LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - After almost a two hour rain delay, the College of Coastal Georgia softball team made it worth the wait as they defeated the Rio Grande Red Storm by a final of 4-0 on Saturday afternoon.
The Mariners (7-2) got their first batter of the game, Kaitlyn Carolino, on with a hit by pitch, but she was thrown out trying to steal second. Two batters later, Rylee Mills kept the inning going by reaching on an error, and CCGA took advantage of another error by the Red Storm (4-3) one batter later when Rily Andrews singled to the shortstop and Mills made it to third on a throwing error. CCGA could not make anything happen with the early pressure as a strikeout ended the inning and sent Emilia Clemons out for the bottom half of the inning. In the bottom half, Clemons fired a 1-2-3 inning to send the game to the second still scoreless.
Both pitchers continued to roll through the second and third innings as both slides mustered just three hits combined as the game went into the fourth still tied at zero.
After the fourth went without any noise, the fifth came around and was the best opportunity for the Mariners since the first inning. Maddy Lee singled to begin the inning and with Zoe Johnston-Hadaway pinch running, advanced to second on a sac bunt from Avery Callaway. Now with a runner in scoring position with just one out, the last thing that the Mariners needed was a double play, but that's exactly what they got to end the inning to cancel the scoring opportunity and keep the score tied. In the bottom half, Clemons once again worked her magic, working around a one out walk, to keep the Red Storm in check and send the game to the sixth tied at zero.
Brooke Perdue led the sixth off with a double and moved to third on a sac bunt from Mills to put the go ahead run 60 feet from scoring. Purdue wasted no time coming in to score as she came in to score on a wild pitch to make the score 1-0 in favor of the Mariners. After Andrews grounded out for the second out of the inning, McKenzie Collins took matters into her own hand as she blasted her first career home run to right field to double the Mariners lead to 2-0. The two runs is all the Mariners could get as they needed just six outs for their first victory of the weekend. In the bottom of the sixth, Rio Grande started the inning with a leadoff double just as the Mariners did, but Clemons once again worked out of a jam, even giving up a two out walk, as she held the Red Storm scoreless in the inning sending the game to the seventh with CCGA leading 2-0.
In the seventh, the Mariners got a few more insurance runs for Clemons. After a leadoff walk and a single began the inning, Rio Grande got two quick outs and all seemed lost. It was not, however, as Mills delivered a two out, two RBI double to score both Lee and Callaway to make the score 4-0 going into the bottom of the seventh.
Clemons was stellar in the bottom of the seventh, working around a one out single to finish her complete game and secure the first win of the Lawrenceville round robin for the Mariners by a final of 4-0.
Both Andrews and Purdue finished 2-4 on the afternoon with Perdue finishing with a pair of doubles. Mills finished 1-3 with the two RBI's in the seventh.
Clemons pitched her first career complete game allowing just three hits and no runs while throwing 106 pitches in her third win of the season.
The second game of the day scheduled for 3:00 p.m. with Lindsey Wilson has been cancelled. CCGA is back in action tomorrow morning, weather permitting, against Lindsey Wilson and Georgia Gwinnett. First pitch is set for 9:30 a.m. followed by a 1:00 p.m. first pitch with the Grizzlies.
