by Alex Cooper, sports information assistant

MIAMI, Fla. – The Georgia College softball team (13-3) pulled off the doubleheader sweep over Barry University Friday by scores of 9-1 and 2-1. The effort marked the Bobcats' fourth sweep of the season.

In game one, pitcher Marisa Boyette (Marietta, Georgia) did not have her strikeout pitch working but it did not come back to bite her. The junior tossed her eighth complete game to begin the season, allowing just one run on four hits, striking out one. She leads the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) with eight wins and her season ERA is now at 1.27, second in the conference. 

The offense came to play in the first game, scoring nine runs on eight hits in just five innings due to the mercy rule. Georgia College scored three runs a piece in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Six of the Bobcats' eight hits were doubles, with junior Kristen Brooks (Brunswick, Georgia) and sophomore Danielle Bernstein (Cumming, Georgia) each recording two. Bernstein went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI, while Brooks added an RBI of her own on two hits.

Junior Abi LeRoy (Dublin, Georgia) was responsible for bringing home four Bobcats in game one, the first a sacrifice fly that plated Brooks in the third inning. LeRoy opened up the game in the fourth with a three-run double to give the Bobcats a 6-1 lead at the time. Two more doubles in the fifth inning, this time by Brooks and Bernstein, would be all the 'Cats would need for the run-rule victory.

The second game of the day was just the opposite of the first, a pitching duel between sophomore Carly Lewis (Seymour, Tennessee) and Barry's Taylor Sabol. It was Lewis that would come out on top, winning her fifth game of the season in the complete-game effort. She allowed just one run, while giving up five hits and striking out one Buccaneer. Lewis lowered her ERA on the season to an even 3.00. 

Georgia College's only two runs would come in the top of the fourth inning, on junior Lacey Najafi's (Suwanee, Georgia) fourth home run of the season. The blast to left field plated classmate Taylor Campbell (Warner Robins, Georgia) to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead. Campbell and Brooks notched the only other two Bobcat hits in the game.

The Buccaneers did not quit, as they began the seventh inning with a double followed by a single to cut the Bobcats' lead to 2-1. Lewis would shut the door from there, retiring the next three batters in order to secure the win. 

Georgia College will be back in action tomorrow, Feb. 21 as they make the trip to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to take on the Sharks of Nova Southeastern University. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m.   

The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at @GCBobcats on Twitter and Facebook for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit GCBobcats.PhotoReflect.com to purchase photo prints from home athletic contests.