Samford University
Morehead State
Royall Throws Three-Hitter In 5-0 Win Over Morehead State
4.28.07 | Softball
April 28, 2007
Game 1 - Box Score
Game 2 - Box Score
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Samford University softball team set the school's single-season record in wins Saturday as the Bulldogs picked up a pair of shutout victories against the Morehead State Eagles 5-0 and 4-0. With the doubleheader sweep, Samford earned its record 29th win of the year.
Samford (29-19, 14-9 Ohio Valley Conference) used a pair of shutout pitching performances from sophomore Stephanie Royall (17-11) and senior Susanna Meyer (9-6) to surpass the previous school-record mark of 28 wins. The Bulldogs finished the 2004 campaign with a 28-33 overall record.
Royall, Samford's game one starter, picked up eight strikeouts in the 5-0 victory. A native of Mill Valley, Calif., she only allowed three hits and tallied her team-high sixth shutout win of the 2007 season.
Meyer, the Bulldogs' native of Davie, Fla., started game two and earned a 4-0 victory.
The Eagles' Krystle Coleman opened the game with a single to left field, but then Meyer did not allow a hit for the remainder of the contest. She tallied five strikeouts and only gave up one walk in seven innings.
With its pair of losses Saturday, Morehead State (19-30, 5-17 OVC) had its conference losing streak extended to four games. The Eagles have been defeated in 10 of their previous 12 OVC contests.
Morehead State's Ashley Archer was the only Eagle to record two hits in the doubleheader. She completed game one with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate.
Samford was led offensively by Liz Pearse, Shelley Stanley and Jessica Owens in its 5-0 game one victory. The Bulldogs exploded for four runs in the top of the seventh inning and the rally was highlighted by Owens' base-clearing triple to left center field.
Samford's speedy outfielder from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., went 3-for-4 in the contest, while Pearse was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI. Stanley, the Bulldogs' all-time leader in home runs, turned in a 1-for-2 outing at the plate. She scored a run and increased her school-record career total in RBIs to 112.
In game two, freshman Amanda Barrs and senior Pearse both homered for Samford in a 4-0 victory.
Barrs gave the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead in the contest as she led off the top of the second inning with her sixth home run of the season. She went 1-for-3 in the game and became only the second Samford player to hit six home runs as a true freshman.
Pearse, Samford's starting shortstop from Cary, N.C., hit a two-run homer in the third inning as the Bulldogs scored four runs to take their decisive 4-0 advantage.
The roundtripper was Pearse's sixth of the season and the 12th of her four-year career. With the homer, she moved into a two-way tie with Janet Middleton for fourth place on the school's all-time home run list.
Both freshman Brittany Simao and Pearse went 1-for-3 in game two, while Owens turned in a 2-for-3 performance at the plate. She finished the doubleheader with a near-perfect 5-for-7 average.
The Samford University softball team will attempt to complete its three-game OVC series sweep against the Morehead State Eagles on Sunday at 11 a.m.
