BRUNSWICK, Ga. - The College of Coastal Georgia softball team got off to a great start in their final regular season series of the 2025 season, sweeping their Friday doubleheader with the Webber International Warriors to kick off senior weekend.
The Mariners (33-15, 14-9 SUN) put it on the Warriors (20-29, 10-13 SUN) Friday afternoon, outscoring WIU 19-1 over 10 innings of softball while holding the offense to just five hits during both games.
GAME ONE: CCGA 10, WIU 1 (5 Inn.)
Game one started as well as could be hoped for by the Mariners as McKenzie Collins threw up a zero in the bottom half and turned the game over to her offense. In the bottom half, two walks sandwiching a single from Emma Jones loaded the bases with nobody out, priming CCGA with an early chance to blow the game wide open. It was not to be, however, as the next three batters all recorded outs, ending the threat and leaving the bags juiced as the game went to the second inning still tied at zero.
Alyssa Haggerty started the second with a walk and made it to third with a sac bunt and a groundout, but once again the Mariners were unable to get a timely hit as the game remained tied into the third.
Collins worked out of some slight trouble in the top of the third, and in the bottom half, the Mariners got on the board for the first time. With two quick outs on the board, Brooke Perdue started the inning with a single followed by a walk from Rily Andrews. With the stage set, last week's RBI queen Mackenzie Southerland came through again, this time with a two RBI triple to give CCGA a 2-0 lead.
The triple by Southerland was the first of the season and the first of her career.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Mariners continued the offensive prowess, striking for four more runs to build a commanding 6-0 lead. CCGA needed just three hits in the inning for four runs, and only one RBI in the inning came from a hit, a single to the pitcher from Haggerty.
Holding all the momentum and despite giving up a run in the top of the fifth, the Mariners were able to keep the momentum going in the bottom of the fifth to score four more runs and end the game early. CCGA got just one hit in the fifth inning, scoring the final two runs of the game on an error from the Warriors as game one went to the Mariners by a 10-1 final.
All seven hits from the Mariners in game one came from seven different people while Andrews, Southerland, and Ella Romano drove in two runs each. Collins picked up win number eleven on the season going five innings allowing four hits, one run, three walks, and three strikeouts.
GAME TWO: CCGA 9, WIU 0 (5 Inn.)
Game two was just as dominating for the Mariners as the combo of Emilia Clemons and Perdue held the Warriors to just one hit over five innings to give CCGA their second straight five inning win of the day.
Rylee Mills got the scoring started in the first with an RBI single that scored Kaitlyn Carolino while Callaway added an RBI single of her own in the second inning to make the score 2-0 going into the third.
In the third, the Mariners got their third straight RBI single, this time from Andrews, but things unravelled for the Warriors in the fourth. CCGA exploded for six runs on six hits in the inning, with Rylie Smith getting the big blow of the inning, a three run home run, to make the score 6-0.
Smith now sits one home run shy of the school record with just one regular season game left to play and at least two guaranteed Sun Conference tournament games.
Haggerty and Clemons both drove in the other three runs of the inning, giving the Mariners their 9-0 lead going into the fifth.
Once again, the Mariners pitching prevailed as Perdue fired a 1-2-3 inning to give CCGA the series.
Five Mariners finished with two hits in the game while Smith finished with a team leading three RBI's. Clemons moved to 9-2 on the season with four innings of one hit softball allowing no walks and six strikeouts.
The Mariners and Warriors conclude the regular season with the series finale tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. from CCGA softball field.
