April 12, 2014

Box Score

A pair of late surges keyed the Georgia Gwinnett softball team to a Saturday sweep at Milligan (Tenn.) with 7-4 and 5-4 victories.

A three-run ninth inning pushed the Grizzlies to the extra-inning victory in game one while GGC rallied from a 4-1 hole in game two for the win.

The Grizzlies are now 5-1 this season in extra innings and GGC has taken three of four games with Milligan over the last seven days.

Georgia Gwinnett’s fifth- and sixth-straight wins pushed the Grizzlies to 33-7-1 on the year as the Buffaloes dropped to 18-15.

Game One- GGC 7, Milligan 4 (9 innings)

Junior Cassidy Littlefield stayed red-hot by going  4-for-5 in the opener and scoring four times while senior Heaven Hinton drove in a game-high three runs.

Grizzlies starter Kayla Byrom allowed just one earned run over six innings while Ashley Beyke picked up the win by tossing a the final three frames in scoreless fashion.

Littlefield belted a leadoff homer- her seventh of the season- to hand GGC an early 1-0 lead.

A two-run homer from Hinton in the third made it 3-0 as the junior infielder picked up her fourth blast of the year.

After GGC added another run in the top of the fifth, defensive errors in the fifth and sixth innings allowed the Buffaloes to draw even at 4-4.

Neither team scored in the seventh or eighth innings, setting the stage for the ninth.

With Mary Burk starting the ninth inning on second base for GGC, Marlee Morales drove her in with an RBI single. Littlefield singled, pushing Morales to third. After an out, Hinton added an RBI single, and Haley Thompson’s bases-loaded walk scored Littlefield to make it 7-4.

Beyke recorded three groundouts in the Buffaloes’ turn in the ninth to preserve the win.

Game Two- GGC 5, Milligan 4

Littlefield once again led the way with a 3-for-4 game two and was one of five players who scored one run apiece for GGC in the Grizzly win.

After an RBI single from Hinton in the first inning, GGC fell behind after sloppy defensive play helped Milligan to surge ahead, 4-1, by the end of the fourth inning.

A three-run fifth inning from the Grizzlies leveled it at 4-4.

Halley Ingram scored on an error, Heather Kilar drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Alycia Fields added an RBI single for GGC.

The Grizzlies tallied the eventual game-winner in the sixth when Burk scored on a single from Littlefield.

Beyke again earned the win, tossing a complete game and scattering six hits to reach 16-6 on the season.

The Grizzlies stay on the road this weekend to face Virginia Intermont on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Bristol, Va.