LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga.- The No. 18 Coastal Georgia softball team (3-2, 0-0) fell to No. 20 Campbellsville (3-1, 0-0) by a score of 9-1 in the first game of the 2023 Georgia Gwinnett Grizzly Classic on Saturday morning and then played a tough Division II opponent in Georgia Southwestern (6-2) who beat the Mariners 8-7 in the extra innings.
Melani Jones recorded a steal in the game against Campbellsville to give her record for most stolen bases in a career, in school history.
Game 1:
- Campbellsville came out swinging hard as they recorded three first-inning runs on five hits.
- The Mariners were able to notch a run in the second inning and hold the Tigers scoreless over the next two innings before a six-run fourth put the game out of reach for Coastal Georgia.
- Aniston Johnson recorded two of the Mariner's four hits and scored their lone run off a MacKenzie Kagee RBI.
- Hayley Dickerson was charged with the loss after giving up the three first-inning runs, while Bryce Peacock gave up five of the six fourth-inning runs.
- As a staff, the Mariners walked nine batters but allowed just eight hits.
Game 2:
- The Mariners flipped the script in this game, going up 5-1 after the first inning thanks to a three-run homer by Aniston Johnson which was followed by a solo homer from Kayla Rowell.
- Johnson leads the Sun Conference with three home runs so far through the early part of the season.
- Georgia Southwestern was able to claw its way back into the game after scoring two runs in the third, sixth and seventh innings.
- The Hurricanes took the lead in the top of the seventh, but a clutch two-out home run by Melani Jones pushed the game into extra innings.
- Georgia Southwestern again was able to get a run across, but the Mariners could not answer this time, falling 8-7 in the eighth inning.