BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A total of eight hits and three runs in nine total innings was all that was needed to decide the victor of a critical Southern Conference series between the Samford University softball team and Western Carolina University on Sunday, April 17, at the Samford Softball Stadium.

"Super proud of the fight in the team today." Head Coach Mandy Burford said. "Mollie (Hanson), (Abby) Sweeney, and Coach Erin (Arevalo) did a great job today with the pitching and the catching."

The Bulldogs (26-17, 10-2 SoCon) triumphed 2-1 over the Catamounts (30-17, 6-6 SoCon) in the series finale thanks to an incredible pitching performance from redshirt-senior Mollie Hanson (15-8) and a pair of timely hits from junior Abbie Miranda and freshman Kelsey Royalty.

"The hitters really battled today and it was huge for Abbie and Kelsey to come through for us in the ninth to avoid the international tie-breaker rule." Burford said. "Western is a scrappy bunch with some great hitters and a tip of the hat to (Taylor) Sigmon; we struggled both days to find an answer for her drop ball."

Hanson and Sigmon (11-11) were locked in a pitcher's duel for the entire contest as Hanson allowed just three hits with seven strikeouts and only one walk through a complete nine innings of work. Sigmon was relieved briefly by Courtney Buchanan for an inning and third but tossed 10 strikeouts compared to five walks in the contest and allowed six hits over seven and two-thirds innings.

The most crucial moment of the game came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Miranda took the 1-0 pitch from Sigmon and pushed it through the left side which allowed the speedy Royalty to round third and slide through Madison Armstrong's legs at home plate for the winning run.

Royalty was the batter who worked a full-count off of Sigmon before pushing a bunt single to the right side just out of Sigmon's reach. Royalty immediately stole second base to get in to scoring position.

The two teams were tied for every inning prior to the ninth with Western breaking onto the scoreboard first with a sacrifice fly from Victoria Mariscal in the fifth inning and threatened to score a second run but Royalty initiated a 9-2-1-2 double-play from right field as Sigmon tried to tag up from third.

The Bulldogs responded immediately in the bottom of the frame to tie up the contest 1-1 on an RBI single from Shelby Maze that scored Megan Dowdy from second. Dowdy reached base earlier in the inning on a one-out single deep in the hole at shortstop and advanced to second with her ninth stolen base of the year.

Royalty finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate with one run scored and a pair of stolen bases while Dowdy and Maze also recorded a pair of hits each. Miranda finished the day with one hit, arguably the most important of the game.

The series win broke a four-year drought for the Bulldogs against the Catamounts.

The Bulldogs will take a break from SoCon action with six non-conference games slated for the upcoming week. The win today gave Samford a four-game lead over second-place Western and ensures that the team will remain in first place when they return to SoCon action on Saturday, April 30^th, when the squad travels to ETSU.

Samford's next opponent will be Austin Peay at home on Wednesday, April 20, with a doubleheader slated for 3 & 5 p.m.