MURFREESBORO, NC – Junior right-hander
Jenna Walling earned a win and a save in the pitching circle as seventh-ranked Francis Marion University swept two games from Chowan University, 4-3 and 9-2, Saturday afternoon (March 15) in Conference Carolinas softball action.
Francis Marion ups its overall mark to 23-3 and improves to 5-1 in conference play. The Patriots will host UNC Pembroke in the latest installment of the Battle of I-95 on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
In Saturday's first game, junior first baseman
Tallulah Civoniceva paced FMU with a pair of hits and two runs scored. Her solo blast to left center field staked Francis Marion to a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Freshman catcher
Rylee Gray hit her first collegiate home run, a two-run shot to left, to increase the Patriot advantage to 3-0 in the fourth frame. Civoniceva scored the final run in the same inning on a throwing error.
Chowan (10-15, 1-3) scored one run in the bottom of the fourth to draw within 4-1. The Hawks got solo homers from catcher Lenita Bryson and pinch hitter Kyndal Hopkins in the seventh to trim the deficit to 4-3. Walling entered the game with two on and one out, and registered the final two outs to earn her second save of 2025.
Junior left-hander
Alyssa Poston (13-1) was the winning pitcher as she tossed 6.1 innings and allowed six hits and three runs, while striking out 10.
Junior Haileigh Boone (4-5) was the losing pitcher.
In the second contest, Walling (7-1) recorded a complete game. The Johns Island native improved her career record to 44-8 by scattering five hits and fanning 10.
Junior shortstop
Madalyn White junior designated player
Kendal Miller both had two hits in the 9-2 victory.
Junior outfielder
Anderson Thrower plated the first Patriot run with an RBI-groundout in the top of the first. Later in the inning, Civoniceva doubled home a second run.
The margin grew to 4-0 in the second when senior outfielder
Emily Konz delivered an RBI-groundout and Miller laced a run-scoring single up the middle.
Miller doubled to right center field in the fourth to score Konz as FMU went up 5-0. The Hawks answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame to make it three-run margin (5-2).
In the fifth inning, Civoniceva again scored on an error and freshman second baseman
Reese Miller hit a two-run double to left center field. An RBI-double by White accounted for the final FMU tally.
Alex Bishop (0-2) was tagged with the loss for Chowan.
