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Box Score 2 >>>PURCHASE PHOTO PRINTS
by Alex Cooper, sports information student assistant
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The Georgia College softball team (32-4, 9-1 PBC) extended its win streak to 11 Saturday with a doubleheader sweep of conference foe Francis Marion University (18-14, 4-6 PBC) by scores of 8-3 and 17-0.
The first game of the day was a close contest for the majority, until the Bobcats turned on the bats in the sixth inning, scoring four runs for the 8-3 victory.
Georgia College took the first lead of the game in the second when junior Lacey Najafi (Suwanee) scored on a Patriot error after she had reached on a walk earlier in the inning.
Francis Marion did not take nicely to the early Bobcat lead, scoring two runs of their own in the third inning and adding another in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning.
After an out to begin the fourth inning, Georgia College knocked three singles in a row to plate a run. Freshman Holland Coursey (Sugar Hill) then doubled to left center, plating her twin sister Hannah Coursey (Sugar Hill) and classmate Baylee Hall (Hephzibah) for a 4-3 Bobcat lead.
The game would stay 4-3 until the sixth, when Georgia College sent 12 batters to the plate, scoring four runs on four hits, two hit batters and a Patriot error.
Sophomore Danielle Bernstein (Cumming) went 3-for-4 in the contest with a run scored and a RBI. Hall, Holland Coursey and Kristen Humphries (Columbus) all notched multi-hit efforts.
The eight Bobcat runs would be plenty for pitcher Marisa Boyette (Marietta) to pick up her 17th win of the season. The junior tossed another complete game, allowing just one earned run on six hits. She struck out 10 Francis Marion batters and walked three. Boyette is now second in the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) in wins, third in strikeouts with 136, and third in ERA at 1.41.
Game two of the twinbill was not near as compelling as the first, as Georgia College ran away with a 17-0 mercy-rule win on 12 hits. The Bobcats would score four runs in the first, 11 in the second and two in the fourth inning.
Georgia College had five extra-base hits of their 12 knocks, four doubles and a home run.
The big second inning saw the Bobcats send 15 batters to the dish, scoring 11 runs on seven hits.
Junior Taylor Campbell (Warner Robins) was the offensive star of game two, going 3-for-3 with seven RBI and three runs scored, including a double and a two-run home run. The long ball was her fourth of the season.
The only other Bobcat with more than one hit was Hannah Coursey, as she went 2-for-2 with four RBI and a run scored. LeRoy also added three RBI, giving her 41 on the season which is good for second in the PBC.
Sophomore Carly Lewis (Seymour, Tennessee) had no trouble in the circle, notching her 13th win of the season. She struck out five Patriots in the shutout, surrendering just two hits. The shutout was her fourth of the campaign.
Georgia College is back in action tomorrow, March 29 when UNC Pembroke comes to the Peeler Complex for a conference doubleheader that has been dubbed Military Appreciation Day. First pitch 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.
