COLUMBUS, Ga. - The 19th-ranked Lady Cougars of Columbus State used a pair of strong pitching efforts to cool the smoking-hot Georgia Southwestern Lady Hurricanes Wednesday evening to earn a shutout sweep in the Peach Belt doubleheader at Lady Cougar Field.
GSW came into the contest fresh off a sweep of Lander that saw the Lady 'Canes put up 31 runs off 33 hits on the day.
Game 1: CSU 1, GSW 0
The opening contest proved to be a pitchers' duel as Georgia Southwestern's Allison Pastor and Columbus State's Mollie Russell battled it out on the mound as both pitchers had dominant outings.
CSU's lone run came in the bottom of the first inning off an RBI single by Kristen Carr to put Columbus State (26-11, 7-2 PBC) on the board.
That run proved to be the difference in the game as Georgia Southwestern (22-21, 6-9 PBC) failed to get anything going offensively.
GSW's red-hot bats were cooled thanks in part to Russell (14-6) who earned the shutout victory allowing six hits while striking out nine Lady 'Canes.
Pastor (10-7) was credited with the loss off a strong effort as the junior threw a complete game allowing one run off three hits.
Janna Anderson and Jordan Miller paced the Lady 'Canes offensively as the pair accounted for two hits apiece for the Blue and Gold.
Game 2: CSU 8, GSW 0
While GSW continued their offensive struggles, Columbus State broke out of their slump in the second game as the Lady Cougars scored eight runs off nine hits to earn the easy 8-0 shutout victory in five innings.
Columbus State (27-11, 8-2 PBC) used a four-run third inning off two Lady Cougar-home runs to help distance themselves from GSW (22-22, 6-10 PBC).
Southwestern's starting pitcher Ashley Cavender (7-9) was credited with the loss for the Lady 'Canes as the sophomore pitched 2.1 innings allowing six runs off six hits.
Taylor Turner (8-3) continued CSU's strong pitching effort as the right-hander threw a complete-game shutout allowing four hits while striking out three for the Lady Cougars.
Georgia Southwestern will return to action Saturday, March 30, as GSW returns to Lady 'Cane Field for a PBC doubleheader against Augusta State starting a 12 p.m.