Georgia Southern University softball picked up a pair of wins over Mercer on Wednesday at Eagle Field behind solid performances by a pair of Eagle sophomores. Northside’s Brooke Red pitched a three-hit shutout in game one as the Eagles scored four runs in the first to take the 4-0 win. In game two GSU scored early, but saw Mercer respond to tie the game late. The Eagles won the game on a walk-off double by Lexi Allen as Red picked up the pitching win, this time in relief.
“Brooke did a great job for us. It was good to see our pitching staff reap some rewards,” said head coach Annie Smith.
Georgia Southern got four runs in the first inning and cruised to a 4-0 win in the series opener. Red, the sophomore hurler struck out seven batters in the game and recorded her first complete game shutout since April 18 of last season.
Georgia Southern needed 10 innings to get the walk-off win in Game 2 by a 7-5 margin. Allen did the damage in the 10th with a two RBI double that scored two runs. Red pitched four innings in game two to pick up her second win of the day.
A leadoff throwing error by the Mercer pitcher opened the door for a five-run Eagle third inning. An RBI single by Alexa Lewis was followed by an RBI double by Kaitlyn Johnson to put the Eagles up 2-0. A walk to Houston County’s Kourtny Thomas put two runners on base for Shelby Morrill. The junior designated player launched a home run down the line in right field to plate three runs and give the Eagles a 5-0 advantage.
The Bears clawed a run back in the top of the fifth with a leadoff home run by Krista Kennedy. An inning later, Mercer added four more runs to tie the game at 5-5. Kennedy drove in two runs with two outs to chase starting pitcher Allie Miles from the game. The next hitter, Molly Garmany hit a home run to right field to score the tying run.
Red tossed four innings of one-hit ball in relief and allowed just the one unearned run in the top of the 10th. With the pair of wins, Red improves to 6-3 on the year. She is the first Georgia Southern pitcher to win both games of a doubleheader since Brianna Streetmon won both games of a doubleheader against Elon in 2010.
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