PANTHERSVILLE, Ga. (02/17/07) ? Outscoring its opponents 19-1 on Saturday, Georgia State will play in the championship game at of the Panther Invitational held at Bob Heck Field.  The championship game is scheduled for 4:45 p.m.  The Panthers shut out the Army Black Knights 12-0 in the morning and defeated the Furman Paladins 7-1 in the nightcap of the tournament.

State will play the winner of the Army vs. Furman game at 10:00 a.m., which kicks off the second and final day of the event.  Mercer, the fourth participant, will battle the loser of the aforementioned game in the consolation at 2:30 p.m.

In the tournament opener, Georgia State (3-4) scored one run in the first inning.  The Panthers crossed six runners in the third frame to give them a 7-0 advantage.  Nichole Griffin (Leesburg, Ga./Lee County) scored on a single and Alison Bradford (McDonough, Ga./Henry County) crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly.  Holly Willis (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) hit a single to plate two additional runners and Griffin doubled to score the final two points of the frame.

At the top of the fifth, the Panthers offense exploded again adding five more to extend the lead to 12-0.  Danielle Roddy (Canton, Ga./Woodstock) led off with a home run.  With the bases loaded, Jackie Jaegle received a walk, scoring pinch runner Lauren Fetters (Canton, Ga/Sequoyah). State scored three more runs via walks before the inning ended.  The Panthers retired the Black Knight's final three batters to win 12-0 in five innings.

Madi Gore (Acworth, Ga./Kell), completing her second game of the season, improved to 2-1 in 2007 with the win for Georgia State.  Gore retired seven batters while only allowing two hits.  Chris Stauffer drops to 0-2 with the loss for Army.  Stauffer stuck out four batters and walked six.

Griffin opened the nightcap for Georgia State with a two-run blast in the first inning versus Furman.  The Panthers scored again in the second on a Roddy single and in the third frame on a Rachel Cunningham (Alpharetta, Ga./South Forsyth) double to left field.

Griffin hit a double to left field plating two runners in the sixth inning and Bradford singled to score Griffin.  At the end of six, the Panthers had a 7-0 advantage.  Furman scored its only run in the seventh frame on a Meredith Mielke single.

Ashley Cowan (1-1) grabbed her first win and complete game as a Panther, without allowing an earned run.  Cowan leads all Georgia State pitchers with a 1.17 ERA.  Blake Murray (0-3) took the loss for Furman.

In other tournament action, Army defeated Mercer 5-4 and Furman cruised past Mercer 15-7.

Furman will face Army at 10:00 a.m. followed by Georgia State vs. Mercer at 12:15 p.m.