Cullowhee, N.C. – Senior Tate Stewman connected on three home runs, including her first career grand slam, as Western Carolina softball opened Southern Conference play with a doubleheader sweep of Furman, earning an 11-7 and 7-4 victory on Betty Peele Field at the Catamount Softball Complex. WCU climbs to an 11-2 home record with Saturday's wins. With the wins, Jim Clift earned his 300th victory as the head coach of WCU softball.
Western Carolina (18-9, 2-0 SoCon) has opened 2-0 for the second straight season, as a doubleheader sweep of mountain rival East Tennessee State in 2025 marked the Purple & Gold's league debut. WCU climbs to 16-3 when homering at least once this season, including a 7-1 mark in games with multiple homers. The Catamounts are now 12-2 when scoring at least six runs this season and 8-1 when scoring 10+ runs.
Stewman led the Catamounts with three homers and a team-best six RBIs spanning the doubleheader. Junior Maya McPherson added four hits, including a double and a team-high tying eighth homer. Freshman Autumn Russell, junior Sydney Dirks, junior Lily Bell, and Stewman each had three hits with Russell recording two doubles, Bell connecting on a triple, and Dirks hitting her team-high tying eighth homer.
Freshman Kayden Lyda had a pair of hits, including her first collegiate homer, to go along with three RBIs. Sophomore Courtney Marks, senior Rylee Butler, and senior Taylor Waitley each had a hit, with Butler tallying a two-bagger. As a team, WCU hit .389 (21-of-54) over the course of Saturday's action with four doubles, one triple, and six homers.
Sophomore Amanda Fulton struck out six in seven innings in the circle to earn her team-best tying eighth win of the year. Her classmate AG Batson followed with her fourth complete game in the finale and improved to 8-1 in the circle.
Game One – Western Carolina 11, Furman 7
Tate Stewman hit a grand slam—her second homer of the game—in the fifth inning. This capped a five-run frame and stretched the Catamounts' lead to 11-4. The team withstood a late charge and earned the 11-7 game one victory over Furman.
Maya McPherson, Tate Stewman, and Sydney Dirks each had a pair of hits to lead the team, with Stewman tallying her first career multi-homer game with a career-high five RBIs. Lily Bell, Autumn Russell, Kayden Lyda, and Rylee Butler each had a base knock with Lyda's first career homer. Bell tallied three steals in the game one victory.
Following Amanda Fulton's 1-2-3 first with three strikeouts, Furman opened the scoring in the second with a one-out solo shot to centerfield that gave the guests the early one-run lead.
The Catamounts responded in the bottom half of the inning as Stewman blasted her first homer of the day to kick off the inning before a one-out walk to Courtney Marks set the table for Lyda to send a shot deep over the centerfield fence and give WCU a 3-1 lead.
Both offenses were held in check in the third before Furman inched closer with a two-out RBI double to cut the deficit to one, 3-2.
For the second time in the game, WCU answered the Paladins in the bottom half of the frame as Bell took advantage of a second Furman miscue in the inning to score the first run, as Lyda and Butler caused early chaos on the bases.
Taylor Waitley added a sacrifice fly to the scoring line before an RBI single from Dirks saw the lead swell to four, 6-2, after four.
The guests continued to answer the Catamounts offense with a solo homer and an RBI single in the top of the fifth to cut the deficit in half.
Butler picked up a one-out double in the fifth, and after a pair of walks loaded the bases, McPherson lined a first-pitch single through the left side for an RBI. The next pitch was blasted off the bat of Stewman to make it an 11-4 lead.
Furman didn't go away quietly in the sixth inning. A bases-loaded walk was followed by a wild pitch and an RBI groundout, making it 11-7 WCU after 5.5 innings.
The Paladins threatened in the seventh with a leadoff walk and single, but three straight outs from Fulton secured the 11-7 series-opening win.
Fulton (7-3) went the distance for Western Carolina, spanning a pair of appearances, allowing 10 hits and seven runs with six strikeouts. She raised her season total to a team-best 88 strikeouts. Riley Pennington faced a pair of batters as she allowed a hit and a walk.
Lily O'Bryan (1-6) suffered the defeat, going 6.0 innings, allowing 10 hits and 11 runs, as 10 of those were earned, with a pair of strikeouts compared to nine walks.
Game Two – Western Carolina 7, Furman 4
Tate Stewman, Maya McPherson, and Sydney Dirks each hit home runs in a seven-run second inning. This helped the Catamounts secure a 7-4 victory and complete the doubleheader sweep in the finale.
McPherson, Autumn Russell, and Lily Bell all had a pair of hits to pace WCU in the contest, as Bell had a triple and Russell had two doubles. Taylor Waitley, Sydney Dirks, Courtney Marks, Stewman, and Kayden Lyda each added hits in the win.
Game two starter AG Batson worked around a bases-loaded jam in the first inning. She stranded two more runners in the second, setting the table for WCU's offense to score.
Stewman went first pitch hunting with a solo blast to left-center. Following a Russell double as she was sacrificed to third, Lyda lined a single to right-center to make it 2-0.
Bell joined in with an RBI triple to deep left, which was followed by a full-count single from Waitley to make it 4-0. Dirks and McPherson went back-to-back homers to cap a seven-run explosion of offense from the Catamounts.
After quickly recording the first two outs in the third, lightning entered the Cullowhee area, which forced a 58-minute weather delay in Saturday's action.
Both teams had traffic on the bases in the middle innings, but the Catamounts left five runners on, and the Paladins left four on between the third and the fifth to keep it a 7-0 contest.
Furman (5-24, 0-2 SoCon) broke onto the scoreboard in the sixth with a leadoff double followed by a one-out RBI double to plate its first run of the frame. A two-out two-run single from the guests cut the deficit to four, 7-3.
The Paladins added a two-out solo shot in the seventh but were unable to get any closer as WCU secured the sweep and earned Coach Clift's 300th career win.
Batson (8-1) pitched a complete game, scattering seven hits and four runs, and added two strikeouts. She stranded 11 baserunners throughout the contest.
Kristyn Embler (4-8) started, pitching two innings. She allowed eight hits and seven runs with a strikeout. Jamison Noonan tossed the final four frames, allowing three hits but giving up four walks.
The Catamounts close out their opening weekend of Southern Conference play on Sunday, March 22, with a 1:30 first pitch against Furman. Sunday's finale will have live stats available via links on CatamountSports.com.
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