Feb. 21, 2007

Game 1 - Box Score
Game 2 - Box Score

KENNESAW, Ga. - The Samford University softball team's season-best, five-game winning streak came to an end Wednesday as the Bulldogs suffered a pair of one-run defeats on the road against the Kennesaw State Owls, 8-7 and 1-0 (8), at Bailey Park.

Samford (7-4) used a seventh-inning grand slam from senior Shelley Stanley to mount a late comeback in game one, but five Bulldog errors allowed Kennesaw State (9-4) to hold on for an 8-7 victory. Stanley was 2-for-4 in the game and finished with four runs batted in.

In the nightcap of Wednesday's non-conference doubleheader, Samford's Stephanie Royall hurled a complete-game three hitter and didn't allow an earned run.

Kennesaw State took advantage of the Bulldogs' lone miscue of the nightcap and tallied the game-winning score in the bottom of the eighth inning. The 1-0 loss was Samford's first extra-inning decision of the season.

The Bulldogs suffered their first two-game losing streak of the season Wednesday.

Heading into the doubleheader, Samford had won five-straight games and earned the championship title of the 2007 Georgia Southern Invitational. The Bulldogs' previous two defeats occurred at Florida State, which is currently the 20th-ranked team in the nation.

In Wednesday's losses against Kennesaw State, the Bulldogs committed six errors and allowed five unearned runs. The Owls scored a total of nine runs on 14 hits.

Samford fell behind early, 2-1, in the opening game of the doubleheader, but used a sacrifice fly from senior Liz Pearse to even the score at 2-2 in the top of the third inning.

Pearse, who also drove in the Bulldogs' first run of the game with a triple down the left field line, extended her hitting streak to six-consecutive games and finished with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate. She tallied three RBIs and scored a run.

Kennesaw State took advantage of a pair of costly errors in the bottom of the fifth inning and scored five runs en route to a 7-2 lead.

The Owls notched five hits in the frame and received key RBIs from Keri McKee and Malorie Weller. McKee led Kennesaw State with a 3-for-3 performance at the plate, while Weller was 2-for-4 and also scored a run.

With Samford trailing 8-2 in the top of the seventh inning, Whitney Terry earned a walk, Jeslyn Metcalf reached base on an error and Pearse singled through the right side for her third RBI of the game. After Terry crossed the plate to make the score 7-3, Amanda Barrs drew a two-out walk and Kennesaw State changed pitchers, bringing Janet Kearns in for Norie Glazebrook.

The first batter that Kearns faced was Samford's Stanley who blasted a deep grand slam over the centerfield fence.

Stanley, the Bulldogs' all-time home run leader, increased her school-record total to 27 with the blast and trimmed the Owls' lead to 8-7. Samford's senior from Decatur, Ala., has connected on two home runs this season.

Following Stanley's heroics, Kennesaw State's Kearns was able to bounce back and get the final out of the game. The save was her first of the season.

Game two of Wednesday's doubleheader proved to be an old-fashioned pitchers duel. The teams combined for a total of four hits and the Owls scored the clinching run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Royall, Samford's sophomore pitcher, started the game for the Bulldogs and only allowed three hits in 7 2/3 innings. She finished with eight strikeouts and gave up three walks.

With the tough-luck loss, Royall suffered her second defeat of the season and fell to 5-2 this year. Fellow-sophomore Jessica Owens picked up Samford's lone hit of the game.

The Samford University softball team will next be in action Feb. 28, as the Bulldogs host the fifth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide at 6:30 p.m., in their 2007 home-opener at Bulldog Field.