Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 CLINTON, Miss. – The state of Mississippi did not greet the UWG softball team well on Saturday as the Wolves lost both ends of a Gulf South Conference doubleheader to the Mississippi College Choctaws.
West Georgia lost a lopsided series opener before falling in a nine-inning instant classic in game two, dropping UWG to 23-14 overall on the year with a 17-11 mark in GSC play.
The losses lock UWG into the fifth seed in the GSC Tournament next week in Oxford, Alabama.
Game One
An eight-run third inning was all the Choctaws would need in the series opener as the home team won a 10-4 contest.
The Wolves took an early 2-0 lead with a two-spot in the first inning. The game's opening run scored on a bases loaded walk drawn by
Hannah Scarbrough.
Cassie Henderson then singled down the line to score another.
Mississippi College got eight runs on six hits and an error in the third, eventually chasing UWG's starter
Kya Draper after just 2.2 innings.
Lexi Close came on in relief and struggled to finish the frame giving up two walks and three singles.
Close would settle in and pitch much more effectively, but did allow two more runs in the sixth inning.
The Wolves picked up a fourth inning run on an
Ashley Ellison fielder's choice and another in the sixth on
Kristyn Nix's RBI double.
Nix was 1-for-3 with the double, giving her a league-high 16 doubles on the season.
Scarbrough ended the day 3-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
Game Two
UWG fell behind in game one with a first inning Choctaw run. MC's leadoff batter reached on an error and later scored after a steal, a sacrifice bunt, and a wild pitch, charging an unearned run to
Morgan Goree.
The senior Goree was lights out from that point until the ninth inning, striking out 12 batters.
UWG tied things up in the third as
Madison Slappey reached on an error and then got to third on an
Alley Taylor double.
Ashley Ellison earned the RBI with a sacrifice fly, scoring Slappey.
Neither team got much going until the Choctaws pushed across a run in the ninth-inning to walk it off and clinch a series win. That ninth-inning run came in after a two-out walk, a wild pitch, and a single.
Goree pitched 8.2 innings of six hit softball, throwing 155 pitches on the day. She allowed just six hits, two runs and one earned.
Offensively, UWG had just five hits with four coming from the top five in the order.
Game Three
The Wolves and Choctaws reconvene tomorrow for a 3 p.m. series finale from Clinton.
