FLORENCE, SC - Junior right-hander Mandy Chandler pitched a one-hit shutout and Georgia College & State University scored a pair of runs on no hits in the fifth inning to claim a 2-0 win over Francis Marion University, Friday afternoon (April 18) in the opening round of the Peach Belt Conference Softball Tournament at Freedom Florence.
GC&SU (36-11), seeded third, advances to face second-seeded Armstrong Atlantic State University on Saturday at 11 a.m. Sixth-seeded and 18th-ranked FMU (30-12) drops its fourth straight game and moves on to face seventh-seeded USC Aiken on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Tournament action resumes at 11 a.m. on Saturday, followed by games at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m.
Chandler (21-6) and FMU sophomore southpaw Michaela Wolf (21-9) locked in a pitcher’s duel. The game featured a combined three hits, fewest in PBC Tournament history.
The Bobcats scored the game’s only runs in the fifth. Wolf walked the bases loaded with one out. GC&SU leadoff batter Sherquita Bostick reached on an RBI fielder’s choice grounder to shortstop as pinch runner Ashley Payne beat the throw to home plate. Lindsey Swanson plated the second run with a ground out to first base. On the play, after the out at first base, the ball was throw to second base ahead of Bostick for the possible inning-ending double play, but no tagged was applied to the runner, and after Bostick was alerted by her base coaches she quickly and safely returned to the bag. This allowed the second run to score.
Francis Marion’s lone hit was a single to left by Lakyn Bendle in the top of the first frame. GC&SU’s two hits were an infield single by Bostick in the bottom of the first and by and single to left by Shelbie Lindsey in the sixth.
Chandler fanned nine batters and walked only two, while Wolf struck out five and walked four.
