Greensboro, N.C. – No. 7 seed Western Carolina plated four runs in the first inning and scored at least one in each of the first four frames en route to an 8-6 victory over No. 6 seed Furman on the opening day of the Southern Conference Softball Championship Wednesday afternoon at UNCG Softball Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.
 
With the victory, the Catamounts (17-33) advanced to the double elimination portion of the tournament to face No. 3 seed Samford at 7 p.m. Furman finished its season at 24-30.
 
Western Carolina erupted for four runs in the top of the first inning on four singles and a pair of Furman errors. Lily Bell and Savannah Baldwin started the rally with singles and Taylor Whaitley delivered an RBI single to left field to open the scoring. Jeralynn Wells' single to center field doubled the Catamount advantage and Whaitley crossed the plate on Kennedy Dirks ground out to first base. With runners on first and third base, Maya McPherson swiped second base with two outs and Wells raced home as the throw to second sailed into center field.
 
WCU starter Tessa Juett helped her cause in the top of the second inning by lining a two-out solo blast over the right field fall to extend the Western Carolina lead to 5-0.
 
The Paladins evened the game with five runs in the bottom of the second inning. Kaitlyn Laudick opened the inning with a double into the opposite field gap and scored from second base on Chloe Fabio's two-out bloop single to center field. Ashlee Lykins followed with a single to left to load the bases before one run scored on Caitlin Goldwait's base hit up the middle and two more crossed the plate on Kiley Perry's bloop single into center field. Sylvia Burroughs knotted the game at 5-5 with an RBI single to center before Makenzie Martin came on in relief to get the Catamounts out of the jam.
 
The Catamounts immediately regained the lead in the top of the third when Wells reached base on a one-out single and Dirks followed with an RBI double into the gap in right-center. Kennedy Stewman doubled the lead two batters later with a single over the head of the shortstop to plate Wells and give Western Carolina a 7-5 lead. In the bottom of the fourth, the Catamounts extended the margin to 8-5 as Lily Bell reached on a leadoff single, stole second base, and scored on Baldwin's flare down the right field line.
 
Furman mounted a rally in the sixth as Ansley Chiang and Fabio singled ahead of Charlotte Brooks' RBI ground out to trim the deficit to 8-6. Martin bounced back, however, to get Goldwait on a grounder to end the sixth inning. She retired the Paladins in order in the seventh to close out the game.
 
Martin (1-13) picked up her first win of the season by holding Furman to a run on three hits over 5.1 innings of relief. The righthander fanned one batter without allowing a walk to earn the win.
 
Junior Lauralee Scott (7-6) absorbed the loss for the Paladins after allowing two runs on three hits in 1.1 innings in the circle. She followed starter Sierra Tufts, who gave up five runs on five hits in 1.2 innings of work. Emme Buzhardt kept the Paladins close by holding Western Carolina to one run over four innings of relief.
 
Bell, Baldwin, and Wells each registered two hits apiece to lead the Catamounts while Dirks batted in two runs. Chiang went 2-for-2 with a base on balls and two runs for Furman. Fabio notched two hits for the Paladins and Perry added a pair of RBIs.