The Emory University softball team swept the LaGrange Panthers in Sunday's doubleheader in Atlanta to bring their season record to 8-6.
In a low-scoring first game the Eagles pulled ahead late to emerge with a 3-0 victory while in the second game Emory's bats got hot to defeat the Panthers 11-3 in five innings.
The Eagles continue their homestand on Friday, March 18th and Saturday, March 19th as they play back-to-back games at Cooper Field against Webster with the game on Friday set to start at 3:00 PM.
Game 1 - Emory 3, LaGrange 0
Pitching was the story of the first game as senior Mattie Ryan pitched a complete game shutout for the third time in her last four starts. She allowed no more than two hits in any inning and had a career-high seven strikeouts to earn the shutout against the Panthers. After the win, Ryan's record moved to 6-2 on the season. Ryan also had a great day at the plate earning two of the Eagles three RBI. Sophomore Page Nellis had the go-ahead RBI for the Eagles in what was another strong day for her.
Much of the game was dominated by the pitching staff, as neither team was able to put a run on the board across the first five innings of play. The Eagles finally heated up in the bottom of the sixth inning with senior Megan Weisenberg reaching base on a single to lead off the inning. Sophomore Abby Sekoff followed with a single of her own to put Weisenberg in scoring position with Nellis up to bat. Nellis hit a laser down the right field line to score the first run of the game for either team. In the very next at-bat, Ryan blasted a ball down the left field line to score both Sekoff and Nellis and put the Eagles up 3-0 before she closed the door on the LaGrange bats in the seventh.
Game 2 - Emory 11, LaGrange 3 (5 Innings)
The Eagles carried their hot finish from the first game into the second game as they put up double-digit runs for the third time this season in their 11-3 mercy rule win over the Panthers.
Junior Tyler Miller was a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate which resulted in two RBI and two runs as well as one extra base hit. Graduate student Natalie Costero drove in a team-high four RBI as she went 2-for-3 at the plate in what was one of her best games of the season. Sophomore Natalie Swift had five strikeouts as she pitched the complete game earning the win to move her season record to 2-4.
The Eagles found themselves in a pinch early with the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the second inning. The Panthers earned one run but Swift stayed remarkably cool under pressure to get the Eagles out of the inning with nothing more than a small dent.
That defensive performance led to the Eagles responding with a quick three runs of their own in the bottom of the second, highlighted by a two-run single from Costero. The Eagles put another three runs on the board in the third inning with Nellis, Miller and Allie Moberg each registering an RBI.
Emory nearly pushed the game into run-rule territory in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a pair of wild pitches from the Panthers but found themselves up 8-1 entering the top of the fifth. Two more runs from the Panthers in the fifth would narrow the Eagles lead to five but the Eagles third three-run inning of the game would stretch the Eagles lead to eight ending the game in the fifth with an 11-3 final score.