DUNCAN, SC – Senior southpaw Alyssa Poston tossed a three-hit shutout and senior second baseman Maddy Golka drove in three runs to lead top-seeded and 11th-ranked Francis Marion University to a 7-0 victory over third-seeded Southern Wesleyan University, Saturday afternoon (Apr. 25) in an elimination bracket game at the 2026 Conference Carolinas Softball Tournament.
 
Francis Marion rebounds from a 1-0 loss earlier in the day and improves to 42-11.  FMU advances to Sunday's championship game at noon against seventh-seeded University of Mount Olive.  The Patriots, winners of the past three tournament titles, will need to beat UMO twice to claim their fourth championship.  The "if necessary" game is set for approximately 2:30 p.m. at Tyger Park in Duncan, S.C.
 
Poston (12-2) fanned eight and walked two while running her scoreless innings streak to 19 innings.
 
A trio of Patriots registered two hits.  Graduate student center fielder Mikaela Goss was 2-for-3 with a run scored and two driven in, while graduate student first baseman Jenna Walling was 2-for-2 with a double and two walks.  Graduate student third baseman Rylie Webster was 2-for-3 with a run scored.
 
Golka batted with the bases loaded three times in the contest.  In the first frame, she flew out to right field to end the inning.  In the third, she drilled a two-run single through the right side, and in the fourth hit a sacrifice fly that plated the Patriots' final run.
 
FMU took a 2-0 lead in the second when sophomore catcher Rylee Gray hit a single to left-center field and one batter later, Goss lined an RBI-triple down the left field line.  Goss came home when senior shortstop Madalyn White successfully executed a squeeze bunt play. 
 
In the top third, Poston hit the first two batters, but then retired the next three Warriors in order.
 
Golka's two-run hit proceeded a sacrifice fly by senior right fielder Paige Strickland and a two-out run-scoring single by Goss in the third as Francis Marion built a 6-0 advantage.
 
SWU (37-14) had two runners on with two outs in the fifth, but Poston got the next batter out on a soft liner to second.  The Warriors had two on and one out in the sixth, but Poston coaxed a pair of harmless fly ball outs to end the threat.
 
Although she drove in a run, White did have her streak of safely reaching base end at 24 games.
 
Southern Wesleyan senior right-hander Olivia Haag (14-5) was tagged with the loss.