, sophomore Caitlin Goldwait batted in four runs and freshman Sylvia Burroughs launched a pair of home runs to propel Furman to a 5-2, 6-5 doubleheader sweep of the Queens Royals at Pepsi Stadium. Sophomore Emme Buzhardt and junior Sierra Tufts earned victories in the circle versus the Royals.
 
Buzhardt has posted a 7-6 record and 2.87 ERA while leading Furman to eight wins in her last 10 starts in the circle. She has fashioned a 4-1 record and 0.93 ERA in six appearances during league play. Tufts is 10-9 on the season with a 3.28 ERA in 126 innings of work.
 
Furman comes into the weekend with a league-best .270 batting average and the Paladins have hit at a .313 clip in 11 SoCon games. Through 43 games, Furman also leads the conference in hits (318), triples (6), and stolen bases (47) while ranking second in runs (190), homers (38), on base percentage (.339), and slugging percentage (.411).
 
Saturday's series opener between Furman and Samford marks the 66^th all-time meeting in a series which the Paladins lead 36-29. Samford, however, has won six of the last eight meetings, including a 6-1 triumph over Furman in the 2022 SoCon Tournament.
 
Following this weekend's series, Furman returns home to conclude SoCon play with a three-game series versus Chattanooga on April 29-30. After a visit to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face North Carolina on May 3, Furman travels to Frost Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn., May 10-13 for the double elimination SoCon Tournament.