HATTIESBURG, Miss. — In one of the most memorable games in recent program history, Coastal Georgia survived a marathon 12-inning battle Tuesday afternoon, defeating Columbia (Mo.) 3-2 on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Maddy Lee to stay alive in the NAIA National Tournament. The Mariners improve to 38-13 and advance to face their next tournament opponent after an absolutely extraordinary performance from start to finish.
At the center of it all was Rylee Mills, who delivered one of the most remarkable pitching performances the program has ever seen. Mills threw all 12 innings, allowing just two unearned runs on ten hits while issuing only one walk and striking out two on 133 pitches. She was composed, relentless, and simply refused to let her team lose, navigating out of jam after jam across what became one of the longest and most tension-filled games of the season.
Columbia struck first with an unearned run in the first inning and added another in the second, also unearned, to take a 2-0 lead that held for several innings. Coastal Georgia chipped away, finally breaking through in the sixth when Emerson Askew delivered a sacrifice fly to score Mackenzie Southerland and pull the Mariners within 2-1. The tying run came in the seventh when Mills delivered an RBI single up the middle to score Emma Jones, knotting the game at two and sending it to extra innings.
What followed was nothing short of gripping. Both teams had opportunities in the extra frames but could not convert, as Mills and Columbia starter Ella Schouten matched each other pitch for pitch through the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh innings. Southerland tripled in the tenth with two outs but was stranded, and the Mariners loaded the bases in the eleventh before coming up empty.
The Mariners finally found a way in the twelfth. Avery Callaway reached on an error and stole second, and after Southerland advanced her with a sacrifice bunt, McKenzie Collins singled to put runners on second and third. Lee then lofted a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Callaway with the winning run and sending the Coastal Georgia dugout into a celebration that was a long time coming.
Southerland was exceptional throughout the marathon, going 4-for-5 with a double, a triple, and multiple stolen bases in one of her finest individual games of the season. Collins contributed two hits including a key single in the winning rally, Jones reached base multiple times and scored the tying run, and Carolino drew three walks and kept the top of the lineup turning over in a relentless effort by the entire lineup.
With the victory, Coastal Georgia keeps its national tournament run alive and will look to carry the momentum of this unforgettable win into the next game.
