Fifth-seeded Western Carolina beat fourth seed Furman 6-1 in the first game of the Southern Conference softball tournament Wednesday at Jim Frost Stadium and will take on the top-seeded University of Tennessee at Chattanooga this morning at 11:30.
No. 2 seed Samford beat East Tennessee State 3-1 and third seed Mercer blasted UNC Greensboro 9-0 in Wednesday's later games. Those two winners will square off at about 2 p.m. today. ETSU will face UNCG at 9 a.m.
Courtney Price, WCU's leading hitter for the season, paced the Catamounts against Furman by going 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Amber Kimrey drove in two runs for WCU, which had four doubles, and Jordan Garrett pitched a five-hitter with seven strikeouts.
Taylor Jenkins batted in Natalie Clemmons with the run for Furman, which is scheduled to play at 7 tonight against the loser of the Samford-Mercer game.
Samford pitchers Grey Adams and Mollie Hanson combined to strike out nine ETSU batters while keeping eight hits relatively harmless. Hannah Taylor was 2-for-2 and Caroline Wilder homered for two RBIs for the Bulldogs (33-20), while Jennine Duncan was 2-for-3 and scored on an Alex Everett hit for the Buccaneers (15-32).
Mercer's Bears (35-20) turned 11 hits into nine runs behind SoCon pitcher of the year Kirsten Stevens, who allowed six hits in six innings. Kaylynn Sloat was the offensive leader by going 3-for-3 with a double and a game-ending grand slam, while Natalie Shiver also was 3-for-3 and scored three times. Quirisa Mauga had a double and two RBIs.
Lady Vols rally past UK
Former Soddy-Daisy High School ace Kelsey Nunley pitched well for 12th-seeded Kentucky against fifth seed Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference tournament Wednesday night in Baton Rouge, La., but she couldn't pull off a miracle when re-entering the game with a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning but no outs and the bases loaded. Meghan Gregg launched a two-run hit the left fielder couldn't corral, and Tennessee won 5-4.
Nunley allowed three runs and stuck out nine batters in 4 2/3 innings, giving up a two-run homer to Megan Geer in the fifth. Two walks sandwiching an error on Geer's ball led to Nunley's return.
Girls Preparatory School alumna Tory Lewis was 0-for-2 with an RBI walk in the fourth for Tennessee, and Shaliyah Geathers from East Hamilton was 1-for-4.
Earlier, Missouri beat Mississippi State 9-0 in six innings, sixth seed Georgia beat Ole Miss 11-0 in five and ninth seed South Carolina topped eighth seed Texas A&M 6-3.
Tennessee (40-13) is scheduled to face fourth seed LSU (44-10) at 6:30 p.m. EDT today.