FLORENCE, SC – The 24th-ranked Francis Marion University softball team clinched the Conference Carolinas East Division title with a sweep of the University of Mount Olive on Tuesday evening (Apr. 16) winning a pitchers' duel in game one 3-2 and a slugfest in the nightcap 12-8.
Francis Marion improves to 39-10 overall and 18-4 in conference play. The Patriots learned Tuesday afternoon prior to the game that they had entered the NFCA Top-25 poll for the first time in 11 seasons.
Prior to the game, members of the 2023 FMU squad received their championship rings for winning the Conference Carolinas Tournament.
FMU will play its final regular-season games on Saturday as the Patriots will hold Senior Day by hosting Barton College for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
In game one, sophomore left-handed pitcher
Alyssa Poston (22-4) limited the nation's seventh-highest scoring offense (7.82 runs per game) to two runs on five hits. She only struck out one batter, but did not issue a walk.
Three Patriots finished with two hits: senior first baseman
Taylor Watford, sophomore designated player
Anderson Thrower, and junior shortstop
Makayla Cuthbertson.
Cuthbertson broke a scoreless tie with a booming two-run double off the top of the left-center field wall in the second inning. The margin increased to 3-0 in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by senior catcher
Lauren Smallwood. The Patriots are ranked third nationally with 21 sacrifice flies this season.
FMU left 11 runners on base in the contest, eight of those in scoring position.
The Trojans (34-13, 15-7) were blanked until third baseman Kylie Emanuele hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning. UMO got the tying run in scoring position before Poston retired the final two batters on a fly out and a ground out to end the game.
In the second contest, Francis Marion tallied 14 hits enroute to scoring the dozen runs. Junior second baseman
Peyton Gale had three hits and drove in two runs, while Cuthbertson, Smallwood, sophomore third baseman
Madalyn White, and sophomore center fielder
Mikaela Goss all registered two hits.
Sophomore righty
Jenna Walling (15-2) earned the win after pitching the first five frames. Leading 10-8 in the top of the sixth, Poston came on in relief and earned her third save of 2024 with two scoreless innings.
Mount Olive scored twice in the top of the first, but the Patriots answered with five runs in the bottom of the frame. Smallwood doubled home two runs – after a prolonged 10-pitch at bat – and Goss hit a three-run homer over the left-center field wall.
UMO tied the game at 5-5 with three runs in the second, but again the Patriots immediately responded, scoring twice on a single through the right side by Gale in the bottom of the second to lead 7-5.
After the wild start, neither team scored in the third and fourth innings. The Trojans drew within 7-6 with a run in the fifth, but White tripled in two runs in the bottom of the inning and then scored on an RBI-single by junior left fielder
Emily Konz to up the advantage to 10-6.
The Trojans got a two-run pinch-hit homer from Adrianna Efird in the sixth to close to 10-8, but Cuthbertson stroked a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth to re-establish the four-run cushion.
Emanuele drove in three runs during the twinbill to overtake Watford for the NCAA Division II RBI lead with 69 (Taylor has 68).
#24 Francis Marion Univ. 3, Univ. of Mount Olive 2 (Apr 16, 2024 at Florence, SC) (Game 1)
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Univ. of Mount Olive 000 000 2 - 2 5 0 (34-12, 15-6 CC)
Francis Marion Univ. 021 000 X - 3 8 0 (38-10, 17-4 CC)
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Pitchers: Univ. of Mount Olive - Hannah Killough; Bri Verme(5) and Cana Shrock; Carly Curcio.
Francis Marion Univ. -
Alyssa Poston and
Lauren Smallwood.
Win-
Alyssa Poston(22-4) Loss-Hannah Killough(11-7) T-1:46 A-100
HR UMO_SB - Kylie Emanuele (19).
Weather: Partly Cloudy,88,Wind NE@5 mph
#24 Francis Marion Univ. 12, Univ. of Mount Olive 8 (Apr 16, 2024 at Florence, SC) (Game 2)
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Univ. of Mount Olive 230 012 0 - 8 9 3 (34-13, 15-7 CC)
Francis Marion Univ. 520 032 X - 12 14 4 (39-10, 18-4 CC)
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Pitchers: Univ. of Mount Olive - Callie Thornton; Bri Verme(5) and Carly Curcio.
Francis Marion Univ. -
Jenna Walling;
Alyssa Poston(6) and
Lauren Smallwood.
Win-
Jenna Walling(15-2) Save-
Alyssa Poston(3) Loss-Callie Thornton(15-3) T-2:17 A-0
HR UMO_SB - Adrianna Efird (3); Emily Cassidy (8).
HR FMU_SB -
Mikaela Goss (4).
Weather: Fair,85,Wind NE @ 7 mph
Walling faced 2 batters in the 6th.
