Greenville, SC – Wofford softball emerged victorious, 6-3, in a 12-inning marathon of a game in game one of a doubleheader against the Furman Paladins before dropping game two, and ultimately the series, 1-6.

Game 1
After conceding a run on two hits in the opening frame, starting pitcher Margaret Axelson settled in to allow only two more runs (neither of which were earned) and nine more hits to earn her fifth win in the last six appearances. And of those two runs and nine hits, both runs came in extra innings and only three of those hits came in extras.

For Axelson, her twelve-inning complete game comes exactly one week after spinning a ten-inning complete game win against Western Carolina on Saturday, April 13. Combining that start with her performance tonight, she has only allowed six runs (three earned) in the last 291 pitches she's thrown (135 vs. Western Carolina and 156 at Furman). Prior to her last two starts, she had only eclipsed 100 pitches once in her Wofford career (April 6, 2024, at Chattanooga).

Setting up Axelson for the win, Wofford first had to tie the game to even set up the possibility of extra innings, which the Terriers did in the fifth inning. Ally Bigham led the inning off for Wofford with a single to left field and two batters later advanced to third off the bat of Olivia Lenzen, who doubled down the left field line. Kalli Petty then singled to center to plate Bigham and knot the game at one run a piece. The RBI was Petty's seventh of the season and third in her last four games.

Neither club scored again until the tenth with both teams taking advantage of errors to plate a run. Furman's error scored Kaytlin Greenwood from third who was already in motion via the suicide squeeze play while Wofford's error occurred with two outs allowed Furman to score from second base.

Wofford then exploded for four runs on three hits in the 12th inning, scoring first on a passed ball and then consecutive RBIs by Abby Gossett and Bergan Needles. Megan Towery singled in the final Terrier run two batters later. Furman scored a run back, but the hit that scored the Paladin courtesy runner was the only threat the Dins could muster.

Game 2
The Terriers registered their first hit, and lone run, in the fifth inning courtesy of singles by Hannah Maddox and Gracie Parker that cut the team's deficit to two runs. In the seven outs that followed Parker's RBI single, Wofford managed just a single base runner while conceding three more runs and five more hits (all coming in Furman's half of the sixth inning).

Abby Greenwood was Wofford's pitcher of record in the game spinning 5.2 innings, 11 hits, 6 runs (all earned), one walk and two strikeouts. Freshman Tayven Stephenson made her first appearance since March 24, at Mercer, to retire the last Furman hitter of the night in seven pitches.

Up Next
Wofford is not scheduled to talk the diamond again until its next SoCon series, coming on April 27-28, at ETSU. Games one and two against the Buccaneers will be played in a doubleheader beginning at 1 PM on Saturday, April 27, and concluding on Sunday, April 28, with a single game played at 1 PM. All three games are currently scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+.