GULF SHORES, Ala. – The UWG softball team split their pair of games on the second and final day of the Gulf Shores Invitational, falling to the fifth-ranked Sharks of Nova Southeastern before earning their first win of 2024 over Spring Hill in the night cap.
 
Game One: #5 Nova Southeastern 6, West Georgia 4
West Georgia battled the nation's fifth-ranked team in the preseason poll in the first game of Saturday, coming up just short.
 
The Wolves struck first in the game, pushing a run across on a fielder's choice RBI by Isabella Pinto in the form of Emerson Miller. Nova Southeastern then homered in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, all off of UWG starter Makayla Register to score five unanswered runs and lead by four.
 
It wasn't until the bottom of the sixth when UWG would respond, using a Rylee Green single and back-to-back Nova errors to score Green and make it 5-2. Megan Waites then picked up an RBI to make it 5-3.
 
The Sharks added an insurance run in the seventh, and West Georgia got a fourth run in the final frame on the second home run of the weekend for Blaire Bizette.
 
Bizette, along with Miller and Waites paced the UWG offense, each registering two hits.
 
Register took the loss on the mound, allowing five runs on five hits in 4.1 innings of work.
 
Game Two: West Georgia 3, Spring Hill 0
Calli Hardison highlighted the Wolves efforts in game two as the sophomore pitched a complete game shutout while also driving in the first run of the game for the UWG offense. Hardison's second-inning single scored Bizette who led off the frame with a single, and gave Hardison and the Wolves all they would need.
 
Hardison allowed just four hits over seven innings while striking out four and walking two.
 
Bizette drove in an insurance run in the third inning, scoring Megan Waites, who also scored a fifth-inning insurance run thanks to an SHC error.
 
A trio of Wolves had multi-hit games including Bizette who went 6-for-12 with two home runs and five RBIs in her debut weekend in the red and blue. Junior Addison Sturdivant also had two hits in the win, as did Emerson Miller.
 
Up Next
West Georgia is back in action next weekend in Dahlonega at North Georgia's tournament. There, they will take on the defending national champions, UNG, Emmanuel, and King.