May 5, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford softball team got Senior Weekend off to a great start Thursday night as it swept its doubleheader from College of Charleston, 12-8 and 4-3. The Bulldogs strung together 14 hits in four innings to mount a comeback win in game one and took the second game on a walk-off single by Robyn Harmon.

"I felt like every single person on the team contributed to these wins tonight," Samford head coach Stephanie VanBrakle said. "We finally came through with the bats to back up our pitching for once, and I feel like that is the first time that we really played together as a team this year. We finally executed our game plan and it worked out for us tonight."

The Bulldogs improve to 13-37 overall and 9-14 in the Southern Conference while the College of Charleston falls to 32-19 overall and 11-11 in league play.

In the first game, each team notched a run in the first inning as Charleston's Katie Forbes doubled to drive in Lizzy Vaughn and Samford's Amanda Jordan singled with two on and one out to bring Brianna Chambers home.

Both teams went quietly in the second inning before the Cougars' bats warmed up in the third inning. Charleston opened up the inning with back-to-back doubles by Vaughn and Forbes to score the first run. Then Katie Pesature singled with two runners on to drive in Forbes. Kristi Woodall followed with a single to drive in Hodgson, who reached base on a walk, and then Katie Nutaitis followed with a single to drive in Pesature. The Bulldogs finally ended the inning as Kayla Burris struck out Hillary Stringer before Carly Corthell grounded out to second base. The Cougars held a 5-1 lead going into the bottom of the inning.

Charleston's bats were not the only ones to warm up as the Bulldogs cut the lead to two with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Kayla Shaffer led off the inning with a single and advanced to second base on an error by the pitcher. Chambers then struck out and Harmon grounded out to move Shaffer to third. Jordan singled to drive in Shaffer and then Lakan Smith rattled off a bomb to center field to bring the score to 6-4.

The Cougars had runners in scoring position three times in the fourth inning but could not get them across the plate. The Bulldogs also had an opportunity to cut the lead to one after back-to-back singles, but Charleston shut down the Bulldogs with three straight outs to end the inning.

Charleston added one more run in the top of the fifth when Burris hit Vaughn with a pitch with the base loaded to drive the seventh run in. However, the Bulldogs' defense backed Burris up and recorded the final two outs to keep the Cougars from scoring again.

The Bulldogs busted the game wide open in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring seven runs on six hits with the help of two Cougar errors. Nicole Bobrowski drove in the first run of the inning on a single with two runners on to score Jordan. Whitney Terry followed with a single down the left field line to drive in Smith. Alex Adams reached on a fielder's choice while Terry was called out at second base for the second out of the game, but the Bulldogs had only gotten started.

Aaren Fisher drove in Tessa Frates with an RBI single when she pinch hit for Arica Dykes, and Shaffer followed with a double to advance Fisher to third and drive in Adams from second. After the Cougars made a pitching change, Chambers singled and advanced to third on an error by the center fielder which also scored Shaffer and Fisher. Chambers then scored on a passed ball and the Bulldogs took over the lead, 11-7.

Burris only allowed one Charleston hit in the sixth inning before the Bulldogs added their twelfth run to the board in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Adams to drive in Bobrowski. The Cougars scored one more run in the top of the seventh when Forbes singled up the middle to drive in Corthell, but Samford held Charleston to just one run and walked away with the 12-8 victory.

Nine players tallied at least one hit for Samford in game one. Smith led the Bulldogs with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate while recording two RBI and scoring two runs as well. Jordan, Terry and Adams each went 2-for-4 while Shaffer was 2-for-5.

Burris (9-14) pitched her 17th complete game of the season, allowing six runs on 13 hits with four strikeouts and four walks.

Forbes led the Cougars with a 4-for-5 performance along with a run and three RBI. Vaughn followed, going 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Six other players tallied one run each for Charleston.

Stephanie Saylors (12-9) took the loss for the Cougars, pitching 1.2 innings of relief and giving up five earned runs on six hits. Alexa Datko started the game and lasted three innings, giving up just one earned run on six hits with two strikeouts and one walk. Jen Rosene pitched the final 1.1 innings, giving up one earned run on three hits.

Game two saw fewer runs but a lot more defense and stellar pitching from both teams. Charleston started the scoring in the second inning when Woodall and Nutaitis hit back-to-back RBI doubles to put the Cougars up 2-0.

It was not until the fourth inning that Samford started scoring, but the Bulldogs put up one run in each inning for the remainder of the game. Jordan homered in the fourth to get the Bulldogs on the board. It was her eighth home run of the season. Then in the fifth, Shaffer hit her second home run of the year to tie the ballgame.

In the top of the sixth inning, Charleston took the lead back on a two-out double by Nutaitis but Samford tied the game again in the bottom of the inning. Smith doubled with one out before Jordan was intentionally walked. Bobrowski then walked to load the bases and Adams singled to drive in Madeline Baker who pinch ran for Smith.

The Cougars only tallied one hit in the seventh inning as Samford's defense kept Charleston from taking the lead back. Then, in the bottom of the inning, with one out and Dykes on second base, Harmon hit a single up the middle to bring Dykes home and that would be enough to win the game, 4-3.

Six Bulldogs had one hit each in game two including Harmon, Smith, Jordan, Adams, Shaffer and Dykes. Bobrowski (3-10) pitched her seventh complete game of the season and gave up just two earned runs on nine hits with a strikeout and a walk.

Vaughn led the Cougars, going 3-for-4 followed by Nutaitis with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate. Datko (16-7) took the loss and pitched a complete game, giving up four runs on six hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

Samford will go for the sweep Friday afternoon as it rounds out the regular season against the Cougars. The Bulldogs will honor their five seniors - Burris, Fisher, Jordan, Allison Reynolds, and Terry - before the first pitch which is set for 2 p.m. CT.

Fans can follow the action via live streaming at www.samfordsports.com and a full recap and box score will be available upon the completion of the game.