Birmingham, Ala. – Pitchers
Angelina Ricciardi and
Emme Buzhardt held the Southern Conference's top offensive to one unearned run and
Kiley Perry belted a three-run homer as Furman topped first-place Samford, 6-1, in the finale of a three-game series Saturday afternoon at Samford Softball Stadium.
Ricciardi, making her second start of the weekend, limited the Bulldogs to an unearned run on six hits over 4.2 innings to improve to 6-8 in the circle. The sophomore walked three batters and fanned two against the Bulldogs, who entered the day batting .314 as a team.
Buzhardt came on in relief of Ricciardi with two on and two out in the fifth and induced a fly ball to escape the jam. She finished the day working 2.1 shutout innings allowing only two hits to secure her third save of the campaign.
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning,
Sylvia Burroughs worked a base on balls and
Rachel Hawkins and Perry delivered singles to load the bases for the Paladins. Samford's Jordyn Partain got
Grayson Snead to pop out to shallow right field for the second out of the inning but
Hope Marshburn lined a base hit off the glove of first baseman Olivia Shaw that trickled into foul territory allowing two runs to score.
After Ricciardi stranded the bases loaded with a strikeout to retire the Bulldogs in the bottom of the fourth,
Caitlin Goldwait reached on a leadoff single in the fifth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly from Hawkins to double the Furman lead.
In the top of the seventh,
Ansley Chiang recorded a one-out single and Burroughs doubled over the head of Samford's centerfielder before Perry lined a three-run homer off the left field foul pole to increase the margin to 6-1. The home run marked Perry's third of the season and 25
th of her career.
Perry went 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBI while Marshburn finished 2-for-3 with two RBI. Burroughs reached base three times with a double and two walks.
Partain (13-11) absorbed the loss for Samford. She surrendered six runs on nine hits over 6.2 innings of work. Shaw and Elle Nelson each collected a pair of hits for the Bulldogs.
The victory snapped Furman's nine-game skid and improved the Paladins to 14-31 overall and 4-11 in the SoCon. Samford dropped to 30-18 overall and 11-4 in league play.
Furman returns to action with a three-game series at Western Carolina next Saturday and Sunday.