March 7, 2006
Box Score
Greenville, S.C. -
Senior Jessica Mathis belted a three-run, walk-off home run to right-center field in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift Furman to a 5-4 victory over Charleston Southern and doubleheader sweep of the Buccaneers Tuesday afternoon in softball action at Pepsi Stadium. Furman blanked the Bucs 11-0 in game one.
Facing a 4-2 deficit entering the bottom of the seventh in game two, Abby Robertson started the frame with a single through the left side. Blake Murray singled up the middle to give Furman two runners on base wth no one out. Amber Kiser popped up an attempted sacrifice bunt for the first out of the inning. Mathis followed with her first homer of the season to cap the dramatic comeback.
Furman took an early 2-1 lead on the Buccaneers thanks to single runs in the first and second innings. Freshman Stephanie Cushing laced a two-out double in the first and came around to score on Amber Nelsen's RBI single to left. After CSU knotted the game in the top half of the second, Mathis delivered a bases loaded sacrifice fly to plate Robertson and give the Lady Paladins the 2-1 lead.
Charleston Southern pulled even in the top of the sixth. Jennifer Brools started the frame with a double to right field and scored on Tiffany Reid's single to center. In the top half of the seventh inning, Jill Shondel led off with a double and moved to third on Ashley Robinson's single. With one out, Robinson and Shondel executed a double steal to give the Bucs a 3-2 lead. After Furman reliever Erica Nesselroad got Dorothy Page to strike out swinging, Brooks laced a RBI single to right field to plate Robinson to up the Buccaneers advantage to 4-2.
Nesselroad (4-0) earned the victory for Furman despite allowing two runs on three its in one inning in the circle. The senior struck out three batters. Mathis totaled four RBI while Kiser and Murray each collected two base hits for Furman.
Amanda Noble fell to 2-9 for Charleston Southern after surrendering five runs in eight hits in 6.1 innings of work. Noble walked two batters and struck out four. Brooks led the Bucs at the plate going 4-for-4 with two doubles.
In the opening game of the twinbill, Nesselraod tossed a complete game, three-hitter and junior Megan Jaudon belted her third homer of the season to guide Furman to an 11-0 win in five innings.
The Lady Paladins put the game out of reach early with a seven run outburst in the bottom of the first inning. Kiser led off with a triple to left-center and Furman loaded the bases when Cushing was hit by a pitch and Amber Nelsen drew a base on balls.
Danielle Franklin and Lynn Parmer followed with back-to-back RBI singles and Robertson drew a bases loaded walk before Jaudon laced an RBI single to center to give Furman a 4-0 lead. With two outs, Kiser reached on a bunt single to score Parmer. Mathis capped the frame with a two-run single to left-center extending the Lady Paladins' lead to 7-0.
After relief pitcher Whitney James surredered a single to Cushing and issued a walk to Nelsen in the fourth, the righthander got Franklin and Parmer to pop out. With two down, Robertson drew her second base on balls in the game to load the bases for Jaudon. The Blacksburg, Va., native crushed a James offering off the scoreboard in left-centerfield for a grand slam and the final 11-0 margin.
Nesselroad struck out six and walked just two batters while hurling her second shutout of the season. Jaudon went 2-for-3 with five RBI to pace the Lady Paladins. Kiser collected three hits in three trips to the plate while Mathis batted in two runs.
Shondel (1-6) suffered the loss for Charleston Southern (4-18-1) allowing seven runs on six hits in two-thirds innings of work.
Furman, 12-10 on the season, travels to Kennesaw State for a Thursday doubleheader at 3:00 p.m. before taking part in the adidas/Winthrop Invitational this weekend.
