Thursday, March 19, 2015
Georgia Southern Softball Stuns Texas, 3-1
AUSTIN, TEXAS – The final day of winter 2015 brought an end to discontent, and a 3-1 win over Texas in front of a national television audience. Freshman Kierra Camp held the longhorns to just one run in the pitching circle as the Eagles tallied their first win over a Big 12 foe since besting Iowa State in 2000. Next up is a conference series at UT Arlington to close the spring break road trip on Saturday and Sunday.
“It was big win for our program and Georgia Southern,” said Head Coach Annie Smith. “It is always when you can go in and beat someone at their place, and Texas is a very good team. I thought we had a great team win, Kierra (Camp) pitched a great game, and we got some big hits. Brianna (McLendon) and Alesha (Mann) had some great hits, and we produced up and down the lineup. I’m really happy for our team.”
Camp stymied Texas to just four hits on the day and the one run which came in the third to stake the Longhorns to an early lead. She struck out a career-high six batters, doubling her previous career-high of three. She worked around five walks as the Eagle defense held tight, not committing an error.
The Georgia Southern offense erased the 1-0 deficit in the fourth as Texas went to the bullpen. AJ Hamilton was hit to open the inning, but two outs moved her to third. Brianna McLendon and Alesha Mann rattled off back-to-back RBI doubles to center as the Eagles went up 2-1.
Emily Snider gave the visitors some breathing room in the top of the seventh with a solo home run with one out. The long-ball was her second this season, and seventh in the sophomore’s short career.
Thursday’s win was shown live on Longhorn Network. It was the Eagle Softball’s first regular season appearance on national television.
Following the win, Georgia Southern returns league play in search of the program’s first Sun Belt victory. The eagles visit Texas State on Saturday and Sunday for a three-game set in North Texas.
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