Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Alex Cooper, sports information student assistant
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. - The Georgia College softball team (41-7, 18-4 PBC) made quick work of the Young Harris Mountain Lions (30-14, 13-7 PBC) Saturday by scores of 7-1 and 7-3.
The Bobcats racked up seven runs on 11 hits in game one, putting up multi-run innings three times.
Georgia College got the scoring started in the bottom of the second, plating two runs on a single off the bat of sophomore Faith Flanders (Dublin). Both runs that scored were unearned after a Mountain Lion miscue earlier in the inning.
Young Harris answered back with one run of its own in the third, but the Bobcats extended the lead to 4-1 in the bottom half. After Kristen Brooks (Brunswick) singled to lead off the inning and advanced to third when Danielle Bernstein (Cumming) reached on an error, Brooks scored on a groundout by freshman Hannah Coursey (Sugar Hill). Bernstein stole home later in the inning for the fourth Bobcat run.
The 'Cats would put another run on the board in the fifth and then tack on two insurance runs in the sixth for the 7-1 victory.
Brooks finished game one 3-for-4, including a double, with an RBI and two runs scored. Flanders was 2-for-3, driving home two herself. Hannah Coursey added two RBIs and junior Lacey Najafi (Suwanee) was 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Pitcher Marisa Boyette (Marietta) was her usual self on the mound, going the distance for her 23rd complete game and 21st win of the season. The junior allowed just one run on five hits, while striking out four Young Harris batters.
The second game of the day was not as easy for the Bobcats, but they still cranked out 12 hits in the 7-3 come-from-behind victory.
Georgia College got the scoring started in the bottom of the first on a Najafi single that plated LeRoy.
The Mountain Lions took their first lead of the doubleheader in the third inning, scoring three runs on three hits for a 3-1 lead. The big blow was a three-run home run by Sarah Beth Marquis.
In the bottom of the fourth, Brooks hit her third home run of the season, scoring freshman Holland Coursey (Sugar Hill), tying the game at three a piece.
The Bobcats scratched across what turned out to be the winning run in the fifth when Najafi singled home pinch runner Emily Robertson (Dacula).
The scoring didn't stop there, as Georgia College scored three more in the sixth. Flanders got the rally started on her second home run of the season, extending the lead to 5-3. Two batters later, Brooks knocked one over the right-center field wall for her second long ball of the game and fourth of the season. The seventh and final run of the contest crossed home on a Taylor Campbell (Warner Robins) double.
Brooks went 2-for-4 in game two, making her 5-for-8 on the day with four RBIs and four runs scored. Campbell heated up in game two, going 3-for-3 with an RBI. Najafi was the only other multi-hit performer in the second game, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Sophomore Carly Lewis (Seymour, Tennessee) did not have her best stuff in the circle, but still managed to limit the damage, surrendering three runs on eight hits in the winning effort. The righty held Young Harris scoreless outside the three-run third. She moved to 18-4 on the season and notched her 21st complete game.
The two wins over Young Harris pushed the Bobcats over the 40-win mark for just the fourth time in school history and first since 2008. They are now just four wins from the school's single season wins total, set by the 2006 squad that finished 45-13.
The Bobcats are back in action Monday, April 20 when they hit the road for their final regular season series of the year, a 2 p.m. matchup with Armstrong State University.
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 on Twitter and Facebook @GCBobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information, and to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GC Athletics Hall of Fame.
