DAHLONEGA, GA – Junior shortstop Makayla Cuthbertson drove in three runs with a homer and a sacrifice fly to back the shutout pitching of sophomore left-hander Alyssa Poston as 19th-ranked and third-seeded Francis Marion University blanked sixth-seeded Columbus State University 8-0 in five innings, Thursday night (May 9) in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Softball Southeast sub-Regional in Dahlonega, Ga.
 
Francis Marion ups its record to 46-11 and advances to face eighth-ranked and second-seeded University of North Georgia in a winners' bracket game on Friday at noon.  The Nighthawks defeated seventh-seeded Flagler College 4-0 in Thursday's opening contests.  Both games on Thursday were delayed by three hours due to rains in the area earlier in the day.
 
Poston (27-5) allowed only a one-out single in the first inning.  She struck out one and walked three batters.  Two of the walks came with two outs in the third inning, but the Hartsville native recovered to retire the final seven batters she faced.  Her 27 wins ties her for third in the country among Division II hurlers.
 
Senior first baseman Taylor Watford and junior second baseman Peyton Gale led FMU with two hits apiece.  Watford is a native of Lamar and like Poston, a product of Hartsville High School.
 
Senior right fielder Katie Smith continued her torrid hitting with a two-out two-run triple to deep center field in the bottom of the first.  Francis Marion doubled the margin to 4-0 in the second inning when Cuthbertson drilled a two-run home run that bounced off the top of the center field wall above the 220-feet sign and over.  Cuthbertson has homered in five of the last eight games and in each of the past three contests.
 
The Patriots plated three runs in the third inning to go ahead 7-0.  Gale led off with a triple to the center field wall and Smith and senior catcher Lauren Smallwood both walked to load the bases with one out.  Sophomore designated player Anderson Thrower drove in Gale with a grounder that was errored on, allowing Smith to also score.  Cuthbertson then hit a sacrifice fly to score Smallwood.
 
In the fourth inning, junior left fielder Emily Konz reached on a throwing error and Watford followed with a run-scoring double to left centerfield to complete the scoring.  It was Watford's school-record 78th RBI of the season, which ranks second in Division II.  Watford also tied former four-time All-American Kim Booker for fourth place on the school's career RBI list with 137.
 
The win was also the 599th of head coach Stacey Vallee's 20-year career on the Patriot bench.
 
Columbus State (35-23) starter Jessica Lopez (12-6) was tagged with the loss.  The Cougars were coming off a doubleheader sweep of North Georgia last weekend that gave CSU the Peach Belt Conference Tournament crown.
 
 
#19 Francis Marion 8, Columbus State 0 (05/09/24 at Dahlonega, Ga.)
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Columbus State...... 000 00 -  0  1  3      (35-23)
Francis Marion........ 223 1X -  8  6  0      (46-11)
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Pitchers: Columbus State - Jessica Lopez; Haylee Folds(2); Gracyn Gurley(2) and Nova Wright.
Francis Marion - Alyssa Poston and Lauren Smallwood.
Win-Alyssa Poston(27-5)  Loss-Jessica Lopez(12-6)  T-1:36  A-188
HR FMU_SB - Makayla Cuthbertson.