LAKELAND, Fla. - Needing a big weekend on the road, the College of Coastal Georgia softball team swept their Friday afternoon double header against the Southeastern Fire, winning game one 6-2 and game two by a final of 6-3.  
 
GAME ONE: CCGA 6, SEU 2
 
Needing a good start early in game one, the Mariners (18-7, 3-3 SUN) went right to work in the very first inning putting pressure on the Fire (21-3, 3-0 SUN). Back-to-back one out singles from Brooke Perdue and Rylee Mills put runners on first and second with just one out, but a fielder's choice and a groundout ended the threat just as quickly as it matured. Going out on defense, Mills fired a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first to keep the game tied into the second. 
 
McKenzie Collins led the second inning off with a single, but that was all the Mariners could muster in the inning, and in the bottom half, Southeastern took the lead for the first time of the day. A hit by pitch and two singles loaded the bases for Nicole Wasserstrom drove a deep fly ball into left field for a sac fly RBI as SEU took a 1-0 lead into the third. 
 
The Mariners responded in the third with one run of their own to re-tie the game at one a piece. Kaitlyn Carolino led the inning off with a single, stole second, and moved to third on a sac bunt from Perdue. After Mills struck out looking, Rily Andrews made her first noise of the game with an RBI double past the shortstop as Carolino scored to tie the game again. 
 
After Mills shut down the Fire in the bottom of the third, the CCGA offense worked quickly again to take the lead, scoring two in the top of the fourth inning. Avery Callaway started the inning with a one out single, followed by a hit by pitch from Mackenzie Southerland to put a pair on. Emma Jones loaded the bases with a single, and Carolino drove home Callaway with a single into center to make the score 2-1. Two batters later, Mills helped her own cause with a single down the line to score Southerland and make the score 3-1 into the bottom of the inning. In that half, Mills worked around a leadoff single to maintain the 3-1 lead into the fifth. 
 
Both slides got a single but nothing else in the fifth, and Mills continued to stifle the Fire hitters all the way through the sixth as the game went into the final inning with CCGA leading 3-1. 
 
The seventh and final inning proved to be the biggest for the Mariners as they added three insurance runs for Mills in the inning. Mills herself drew a walk to start the inning and Andrews followed right behind with a two run home run to make the score 5-1. The big blow was Andrews' third home run of the season with all three coming away from Brunswick. Rylie Smith doubled down the line next up and moved to third on another sac bunt, coming in to score on a single down the left field line as CCGA took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the final frame. 
 
Southeastern did not go down quietly as the Fire scored one in the seventh and brought the tying run to the plate, but it was too little too late as CCGA took game one by a final of 6-2. 
 
Collins, Andrews, Mills, and Carolino all finished with two hits while Andrews drove in three of the six Mariners runs. Mills picked up win number nine in the circle going all seven innings allowing nine hits, two runs, one earned, no walks, and one strikeout. 
 
GAME TWO: CCGA 6, SEU 3
 
Both sides combined for just one hit through the first two innings, but in the third inning, CCGA started making some noise in the batters box. Sutherland drew a leadoff walk followed by a bunt single from Jones to put two on with one out. Carolino followed shortly with a walk of her own to load the bases still with nobody out, setting the table for a potential big inning. With Callaway flying out to make the second out, Mills came through with two strikes with a two RBI double to score Southerland and Jones and give the Mariners a 2-0 lead. One batter later, Andrews put the ball in play and CCGA took advantage of a fielding error by the Fire shortstop to score another run in the inning and take a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the third. 
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Southeastern found the scoreboard for the first time, striking for one run in the inning. Leah Gonzalez got the scoring started with a two out home run in the inning, sparking the Fire offense. Ramsey and Sekinger both followed with singles to continue the pressure on Collins and the Mariners, but Collins got a big strikeout of Moore to end the inning and keep the lead at 3-1 into the fifth.  
 
Callaway provided a two out single in the top of the fifth for the Mariners but nothing else matured, and in the bottom half, Collins stranded a pair of base runners to preserve the two run lead into the sixth. 
 
Andrews began the sixth with a leadoff single and was followed up by Smith who sent her fourth home run of the season over the left center wall to extend the Mariners lead out to 5-1 just two batters into the sixth inning. Ella Romano followed with a pinch hit single, and Alyssa Haggerty, pinch running for Romano, promptly stole second to put another runner in scoring position. Sutherland followed with a single up the middle to put runners at the corners, but two straight outs from CCGA ended the inning as the Mariners took their 5-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth. Once again with two outs in the inning, Southeastern responded with a two run home run off the bat of Moore to cut into the Mariners lead, making it 5-3. 
 
Callaway started the seventh with a leadoff single and made it all the way to third with two outs, coming in to score on a RBI single from Smith to give the Mariners a much needed insurance run. In the bottom half, Collins went out and dominated the seventh inning, working around a one out single to secure the double header sweep with a 6-3 game two victory. 
 
Callaway and Smith both finished 2-4 from the plate with Smith driving in three of the six runs in the second game. Collins went the distance in the circle for her fifth win of the season, allowing nine hits, three runs, no walks, and three strikeouts.
 
The Mariners go for the sweep on Saturday with tip off set for 12:00 p.m. from Lakeland.