Cullowhee, N.C. – Junior third baseman Maya McPherson clubbed two home runs as Western Carolina softball connected on five big flies to earn a 12-2 run-rule victory over Furman to complete a three-game Southern Conference sweep of the visiting Paladins on Betty Peele Field at the Catamount Softball Complex.
The Catamounts open SoCon play with three-straight wins for the first time since their debut season in 2006, when the Purple & Gold also swept Furman to kick off the league slate.
McPherson led WCU with a three-hit performance, including two homers and four RBIs. With 10 homers, she is the first Catamount to reach double-digit dingers this year.
Junior Lily Bell added a pair of hits, extending her reached base streak to a team-best 15 games. Sydney Dirks, Becka Wonsick, and Rylee Butler each homered in the win. Tate Stewman pushed her hitting streak to six straight, and Dirks has hits in five consecutive.
McPherson capped a strong weekend, batting .700 (7-for-10) with three home runs and six runs driven in to pace the squad. Bell finished with a .500 (5-for-10) average as she had a triple, three walks, and three stolen bases to go along with four runs. Dirks tallied four hits, including two more homers, as Stewman had three homers in the series, with a team-high tying six runs knocked in.
As a team, WCU finished with a .403 batting average (31-for-77), totaling 17 extra-base hits – 11 homers, five doubles, one triple – and scoring 30 runs in a perfect opening weekend.
Western Carolina (19-9, 3-0 SoCon) started fast on Sunday, as McPherson homered with Bell and Taylor Waitley aboard for the early lead. Furman answered, though, in the second with a pair of singles before an RBI groundout cut the lead to two, 3-1.
Kayden Lyda was hit by a pitch to start the second. Butler then hit a home run to left-center, making it 5-1 WCU after two innings.
Both sides went 1-2–3 in the third, and after Amanda Fulton's fourth strikeout in the fourth, the Catamount bats got going in the home half of the frame.
With Butler aboard on a four-pitch walk and Bell on with a single to set the table for the heart of the order, Waitley sent a double down the left field line to score both runners and make it 7-1. Two batters later, McPherson sent a deep shot to left field for her 10th homer of the season and an 8-1 cushion.
WCU threatened in the fifth, taking advantage of three walks in the inning, but the Paladins were able to strand the bases loaded and keep it a seven-run score.
Furman (5-25, 0-3 SoCon) opened the sixth with a home run to center, cutting the WCU lead to 8-2.
Dirks homered to center, restoring the seven-run lead, before McPherson and Stewman singled, bringing up Wonsick. She drove home three on the first pitch with a home run to left-center for the walk-off three-run shot. WCU sent four batters to the plate in the sixth, getting two homers and two singles in just seven pitches.
WCU improved to 17-3 when homering at least once in a game this season, including an 8-1 mark in games with multiple homers. The Catamounts are now 13-2 when scoring at least six runs this season and 9-1 when scoring 10 or more runs. Western Carolina is now 12-1 when eclipsing 10 hits in a game.
Fulton (9-3) tallied her eighth complete game of the season on Sunday afternoon. She scattered seven hits and allowed a pair of runs with five punchouts in the victory. She maintains the top spot in strikeouts for WCU with 93 on the season as she's earned five wins and a save over her last eight appearances in the circle.
Gwen Hill (0-1) made her collegiate debut for Furman, going 2.0 innings and allowing three hits with five runs and four strikeouts. Taylor Miller pitched 1.2 innings in relief as she allowed three hits and three runs with a pair of walks. Lily O'Bryan tallied 1.1 innings of work in the circle, giving up one hit and one run with three walks. Jamison Noonan faced the final three batters of the contest and gave up three hits and three runs.
WCU steps back out of conference for a midweek doubleheader against Big South counterpart USC Upstate on Tuesday, March 24. The two teams open their twin bill with a 3 p.m. first pitch. Tuesday's action will have live stats available on CatamountSports.com.
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