After surviving two elimination games, the University of North Georgia softball team saw their season come to a close in a 5-2 loss to No. 24 Biola Friday evening at the NCAA Division II Softball Championships in Denver.
UNG fell to Biola in its opening game of the Championships, earning only one hit while giving up four runs, which put the team in the loser’s bracket from the start. However, the Nighthawks battled their way back out, defeating Valdosta State 8-4 in comeback fashion. UNG then took on Saint Anselm in what became a pitchers’ duel to stay alive in the tournament where the Nighthawks squeezed out a 1-0 victory to earn them a shot at redemption against Biola and a chance at making it to the championship series. Instead, the Eagles of Biola delivered the final blow the UNG’s championship hopes and sent the Nighthawks home.
GAME ONE
The team opened up the championships Thursday facing fifth-seeded Biola and its star pitcher Paige Austin, who held the Nighthawks scoreless and only allowed one hit on the day.
All four of Biola’s runs came in the fifth, plating the runs on a pair of RBI singles. North Georgia got runners on in the fourth and the fifth, but couldn’t get past second base.
The loss put UNG in the tournament’s first elimination game against Valdosta State Friday.
GAME TWO
Down 3-0 and staring elimination dead in the face, the Nighthawks’ bats came alive to the tune of eight runs as the Nighthawks eliminated VSU with an 8-4 win on Friday.
The Blazers got on the board in the first inning, taking advantage of a Nighthawk error to hit a two-run homer. VSU scored again in the fourth on a solo homer to take a 3-0 lead. North Georgia finally answered in the fifth, scoring their first two runs of the tournament on a Madison Simmons bomb to left field.
The Nighthawks took the lead in the sixth, loading the bases and pushing across a run on a Blazer error and two more on a Kaylyn Anthony single through the left side to make the score 5-3. North Georgia scored three more in the seventh on another Blazer error and a Shelby Hammontree RBI single to left. VSU scored one off a solo homer in the bottom of the frame, but that was all they could get.
That win set up another elimination game, this time with No. 2 seed Saint Anselm.
GAME THREE
It took all seven innings, but UNG finally pushed across the game’s only run in a pitchers’ duel with St. Anselm, via squeeze bunt, to win 1-0 and advance to the final four of the tournament on Saturday.
After a patented Kylee Smith dominant performance, going seven innings, striking out nine and allowing only two hits, North Georgia used a leadoff walk to Madi Perry to get it going in the final frame. A Gracie Mixson sacrifice bunt and a Hannah Forehand single set up Cheyanne Mosteller to lay down a squeeze bunt to give UNG the walk off win.
GAME FOUR
Needing to take back-to-back games against the Eagles, thanks to the double elimination format of the tournament, the Nighthawks took on the Biola just hours after staying alive against Saint Anselm.
The Eagles plated four in the third, highlighted by a three-run homer. Biola put up another run in the seventh on a RBI single.
North Georgia rallied in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases for the second straight inning. Marley Holmes brought home the Nighthawks’ first run on a pinch hit RBI single before a bases loaded walk was issued to Mixson, but BU got out of the jam to secure their spot in the championship series.
With the loss, UNG finishes its season with a record of 43-8.
The senior class of Anthony, Hammontree and Smith finish their careers with an overall record of 221-42, including two appearances at the NCAA Division II College Softball Championships.