A.I.I. BRACKET
The third-seeded and host Georgia Gwinnett softball team kicked off the 2015 Association of Independent Institutions Softball Championship on Thursday in style with 3-2 and 6-2 victories to highlight day one in Lawrenceville.
The Grizzlies (34-14) outlasted sixth-seeded Kentucky Christian in the tournament's opening game before dispatching second-seeded and 22nd-ranked Houston-Victoria later in the day. The Grizzlies, who are now 24-2 at at home this season, advance in the winner's bracket to face fourth-seeded Ashford (Iowa) on Friday at 4 p.m. at the Grizzly Softball Complex.
In other action Thursday, Ashford also captured a pair of victories--including a win over top-seeded and 11th-ranked Cal State San Marcos--to move forward in the winner's bracket.
Meanwhile, CSUSM, UHV, KCU and British Columbia all face elimination Friday after going 0-1 on Thursday.
Tournament action will begin on Friday at 11 a.m. with Houston-Victoria and British Columbia.
Game 1 – No. 3 Georgia Gwinnett 3, No. 6 Kentucky Christian 2
A two-out single by Alycia Fields in the fifth inning would be the difference as the Grizzlies began their second-ever postseason tournament with a 3-2 victory over Kentucky Christian.
Senior pitcher Kayla Byrom stood out in the circle with six strikeouts over 5.2 scoreless innings of relief to keep the Knights at bay.
On offense, Mary Burk and Haley Thompson each went 2-for-2 for GGC while Cassidy Littlefield plated two of the team's three runs.
Georgia Gwinnett scored once in each of its first two trips to the plate.
Burk lined a one-out double into the left field corner to get the Grizzlies started in their half of the first. Team doubles leader Abby Hulsey then scored Burk and put GGC on the board with a double down the opposite line to make it 1-0.
The Knights would tie the game an inning later as a leadoff runner reached on a fielding error, and a double put runners on second and third with nobody out. After a groundout, a double to the wall in right by Alex Roberts scored two and put KCU in front, 2-1. Later in the inning, Emma Conley drew a walk off Grizzlies reliever Kayla Byrom to load the bases, but Byrom responded by inducing a pop up and a groundout to limit the damage.
A two-out rally by GGC tied the game in the bottom of the inning, as Littlefield tripled to right field and scored on a bloop single to left by Burk.
Neither team could break the 2-2 tie in the third or fourth innings.
After Littlefield drew a walk and moved to second with two outs in the fifth, Fields produced the two-out, go-ahead infield single to push GGC in front, 3-2.
With Byrom keeping the KCU bats in check, the Grizzlies looked to add to their lead in the sixth inning, but a leadoff single would be stranded as GGC took its narrow 3-2 advantage to the final inning.
In the Knights' final chance at the plate, a leadoff single was erased when the runner left early looking to steal second, and a strikeout made it two away. A bloop double into right-center gave the Knights life, and a single down the third base line put runners on the corners but Byrom got the final batter to fly out to right to end the threat and the game.
Game 3 -- No. 3 Georgia Gwinnett 6, No. 2 Houston-Victoria 2
In the Grizzlies' second contest of the day, junior pitcher Ashley Beyke tossed a gem of her own, going the distance to pick up the win and holding the Jaguars off the board until the sixth inning.
Sophomore Chelsi Palazzo and junior Haley Thompson came up big on offense with two RBIs apiece.
Both teams' starting pitchers were sharp early, as neither squad produced a hit on offense in the scoreless contest until the third inning, when the Grizzlies took advantage of a defensive error to jump on the scoreboard.
After Tori Heinemann reached first base on a two-out fielder's choice, Littlefield belted a single into center that was mishandled, allowing Heinemann to motor home for a 1-0 GGC lead.
The Jaguars put a runner aboard early in the bottom of the inning on a leadoff single, but Beyke stranded her with three straight outs.
The Grizzlies struck again with two outs in the fourth inning, as Palazzo launched a double into the right field corner to score Thompson as the Grizzlies took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth.
Beyke continued to dominate, striking out four without issuing a walk.
Georgia Gwinnett would extend its lead with three more runs in the sixth inning. First, the advantage doubled when Thompson drilled a one-out, two-run triple to the wall in left-center to give the Grizzlies a 4-0 cushion. Palazzo then produced an RBI single to score Thompson once more and make it 5-0.
The Jaguars climbed onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning with a two-out push of their own. With runners on second and third, a wild pitch brought home Briana Knowles. Beyke would limit the damage, however, striking out Madison Garza with runners on the corners in the 5-1 game.
The Grizzlies got the run quickly back in the top half of the seventh as Littlefield reached on an error and scored on a one-out single by Hulsey.
A leadoff double by Lauren Von Boekmann started the Jaguar seventh, but Beyke followed by recording a strikeout and a groundout. A two-out single from Savannah Crittenden brought home the runner to make it 6-2, but a final strikeout from Beyke put the game away and sealed the win for the Grizzlies.
Game 2 -- No. 4 Ashford 9, No. 5 British Columbia 1 (5 inn.)
A 14-hit performance propelled Ashford to a 9-1 run-rule victory over British Columbia in Friday's second game.
Ashford jumped out to an early lead in the first inning, belting three hits and taking advantage of a defensive error to stake a 3-0 lead.
An RBI single in the fourth inning added to the Saints' advantage, and five more runs in the fifth put the game out of reach as Ashford coasted to the 9-1 win to advance in the winner's bracket.
A two-out rally in the fifth by UBC scored the Thunderbirds' lone run of the game.
Game 4 -- No. 4 Ashford 5, No. 1 Cal State San Marcos 2
Ashford produced an early lead in its second contest of the day, picking up an RBI single from Shelby Hobelman with two outs in the bottom of the first inning.
Cal State San Marcos, the nation's 11th-ranked team and the A.I.I.'s top seed, bounced back in front in the second inning with a two-run blast from Devin Vanderhoff to take a 2-1 lead.
Ashford threatened in the fourth but could not draw even until the next inning when it loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth. A wild pitch brought home Allie Klasen to tie it, 2-2, then a fielder's choice grounder scored another run to put Ashord on top, 3-2. Later, a two-run double by Brianna De La Rosa extended the advantage to 5-2.
The Cougars, the designated visiting team, threatened over their final two at-bats but could not come any closer in suffering the three-run loss.
Stay tuned to GrizzlyAthletics.com and the Grizzly Digital Network for complete coverage of the championship.
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