Greenville, S.C. – Senior
Sierra Tufts held Western Carolina to one run over five innings in the circle and
Chrissy Fleming beat a throw to the plate to score the winning run as Furman completed a three-game Southern Conference series sweep of the Catamounts in walk-off fashion with a 5-4 verdict on Sunday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium.
The victory, Furman's sixth straight win, improved the Paladins to 16-14 overall and 3-0 in league play. The Paladins have swept three consecutive series versus Western Carolina and won 10 straight meetings against the Catamounts. Western Carolina dropped to 7-15 overall and 0-3 in the SoCon.
Furman took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when
Alex Rose Molinar reached on an error to start the frame and scored on
Ashlee Lykins two-out, RBI single up the middle. In the bottom of the fourth, Molinar and
Chloe Fabio delivered singles ahead of an
Ainsley Yoshizumi walk to load the bases. After the lead runner was erased on a grounder to first base,
Kaitlyn Laudick worked a base on balls to force in a run.
Sylvia Burroughs followed with a line drive single to center to plate to runs and up the Paladin lead to 4-0.
Tufts, who improved to 8-4 in the circle with her third win of the week, cruised through the first four innings before
Lauralee Scott came on in relief and held the Catamounts to one run over the next two frames. With the Paladins leading 4-1 in the top of the seventh, Sydney Dirks worked a leadoff walk and Lily Bell laced a single to left field to send Furman to the bullpen. Tufts returned to the circle and induced a lineout for the first out of the innings, but Western Carolina got an RBI groundout by Savannah Baldwin and RBI base hit from Maya McPherson to trim the Furman lead to 4-3.
With two outs in the seventh, Jeralynn Wells and singled and Kennedy Stewman followed with an RBI single back up the middle to knot the game at 4-4. Tufts retired Taylor Waitley to send the game to the bottom of the seventh tied at 4-4.
Burroughs opened Furman's half of the seventh with a walk off Western Carolina reliever Tessa Juett.
Kiley Perry bounced a grounder to third that WCU's McPherson wide of the second base bag attempting to retire Fleming, who was pinch running for Burroughs. Juett fanned struck out Poole and
Ansley Chiang drew a walk to load the bases with one out and bring Molinar to the plate. The Paladin shortstop hit a tricky hopper towards short and Bell attempted to force out Fleming at the plate, but the senior slid across home with the winning run as the throw bounced past Waitley.
Tufts finished with a pair of strikeouts and two walks while allowing one run on six hits. Juett (5-7) absorbed the loss allowing just an unearned run on one hit in three innings of work for the Catamounts.
Lykins and Burroughs each went 1-for-3 at the plate with a single and a walk to lead the Furman offense. With her first-inning RBI single, Lykins reached base safely for the 26
th time in 27 games. Wells went 3-for-4 at the plate for Western Carolina while Stewman added a pair of hits.
Furman returns to the diamond on Wednesday with a 3 p.m. doubleheader at USC Upstate. The twinbill will be streamed live on ESPN+ from Cyrill Stadium in Spartanburg, S.C.
