FLORENCE, S.C. – Junior second baseman Tatjana Slawson hit a walk-off, two-run home run to win game one 4-2, but Francis Marion University's last-inning magic disappeared in game two as Wingate University scored three runs in extra innings to pull out a 4-2 victory and a split of Wednesday's (March 22) non-conference women's softball doubleheader.
Francis Marion (20-8) had won all seven games on the current homestand, unbelievably winning six of them in the team’s final at bat, before Wingate (27-5) captured the game-two victory.
In the opener, Slawson pounded a high fly ball that carried over the centerfield fence for a two-run homer. The winning hit came with two outs and Jenna Sexton on first base, and tagged Wingate righty Ashley Green (14-3) with just her third loss in 17 decisions.
FMU junior right-hander Jessica Johnson (11-3) got the win as she allowed only five hits and struck out nine.
Third baseman Janine Allen gave FMU a 1-0 advantage in the third inning with an RBI single through the left side of the infield. Sexton upped the margin to 2-0 with a solo home run in the fourth frame. It was only her third career homer in 337 at bats. Wingate rallied in the top of the sixth with a pair of two-out runs to knot the score at 2-2. Courtney Wagner’s sinking liner to right field plated both Mandi Chester and Megan McPhail.
Slawson was the only player with more than one hit in game one, adding a single and a double to her fifth homer of the year.
In the second game, FMU took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Allen scored on a sacrifice fly by freshman pitcher Serena Lim. Wingate tied the score at 1-1 in the sixth when McPhail singled up the middle to score Sarah Carleton. FMU had a chance to pull out another last at-bat win, but Wingate right-hander Lauren Powell retired both Lakyn Bendle and Slawson with the bases-loaded in the last of the seventh inning.
Utilizing the tie-breaker rule of placing a runner at second base, Wingate plated three runs in the top of the eighth. Carleton drove home the first run with an infield grounder that was misplayed, and then Chester and McPhail followed with back-to-back sacrifice flies. FMU tallied one run in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Allen to trim the margin to 4-2. However, with one runner on, Lim’s deep drive to left center field was caught against the fence by Wingate outfielder Kimee Lewis to end the game.
Powell (12-2) picked up the complete-game win, while Lim (8-5) was saddled with the loss, despite only allowing four hits and one earned run.
FMU’s Bendle (2-for-4) and Allen (2-for-4) were the only players with multiple hits in game two.
FMU will play a key Peach Belt Conference doubleheader at Georgia College & State University on Saturday at 1 p.m., while Wingate plays host to Mars Hill College, Saturday at 1 p.m.
