MOUNT VERNON, Ga. - After playing for nearly six hours, the College of Coastal Georgia softball team split their Friday doubleheader with Brewton-Parker, winning game one 5-4 in 11 innings before dropping game two by a final of 3-1.
GAME ONE: CCGA 5, BPC 4 (11 INN)
As to be expected, the first game between the Mariners (6-2) and the Lady Barons (4-5-1) was sure to be a pitchers duel as both teams fought to a 2-1 finish in Columbia, S.C. just a week ago. With that being said, no one expected an 11 inning, three hour thriller to kick off a six game weekend for the Mariners.
Both sides were relatively quiet in the game until the bottom of the fourth inning. Starter Rylee Mills had been cruising up until that point, but ran into some trouble against the Lady Barons offense. After a leadoff double made its way to third with just one out, Brewton-Parker looked poised to be the first team on the scoreboard. It was not to be, however, as Mills escaped the jam to keep the game tied going into the fifth.
In the top of the fifth, the Mariners had their first real chance of the afternoon. After Emma Jones drew a walk to start the inning, Alyssa Haggerty singled, advancing her to second. With two on and nobody out, Odum got the next three batters for CCGA out in a row to end the threat and strand two runners in scoring position. In the bottom half, BPC got their own runner to third, but this time it was Mills' turn to slam the door and send the game to the sixth still tied at zero.
The sixth came and went, and so did the seventh with no end in sight as the game moved into extra innings still tied at zero.
In the eight, the first score of the game came from the Mariners. After bunting over the runner from second, Brooke Perdue sent a sac fly into center field to score Zoe Johnston-Hadaway and give the Mariners a one run lead. BPC was not outdone, doing the same as CCGA to tie the game up again and send it to the ninth inning.
In the ninth, the Mariners decided to score twice in the inning to give them more insurance for the bottom half. With Mills on second, Rily Andrews drew a walk putting two on with no outs. Both advanced 60 feet with a wild pitch and were brought home off the bat of McKenzie Collins to make the score 3-1. In the bottom half, the Lady Barons still refused to quit, scoring two of their own to tie the game right back up and send us further for another inning.
The Mariners went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 10th, and in the bottom half, things started out poorly. With a new pitcher, Emilia Clemons, the runner placed on second moved immediately to third with a wild pitch while the batter drew a walk and stole second, putting runners at second and third with nobody out. Clemons found some magic in the circle, getting the next three Lady Barons out in order to keep the game score and move the matchup into the 11th still tied at three.
In the 11th, Mackenzie Southerland broke the tie with an RBI single up the middle, scoring Clemons. Collins followed with a single and Jones drew a walk loading the bases with just one out in the inning. Alyssa Haggerty was next, who bunted home Southerland to give the Mariners a two run cushion once again going out for the bottom of the 11th.
It seemed like it was going to be same song different verse in the 11th, as Brewton-Parker got two on with nobody out, and brought home one run on a groundout. With the tying run on second, now re-entered Mills got the next two batters out, ending the marathon with the Mariners victorious by a final of 5-4.
Haggerty finished the game 3-5 from the plate with Collins right on her heels with a 2-5 performance. CCGA recorded seven hits and five runs in the game, but left 13 runners on base. Mills pitched a career high 10 innings in the winning effort, giving up nine hits, three runs, two walks and four strikeouts, throwing another career high 124 pitches.
GAME TWO: CCGA 1, Brewton-Parker 3
After holding the Mariners to just one hit in the top of the first, the Barons wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, bringing home a leadoff single to take a 1-0 lead into the second.
In the second, the Mariners got back-to-back singles from Haggerty and Johnston-Hadaway, but could not push any runs across in the inning as they continued to trail. Collins, who made the start in the circle in game two, held the Barons off the scoreboard to advance the game to the third inning with the same score.
It was in the third inning where the Mariners scored their one and only run of the game. Andrews started the inning with a single and stole second, coming around to score on a Collins RBI single that tied the game.
The Barons retook the lead in the bottom of the third inning as Wright once again scored after leading off the inning with a single, and in the fourth, the Barons were able to add another run to their lead. This time, it was a leadoff walk that found its way around to score, making the score 3-1 in favor of Brewton-Parker headed to the fifth.
In the final three innings, the Mariners managed just two hits and only got one runner in scoring position as they could not catch the Barons who took game two and forced a split of the double header.
Carolino and Andrews both finished with two hits each while Collins drove in the lone run of game two. Collins also went 3.2 innings in the circle allowing three hits and three runs on four walks and just one strikeout. In relief, Clemons fired 2.1 innings of one hit ball allowing no runs. The Mariners tagged O'Neal for nine hits on the afternoon, but managed just one run.
CCGA will now make their way to Lawrenceville for the GGC Round Robin over the weekend. Day one is slated for an 8:30 first pitch against Rio Grande followed by a 3:00 p.m. first pitch with Lindsey Wilson, weather permitting.
