EUGENE, Ore. - The Samford softball team went across the country, opening play at the Oregon Classic today. The Bulldogs started the tournament with two games today, as they fell in the morning to Stetson 4-1 before returning for the late game where they were defeated by Idaho State 13-4. Samford's record falls to 6-11 after the 0-2 opening day in Oregon.
GAME ONE: Stetson - 4 | Samford - 1
In the doubleheader opener against Stetson, Samford put traffic on the bases early but could not capitalize in key moments as they left seven runners on base for the game. Starting pitcher Makinley Turner held Stetson to just four hits, but she issued five free passes and the Hatters used productive outs to generate runs early. Stetson broke through in the second inning with a sacrifice fly, then added another in the fourth on another sac fly to take a 2-0 lead.
Olivia Shaw and Shannon Weems each posted two-hit performances, with Shaw coming around to score Samford's lone run in the sixth on a single by Brooke Wildes. Despite outhitting Stetson six to four, the Dogs were unable to manufacture runs the way the Hatters did. In the home half of the sixth, Stetson tacked on two insurance runs, including one on a wild pitch, to secure the 4-1 result. Turner went the distance in the circle but falls to 3-4 on the season after the defeat.
GAME TWO: Idaho State - 13 | Samford - 4
The Bulldogs and the Bengals played a back-and-forth game for five innings in game two of the day, but ISU blew the game open in the sixth inning to finish off the run-rule win. The Bengals scored runs in the first and the second innings off Brandy Phillips, who started in the circle for Samford. Joi Hubbard sparked the offense with two hits, two runs scored and a stolen base, while Brandy Phillips contributed both at the plate and in the circle. Down 2-0 early, Samford evened the score in the third on a two-run double by Olivia Shaw and briefly took a 4-3 lead in the fifth with a sacrifice fly from Shaw and an RBI hit from Katie Campbell.
Claire McArthur took over in the circle for Samford in the third and had success in slowing down the ISU bats enough for the Dogs to take the lead, but it was short-lived as she surrendered a two-run homer in the fifth. Samford trailed just 5-4 in the sixth, when the Bengals broke the game open in the sixth by scoring eight runs with two grand slams in the frame that enforced the run rule off Samford's Olivia Treece and Sara Bond.
The Samford offense showed up with nine hits in game two, but they had just one extra base hit to eight for ISU as they were outslugged in the defeat.
The Bulldogs return to action with two more games tomorrow, as they play Idaho State at 2:30 p.m., followed by hosts and ranked Oregon at 8 p.m.
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