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58
Softball
North Georgia Wins Fourth Straight PBC Softball
Tournament Title
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Freshman Kylee Smith proved herself as the
Peach Belt’s best pitcher on the league’s biggest stage, throwing over
10 shutout innings on Saturday to help lead the eighth-ranked Uni-
versity of North Georgia softball team to their fourth consecutive PBC
Tournament Championship. The Nighthawks picked up a 5-4 walk off
win over Young Harris in the semifinals before shutting down Flagler,
4-0, in the title game. UNG, which earned the league’s automatic bid
to the NCAA Division II Tournament today, now owns a 44-10 record.
onship game.
Championship: North Georgia 4, Flagler 0
The Nighthawks opened the game with a pair of runs in the bottom
first with Sprague and Hartness scoring on a wild pitch and a throw-
ing error, respectively, to give UNG a 2-0 lead.
Hartness went deep in the third to extend the lead to 3-0 and
Hannah McSwain plated Lexi Duncan with an RBI single up the mid-
dle in the fourth to give North Georgia the 4-0 advantage that proved
final.
NOTES
- Kylee Smith (27-4) earned both wins on the day, getting the W in
Semifinal: North Georgia 5, Young Harris 4
North Georgia jumped out to an early lead in the first two innings as relief in the semifinal and going the distance in the championship
Alishia Frierson picked up a pair of RBI singles in the first and second game. Altogether, Smith allowed just five hits in 10.1 innings pitched
with Sydney Sprague and Stephanie Hartness adding run producing with one walk and six strike outs and was voted the tournament’s
Most Valuable Player for her efforts.
hits in the second to give UNG a 4-0 lead.
- Stephanie Hartness led UNG offensively on the day with a 5-for-7
A rough inning for the Nighthawk infield that saw three errors,
performance at the plate with two RBI and five runs scored.
led to a four-run fourth for Young Harris with all four runs being
- Jessica Finch, Sydney Sprague, Stephanie Hartness and Kylee Smith
unearned, tying the game at 4-4.
each represented UNG on the All-Tournament team.
The game remained tied up until the bottom of the seventh as
- The PBC Tournament Championship is the fourth straight for North
Hartness and Frierson led off the inning with back-to-back singles.
Georgia
and the seventh in the last nine years. It also continues an
Kaylyn Anthony laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to
second and third but an errant throw by the Mountain Lions allowed impressive streak of UNG winning the conference tournament cham-
Hartness to come in to score and send the Nighthawks to the champi- pionship every year that they have won the regular season crown.
2016-17