Macon, Ga. – AB Cipalla totaled five hits and
Sylvia Burroughs and
Rachel Hawkins each drove in five runs to lead Furman to a 6-4, 5-1 doubleheader sweep of Mercer in Southern Conference softball action Saturday afternoon at Sikes Field.
Game 1: Furman 6, Mercer 4
Furman took control in the first inning of the series opener. A single, hit batter and base on balls loaded the bases with one out and Hawkins crushed a grand slam to left-center field two batters later to stake the Paladins to a 4-0 lead.
Back-to-back RBI double in the bottom of the second and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning by Olivia Lenzen trimmed the Furman lead to 4-3. The score remained the same until the top of the sixth when Furman mounted a two-out rally. Cipalla and
Kristyn Embler delivered back-to-back hits ahead of Burroughs' two-run single to left-center to extend the Furman advantage to 6-3.
Embler worked around a one-out homer by Lenzen in the bottom of the sixth finish finish off the complete game and improve to 6-10 in the circle. The freshman righthander limited the Bears to four runs on five hits while striking out two and walking two batters.
Cipalla went 3-for-4 at the plate while Hawkins collected two hits and drove in four runs. Burroughs recorded a hit, two walks and drove in two.
Grace Jones (4-4) took the loss for Mercer after giving up four runs on five hits in five innings. She walked four batters and fanned four.
Game 2: Furman 5, Mercer 1
In game two, Burroughs and
Kate Stoltzfus combined to register four extra base hits and
Jamison Noonan three six scoreless innings of relief to propel Furman to a 5-1 win.
Mercer opened the bottom of the second inning with back-to-back walks against Paladin starter
Lily O'Bryan, but Noonan (2-9) came out of the bullpen to hold the Bears to just one run in the frame. The freshman went on to hold Mercer to only four hits in six scoreless innings while walking just one batter and striking out two.
Trailing 1-0, Furman woke up its bats in the top of the fourth as Cipalla reached on a leadoff single and scored on Burroughs' two-run home run to straightaway center field. The Paladins added a pair of insurance runs to innings later. Stoltzfus began the sixth inning with a double and scored on Burrough's double into the right-center field gap.
Katie Peeler worked a walk to keep the inning alive and Hawkins drove in Furman's fifth run with a two-out single up the middle.
Noonan gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth before retiring the final six batters to close out the 5-1 victory.
Stoltzfus finished 2-for-4 with a double and a triple, Cipalla went 2-for-3, and Burroughs posted a 2-for-3 outing with a double and a homer in game two.
Starter Katheryn Rearley (4-4) took the loss for the Bears allowing four runs on five hits over six innings of work.
Furman (9-31, 3-8 SoCon) and Mercer 16-23, 4-7 SoCon) conclude the three-game series with a single game on Sunday afternoon at 1:00. The series finale will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live statistics available through StatBroadcast at FurmanPaladins.com.
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