Box Scores (Game 1 | Game 2)
PEMBROKE – North Georgia hurler Kylee Smith tossed nine innings without allowing an earned run and struck out 15 in a pair of games Friday evening at LRA Field to pick up a win and a save and key the No. 3 Nighthawks to 12-3 and 8-3 wins over the UNC Pembroke softball team in Peach Belt Conference (PBC) action.
Friday marks the 11th and 12th-consecutive setbacks for the Braves (17-16, 2-8 PBC), who racked up six hits in each contest, including a pair of home runs in the nightcap. Eleven of North Georgia's (25-7, 5-2 PBC) 23 total hits went for extra bases as the Nighthawks improve to 10-2 in the last 12 games.
In what has become an unfortunate trend, the Braves found themselves down early in the opener, as the guests scored five runs in the first and tacked on two more in the third to lead 7-0 after three innings. A single run in the fourth put North Georgia up 8-0, but the Black & Gold bounced back with two runs in the latter half of the frame.
Abbey Walters and
Taylor Gerhart both picked up singles in the inning, but both runs were unearned thanks to a Nighthawk error.
After a pair of scoreless stanzas, North Georgia extended the lead to 10 runs with four tallies in the seventh. Back-to-back hits from
Lexie Coxe and
Jamie Johnson plated the third and final run for the hosts in their final at-bat.
Johnson and Gerhart each had a pair of hits and a stolen base in the defeat, while
Malerie Leviner (5-9) went the distance for the Braves in the circle. It's the freshman's team-leading 10th complete game of the season, as she allowed 10 earned runs on 14 hits. Leviner fanned three batters and walked six on 152 pitches.
In a much more contested game two, the guests once again led after their first trip to the plate, but Walters knotted the game at 1-1 with a solo shot to left in bottom of the first, her eighth home run of the season. A run in the third and another in the fourth stretched the UNG lead to 4-1.
The Black & Gold pulled within two in the fourth on hits from Gerhart and
Toni Nelson and closed the gap to one when
Haleigh Epperson blasted her third home run of the season in the fourth. But North Georgia broke the game open with four ticks in the seventh to close out the sweep. All three UNCP runs came off the starter Johns before Smith entered in relief and tossed three scoreless frames.
Gerhart picked up another multi-hit effort in game two, her 12th such game of the season, while Walters (9-5) surrendered a season-high seven earned runs in a complete-game effort. The senior struck out six batters and walked a pair.
The Braves will take Saturday off before returning to LRA Field Sunday for a 1 p.m. twinbill with Young Harris. The Mountain Lions (19-7, 1-5 PBC) opened the season with 14-straight wins, but are just 5-7 in their last 12 outings. Live stats and live video will be available Sunday.
