Away from the bright lights of Harrah’s Cherokee Arena, a great runner made second-team All-America status, and Furman lost a one-run softball game and a tennis match at home to Wake Forest.
Furman rallied for two runs in the seventh inning but came up short in a 3-2 defeat versus Jacksonville (Ala.) State in its first game of the weekend on Friday.
The Bulldog Classic is in Athens, Ga., naturally.
JSU’s Sarah Currie limited the Paladins to just one hit over the first six innings and the Gamecocks carried a 3-0 advantage into the seventh before Furman mounted a comeback.
Ashlee Lykins led off the frame with a bunt single. After Currie retired Sylvia Burroughs and Kiley Perry, freshman Ansley Chiang lined a double into the gap to score Lykins from first base. Chiang raced home to trim the margin to 3-2 when Hannah Poole kept the game alive by reaching base on a throwing error, but Currie bounced back to fan Hana Hashioka for the final out.
Currie (2-2) held Furman (10-10) to one earned run on three hits over seven innings. She struck out six Paladins and allowed just one walk to earn the win.
The Gamecocks (9-13), who downed Miami (Ohio) in Friday’s first game, got on the board first with an unearned run in the bottom of the second. The scoreline stayed the same until the bottom of the sixth when Ashley Phillips opened the inning with a single and advanced to third, thanks to a stolen base and passed ball. She scored on Hannah Buffington’s sacrifice fly to double the lead. Following another passed ball, Amber Reed, who had reached base on a fielder’s choice, crossed the plate on Caroline Lively’s two-out single to left field.
Starter Sierra Tufts (5-3) suffered the loss for Furman.The senior allowed two earned runs on four hits over 5-2/3 innings of work.
The Paladins fell again on Saturday, 5-0, to Miami (Ohio) behind Madilyn Reeves’ three-hitter on Saturday evening at the Bulldog Classic.
A righthander, Reeves allowed three walks and fanned three batters over seven innings to improve to 3-2 in the circle. Junior Lauralee Scott (3-1) suffered the loss for Furman after allowing three runs on six hits over 2-1/3 innings.
Miami (14-6) grabbed the lead with a three-run top half of the third inning. Hadley Parisien was hit by a pitch to start the inning and Allie Cummins followed with a two-run blast to right field. Back-to-back singles kept the rally going for the RedHawks and Kate Kobayashi followed two batters later with an RBI single to up the margin to 3-0. Reliever Emme Buzhardt came on to retire two of the next three batters to end the rally.
The RedHawks took advantage of two walks, two wild pitches and a Furman error to add two insurance runs in the top of the seventh, and Reeves retired the Paladins in order to close out the game.
Jenna Golembiewski went 3/4 at the plate with a double, and Cummins batted in two runs to lead the Miami offense.
Ansley Chiang went 1/1 with a pair of walks for Furman while Ashlee Lykins recorded a single to reach base safely for the 18th straight game.
Furman (10-11) took on Miami again at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The Paladins conclude play in the Bulldog Classic with a 3:30 p.m. matchup versus the No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs.
Elsewhere in the questionably Peach State – more of the fruit comes out South Carolina –freshman Audrey Ryu (+1) and senior Anna Morgan (+1) tied for 23rd Sunday to conclude the Valspar Augusta Invitational at the par-72, 6,261-yard Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta.
Rain forced a 36-hole final day.
Senior Caroline Crumrine (-1) was tied for 20th to lead Paladins at the par-72, 6,261-yard Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta on day one, but struggled to rounds of 75 and 76 and wound up in a tie for 52nd.
Ryu, a native of Dublin, Ohio, entered the day in 29th place and led Furman with a 71.
Morgan rallied after entering the day in 48th place. She birdied two of her last three holes in round two to finish with a 73 then recorded a team-best 71 with three birdies in the day’s final round.
No. 14 Ole Miss (-8) won the tournament by three strokes. Fifth-ranked South Carolina (-5) and Michigan (-5) tied for second, followed by No. 12 Auburn (+1) in fourth. No. 21 Florida State (+3) rounded out the top five of the tournament, which featured 13 Power 5 teams. The Paladins (+3) finished 14th, ahead of Virginia Tech (+23) and Louisville (+38), among others.
Furman competes at the Clemson Invitational on March 22-24 in Sunset.
In Boston, Mass., Furman senior Carson Williams earned second team All-America honors in the mile Friday at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the The Track at New Balance, in Boston, Mass.
A native of Raleigh, N.C., Williams was one of multiple runners to get tangled up in the next to the last lap of the event. He recorded a time of 4:20.88 to finish 15th in the event, where the top 10 finishers were separated by just over a second. He qualified for the meet after ranking 16th nationally with a time of with a time of 3:55.46 in the event, a Furman record.
Wake Forest is ranked 35th and its 7-0 victory over Furman in women’s tennis was certainly no surprise.
The Paladins picked up a win at flight three doubles, as junior Grace Thomas and freshman Maeve Thornton blew past Sankavi Gownder and Whitley Pate, 6-1. Wake (9-6) won the remaining two doubles matches to take the first point. Marcella Cruz and Brooke Killingsworth beat freshman Macy Hitchcock and junior Ellie Schulson, 6-1, at flight one, and Mia Ahman and Casie Wooten held off juniors Jess Dawson and Sara Snyder, 6-4, at flight two.
In singles, Snyder pushed 28th-ranked Wooten to a third set at flight one before falling, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Two other matches went to a third set: Sankavi Gownder barely slipped past Hitchcock, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) at number five, and Whitley Pate downed junior Marissa Pennings, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, at number six.
Furman (10-11) hosts Quinnipiac on Monday at 3:30 p.m.
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