Greenville, S.C. – Furman plated three first-inning runs and
Emme Buzhardt tossed two shutout innings of relief to lead the Paladins to a 3-2, rain-shortened victory over ETSU on Saturday at Pepsi Stadium.
With Saturday's win, Furman completed its three-game series sweep of the Buccaneers and finished the regular season at 24-29 overall and 9-12 in the Southern Conference. ETSU slipped to 11-38 overall and 5-16 in the conference.
The Paladins got all the offense they would need in the bottom of the first.
Ashlee Lykins opened the frame with a bunt single and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on
Sylvia Burroughs' two-out double into the right-center field gap.
Kaitlyn Laudick kept the inning alive with a base on balls and
Ainsley Yoshizumi drove in the second run of the frame with a bad-hop single to shortstop. Laudick and Yoshizumi executed a double steal to up the margin to 3-0.
After ETSU scratched across single runs in the second and third innings, Buzhardt (4-6) entered the circle to start the top of the fourth and pitched a pair of shutout innings to earn her second victory of the weekend. She allowed just two hits and retired six of the nine batters the faced.
Rain started to fall in the bottom of the fourth inning and the game was halted in the bottom of the fifth after Lykins, who went 2-for-2 on the day, was hit by a pitch to open the inning. The field became unplayable quickly with the heavy rains setting in and the game was called.
ETSU starter Sara Muir (4-8) suffered the loss after allowing three runs on four hits in two innings of work. Riley Nayadley went 3-for-3 at the place for the Bucs.
Furman and ETSU will both open play in the single elimination portion of the SoCon Softball Championship on Wednesday, May 8, at UNCG Softball Stadium in Greensboro, N.C. The eighth-seeded Bucs are slated to face the yet-to-be-determined No. 5 seed at 10:00 a.m. while Furman will play at 1 p.m. The winners of the 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. games will advance to the six-team, double elimination portion of the tournament, which begins Wednesday afternoon.
