DUNCAN, SC – Senior second baseman Megan Matsil drilled a game-tying two-run homer in the seventh inning and sophomore center fielder Avery Bellai accounted for two runs in the eighth allowing Francis Marion University to escape with a 10-9 extra-inning win over second-seeded Lees-McRae College, Saturday afternoon (Apr. 29) on the second day of the 2023 Conference Carolinas Softball Tournament.
 
Third-seeded Francis Marion ups its record to 39-11 and advances to the winners' bracket semifinal contest against fifth-seeded Barton College, later Saturday at 6 p.m.  The double-elimination event is being host at the Tyger River Park complex in Duncan, S.C.
 
FMU junior shortstop Makayla Cuthbertson, senior first baseman Taylor Watford, and graduate student catcher Reagan Glanz – all three All-Conference selections – led the Patriots at the plate with two hits apiece.
 
Senior right-hander Rachel Davis grinded out a complete-game win to improve to 16-8 with her second win in less than 48 hours.  She surrendered a career-high 13 hits and a career-high equaling nine runs, while throwing 137 pitches.  She fanned six and issued three walks.
 
With FMU trailing 8-6 and one out in the seventh, Matsil drilled a 1-2 pitch from righty Megan Powell (17-7) over the left centerfield fence to knot the score.  That hit extended the conference Player of the Year's hitting streak to 20 games. Davis retired the Bobcats (31-17) in order in the bottom of the seventh, including two strikeouts, to send the game to extra innings.
 
In the eighth, utilizing the international tiebreaker rule, Patriot freshman right fielder Paige Strickland was placed on second.  She moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Glanz and scored the go-ahead run on Bellai's RBI-single back up the middle.  Bellai then stole second and went to third on an infield single by Cuthbertson.  Bellai scored a key insurance run on a wild pitch to put FMU up 10-8.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Lees-McRae quickly placed runners on second and third with no outs.  Davis then induced a come-backer to the mound, where both runners were forced to hold.  The Bobcats closed to within 10-9 on an RBI-ground out to second for the second out.  Strickland then made a nice running catch of a line drive in right center field to end the contest.
 
FMU took a 1-0 advantage in the second inning on a run-scoring single by Glanz.  The Bobcats quickly erased that lead with a two-run homer by Lauren Ritchie in the bottom of the frame, only to have Watford tie the game at 2-2 with a solo shot in the top of the third.
 
The Bobcats used "small ball" (four infield singles) to help secure a 6-2 lead with four runs in the bottom of the third.  A second RBI-single by Glanz trimmed the margin to 6-3 in the fourth inning, but in the bottom of the inning, Powell registered a two-run single to up the margin to 8-3.
 
The Patriots scored three times in the fifth to draw within 8-6 and set the stage for Matsil's heroics.  The three-run rally consisted of an RBI-single up the middle by Watford and a two-run double to left center by senior left fielder Danielle Karacson.  Karacson improved upon her season-record for RBIs (62), while moving to within five of the career mark of 157 set by Laurie Niego (2000-03).
 
Matsil also extended her streak of safely reaching base to 31 games when she was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning.
 
A win on Saturday night against Barton would place the Patriots into the championship game on Monday, and would give FMU its first 40-win season since 1987.
 
 
Francis Marion 10, Lees-McRae 9 (Apr 29, 2023 at Duncan, SC)
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Francis Marion...... 011 130 22 - 10 12  1      (39-11)
Lees-McRae.......... 024 200 01 -  9 13  0      (31-17)
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Pitchers: Francis Marion - Rachel Davis and Reagan Glanz. Lees-McRae - Jada Wilson;
Megan Powell(5) and Abby West; Jordyn Scott.
Win-Rachel Davis (16-8)  Loss-Megan Powell (17-7)  T-2.35  A-108
HR FMU_SB - Taylor Watford (12); Megan Matsil (6).
HR LMC - Lauren Ritchie.
Weather: Overcast