AUGUSTA, Ga. | The ninth-ranked University of North Georgia softball team earned a doubleheader sweep over Peach Belt foe Georgia Regents Thursday afternoon at Jaguars Field with a 2-0 victory in game one and a 9-3 win in the second game of the day. The Nighthawks are now 27-5 on the year and hold on to first-place in the league at 8-0.
Courtney Poole (21-1) earned both victories in the circle for the Nighthawks. Poole allowed just two earned runs in 14.0 innings of work, striking out eight without allowing a base on balls.
Game One
UNG got on the board in the top of the first after Kim McMillan singled to center field and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Meagan May, McMillan came home to score on Jessica Finch‘s RBI single to right to give UNG a 1-0 lead.
Great pitching performances from Poole and GRU’s Haley Birkle would keep both opponents’ bats relatively quiet the rest of the way.
The Nighthawks did add an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Taylor Anne Merritt doubled to left to score Alexis Collis from first, giving UNG the 2-0 lead that proved final.
Game Two
North Georgia was once again the first to score in game two, plating the first six runs of the game. The Nighthawks picked up two runs in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Victoria Prince scoring Collis and Jessica Finch came home to score on a wild pitch.
May came home to score in the third inning after stealing third and advanced home on an errant throw trying to catch the UNG speedster at third, giving UNG a 3-0 lead.
The Nighthawks added three more in the fourth highlighted by a Merritt RBI single through the left side.
After the Jaguars plated an unearned run the fourth, North Georgia answered with two runs in the top of the fifth with a Prince RBI double down the left field line and a RBI walk by McMillan, putting UNG up 8-1.
GRU Augusta would score a single run in the fifth and sixth inning with Finch plating the final run of the game in the top of the seventh with an RBI walk for the final score of 9-3.
Next Up
The Nighthawks will take the weekend off and then head to Montevallo, Alabama on Tuesday for their first ever softball game against the Falcons in a PBC doubleheader with first pitch set for 4 p.m. CDT.