HARTSVILLE, SC – Senior right-fielder
Paige Strickland registered six hits and drove in six runs to power 10th-ranked Francis Marion University to a doubleheader sweep, 10-5 and 6-0, over local-rival Coker University, Tuesday (Feb. 10) afternoon in non-conference softball play.
Francis Marion improves to 5-1 with its fourth and fifth consecutive wins over the Cobras (2-2).
FMU will host the Swamp Fox Sizzler event this weekend with the Patriots playing Ferris State University (2-2) for a doubleheader on Friday at 3 p.m. Ferris State will play Tusculum University in a twinbill on Saturday at 1 p.m., and the Patriots will face Tusculum in a doubleheader on Sunday at 1 p.m.
All action will take place at the FMU Softball Stadium in the Griffin Athletic Complex. Daily admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students with FMU students admitted free with identification.
Strickland went 3-for-5 in the opener with a homer and four runs batted in. Senior left fielder
Anderson Thrower and senior catcher
Kendal Miller also had three hits apiece, while senior third baseman
Madalyn White went 2-for-5 with three runs scored from the lead-off spot.
Senior left-hander
Alyssa Poston (2-1) earned the win with five innings of work. She allowed two runs on two hits with five strikeouts.
FMU wasted no time getting on the board in the first inning of game one. White reached on an error and Thrower walked before Strickland lined an RBI-single to center field. Both Thrower and Strickland moved up on a wild pitch, and both would later score on a two-out single by
Kendal Miller.
After Coker scored once in the bottom of the first, Francis Marion took advantage of a two-out error in the second to re-establish its three-run margin on a two-out, run-scoring single by junior designated player
McKenzie Jewell.
Coker collected its first hit in the third, an RBI-single by second baseman Emma Rushing, to trim the margin to 4-2. FMU answered right back in the top of the fourth with a two-out, bases-loaded single by sophomore third baseman
Reese Miller that stretched the advantage to 6-2. The Patriots stranded nine runners over the first four frames, and 12 for the game.
White and Thrower both reached base to open the fifth inning and came home on a three-run homer by Strickland that upped the lead to 9-2. The Patriots scored their final run on a two-out RBI-single by Thrower in the top of the sixth.
Coker closed the gap to 10-5 with a single run in the sixth off Patriot reliever
Reese Watson and two runs in the seventh on a homer by left fielder Payton Rainey.
Junior righty Cheyenne Palmer (0-1) was tagged with the game-one loss.
FMU senior right-hander
Jenna Walling upped her season mark to 3-0 with a two-hit complete-game shutout in the second contest. She fanned nine and did not issue a walk, while becoming only the third pitcher in program history to reach 60 career victories.
Strickland went 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs, while both White and Thrower had two hits apiece.
Scoreless through the opening two frames, FMU scored four times in the top of the third. Senior center fielder
Mikaela Goss, White, and Thrower all reached to load the bases with no outs. Strickland followed with a two-run single. Jewell upped the advantage to 3-0 with a run-scoring single and the final run came home on an error.
Kendal Miller doubled home an insurance run in the fifth, and the sixth tally scored on an infield error in the sixth.
Sophomore southpaw Brooklyn Lovin (2-1) was the losing pitcher in the second contest.
