FLORENCE, SC – Senior left fielder Anderson Thrower returned from an injury and rapped out five hits to back strong pitching from graduate student right-hander Jenna Walling and senior southpaw Alyssa Poston as 13th-ranked Francis Marion University swept Friday's (Apr. 1) Conference Carolinas softball doubleheader from visiting Lees-McRae College, winning 3-1 and 5-0.
 
Francis Marion improves to 35-10 overall and 19-5 in conference play.  The Patriots will play a Senior Day conference doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. as FMU entertains North Greenville University.  Francis Marion will recognize 10 seniors prior to the start of game one.
 
In the first game, Walling (23-6) improved upon her nation-leading win total and ran her career mark to 80-16.  She threw seven innings and allowed only one run on four hits, while striking out nine against no walks.  She is now three shy of 500 strikeouts for her career.
 
Thrower led Francis Marion at the plate with three hits, including the game-winner, while sophomore catcher Rylee Gray went 2-for-2.  Gray also caught the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game from her mother as the Patriots held Colon Cancer Awareness Day.
 
Lees-McRae stunned the Patriots by taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on a one-out RBI-single up the middle by third baseman Allie Johnston.  FMU answered back immediately in the bottom of the inning with a tying run.
 
Gray poked a one-out single down the right field line and moved into scoring position on a two-out walk to senior center fielder Mikaela Goss.  Senior shortstop Madalyn White followed with a run-scoring single to left center to knot the game at 1-1.
 
The score remained tied until the bottom of the sixth inning.  Gray led off with a single to left-center field and senior right fielder Paige Strickland stroked a two-strike single to right center.  Both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt, and after a line out, both came home on Thrower's double down the left field line.
 
Walling retired the final six batters she faced, including the Bobcats in the top of the seventh.
 
Lees-McRae sophomore right Ellie Hale (0-5) was tagged with the loss.
 
In the second contest, Thrower added two more hits and scored twice, while junior designated player McKenzie Jewell and Strickland also registered two hits.
 
Poston (8-2) blanked the Bobcats on three hits, while fanning five.  She retired the final 14 batters she faced.  Now 64-10 in her Patriot career, the Hartsville native tied Amy Birch for third place on the career wins list.
 
The Patriots scored twice in each of their first two at bats.  Thrower singled with one out in the first and Jewell followed with a towering home run over the left field wall.  In the second frame, Gray and Strickland both singled in front of a two-out two-run double to right center field by White, the program's all-time hits leader – now with 288.
 
FMU added an insurance run in the fifth inning when Thrower led off with a single up the middle and scored on a double to right-center field by Jewell.
 
Georgia McConnell (3-7) was the losing pitcher for Lees-McRae.
 
Thrower extended her hitting streak to nine games and White extended her streak of safely reaching base to 17 contests.