AVE MARIA, Fla. - In their first conference double header of the season, the College of Coastal Georgia softball team defeated the Ave Maria Gyrenes in both ends of their Friday double header, winning game one 5-1 before taking game two by a final of 4-3 in eight innings. 

GAME ONE: CCGA 5, Ave Maria 1

Over the first four innings of game one, it seemed like no one would score until the very last inning as both Gia Gallegos for the Gyrenes (11-14-1, 0-2 SUN) and Rylee Mills for the Mariners (17-4, 2-0 SUN) were right in the middle of a good old fashioned pitchers duel. 

After Ave Maria was the only team to muster a hit in the first inning, the Mariners were the first team to threaten in the top of the second inning. Rily Andrews started the inning with a leadoff single and moved to second on a sac bunt from Mackenzie Southerland. With two outs, Alyssa Haggerty singled as well, moving Andrews to third and putting runners on the corners with two outs. Haggerty stole second as Zoe Johnston-Hadaway walked to load the bases, but a groundout ended the threat and stranded the bases loaded. Mills held the Gyrenes to just one hit in the bottom half to keep the game tied into the third.

Both sides combined for just one hit in the third and fourth innings combined as both pitchers were rolling into the fifth with a tied game knotted at zero. 

In the fifth, the Mariners offense finally exploded through for four runs on two hits and taking advantage of an error from Ave Maria to take a commanding 4-0 lead in their first Sun Conference game of the season. Both Mills and Rylie Smith recorded RBI hits in the inning, with Smith having the big blow of the inning, a two RBI double. In the bottom half, Mills worked another 1-2-3 inning to send the game to the sixth with the Mariners leading 4-0.

Both sides got a runner on base in the sixth but could not bring them around to score, sending the game to the seventh still with the Mariners leading 4-0. 

In the seventh, Smith once again came through for the Mariners, recording her third RBI of the game scoring Kaitlyn Carolino, as CCGA needed just three outs with a five run lead.

In the bottom half, Ave Maria broke up the shutout with back-to-back two out singles to score their one and only run of the game, but the deficit proved to be too much as CCGA held on to win 5-1 and secure their first conference win of the season. 

Smith finished the game 2-2 from the plate with three RBI's while Carolino finished 1-3 with two runs scored. The Mariners stole four bases in the game and also drew four walks. Mills picked up win number eight on the season, going the full seven innings on 108 pitches, allowing five hits and one run compared to no walks and three strikeouts.

GAME TWO: CCGA 4, Ave Maria 3 (8 Inn.)

Avery Callaway started the second game of the doubleheader for the Mariners with a one out single in the first, but nothing matured. In the bottom half, the Gyrenes got a lead off single who stole her way to third with nobody out, but starter Emilia Clemons worked her way out of the jam to keep the game tied at zero into the second.

Another single in the second for CCGA did not mature, and in the bottom of the second, the Gyrenes broke through to begin the scoring. Three hits in the bottom of the second along with some unselfish play from the others in the lineup matured to two runs as AMU took their 2-0 lead into the third. 

With the Mariners still struggling on offense, the Gyrenes seized the opportunity to add on with another run in the bottom of the third as they now led 3-0 in the fourth.

Back-to-back singles from Smith and Andrews started the fourth to put two runners on with one out, but once again the Mariners bats went cold once again as they still did not crack the scoreboard. For the first time since the first inning, Clemons threw a zero up in the bottom half to keep the deficit at three into the fifth.

With one out in the fifth, McKenzie Collins tripled to center field to give the Mariners their best chance of the game. The next batter, Carolino, singled into right to score Collins and put the Mariners on the board for the first time in the game. One is all they could muster, but now pitching Collins fired her first 1-2-3 inning of the game in the fifth as the Mariners chipped away at the lead into the sixth.

It was a mirror inning in the sixth for CCGA, as this time Emma Jones singled to score Andrews to make the score 3-2 Gyrenes. Collins once again fired a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half, and the Mariners needed just one run to keep the game going as the game went into the seventh inning.

In the seventh, the Mariners got a perfect start to the inning as Carolino doubled to left field to begin the inning. The next batter, Callaway, attempted to sac bunt Carolino over, but an error from the third baseman allowed Carolino to score and tie the game at three each. In prime position, the Mariners could not take the lead as the game remained tied into the bottom half. Collins remained on target as she retired her ninth in a row to send the game to extra innings tied 3-3.

With Andrews on second to begin the eighth, Southerland moved Andrews to third with a sac bunt, and Haggerty followed with a sac fly to score the run and give the Mariners their first lead of the game at 4-3. Jones singled and stole second to keep the inning alive, but nothing more matured as now CCGA needed just three outs for the DH sweep. 

After a leadoff walk put runners on first and second with no outs, Collins got the next three batters out in order to survive the walk and win their second game in a row over the Gyrenes by a final of 4-3 in eight innings.

Andrews finished 3-4 from the plate in game two scoring two runs while Jones and Carolino both went 2-4. Clemons lasted just three innings allowing six hits and three runs, while Collins fired five innings of relief for the win, allowing just one hit with two walks and a strikeout. 

The Mariners and Gyrenes will wrap up their series tomorrow afternoon with first pitch at noon.