BRUNSWICK, Ga. - It was closer than desired, but the Coastal Georgia softball team completed the three game sweep over the Ave Maria Gyrenes by a 6-5 final on Sunday afternoon.
The Mariners (18-3, 3-0 TSC) used a big first inning once again to jump out in front, but finished with just one hit over the next six innings of the game, squeezing out their 15th consecutive conference win, dating back to last season.
Ave Maria (21-11, 0-3 TSC) wasted no time getting ahead in the finale of the three game series, striking for two runs in the very first inning. A hit by pitch, sac bunt, and a walk had runners on first and third with just one out, and A. Phillips singled to center for the games first run. One batter later, A. Nelson hit a deep sac fly to center to put the Gyrenes up 2-0 going into the bottom of the first.
Not to be outdone, the Mariners answered immediately with five runs of their own to take the lead.
Sarah Thinger got the party started with a leadoff single, and after moving to second on a sac bunt by
Rori Rhodes, came around to score on a two run home run from
Bryce Peacock. The home run from Peacock was her second of the season and number 18 for her career. One batter later, freshman
Rylee Mills went back-to-back hitting a home run of her own, her second of the season as well, to dead center, adding another to the lead making it 3-1. Later in the inning, CCGA got a walk from
Mackenzie Southerland and back-to-back singles from
Alyssa Haggerty and
Rily Andrews to load the bases with still just one out. Mackenzie Kagee drew a walk to bring in another run, and Thinger capped the inning off with a single to center, scoring Haggerty to make the score 5-2 going into the second inning.
Ave Maria added another run in the top of the second thanks to an RBI single from A. Nudera, and after stopping the Mariners threat in the bottom half, the lead was now 5-3 in favor of CCGA.
In the third, Peacock allowed just one hit in the circle and kept the Gyrenes off the scoreboard, setting her offense up to score once again in the bottom half. Haggerty led the inning off reaching due to an error, moved to third on a sac bunt by Andrews, and later scored on a wild pitch. The Mariners did get
Julianna Batts into scoring position, but a groundout ended the inning and sent us to the fourth with the Mariners leading 6-3.
The Gyrenes chased Peacock from the game in the fifth after a leadoff hit by pitch and a single scored a run, forcing head coach
Mike Minick to turn to
Elizabeth McGovern to get his team out of the inning. McGovern did allow another run to come across, but limited the damage as CCGA held a slim 6-5 lead into the bottom half of the inning.
Neither side did any damage in the sixth and in the seventh, McGovern shut down the Gyrenes in order to secure the three game sweep in the conference opener.
Thinger finished the day 3-4 at the plate with a run scored and an RBI, while Peacock added a pair of RBI's herself. Peacock secured her eighth win of the season, pitching four innings allowing six hits and five runs. McGovern picks up her first save of the season, pitching three innings of flawless relief, allowing no hits or runs with one walk and a strikeout.
The Mariners will be back in action on Tuesday when they welcome in Wesleyan College for a 2 p.m. double header at Brunswick High School.
