LAWRENCEVILLE – Following what is sure to be one of the more memorable wins in Georgia Gwinnett history on Friday, it was Kayla Byrom who grabbed hold of the moment in Saturday's rematch as she tossed a two-hit shutout of Ashford to hand the Grizzlies a first-ever A.I.I. Championship.
"Kayla was so excited last night when I told her that this would be her game," GGC Head Coach Ihlenburg said. "She let me know that she was ready to go after that, and today, she was just on point out there."
"When all the seniors met up last summer, our number one goal was to win the conference because we knew how it felt last year to lose on our field," Byrom said. "We never wanted to feel that way again. I felt pretty good when I came in this morning, and the defense was awesome today. They really helped make this a great day."
The Statham native, who came on in relief earlier this weekend to help the Grizzlies get past a pesky Kentucky Christian squad, was perfect over the game's first 5.2 frames and went on to finish with a 2-0 record for the tournament, allowing just five hits and striking out nine over a scoreless 12.2 innings of work.
The win secures a first-ever trip to the NAIA National Tournament for the Grizzlies, who now sit at 36-14 for the year. After a 4-0 run through the A.I.I. tournament, the Green and Gray close out the home slate this season with an eye-popping 26-2 record at Grizzly Softball Complex this season.
Ashford, which had rebounded from a thrilling 10-inning loss to the Grizzlies on Friday to rack up 17 hits in Saturday's elimination game with Houston-Victoria, finished the year 27-23.
After putting runners in scoring position in the third and the fourth, the Grizzlies finally broke the deadlock in the fifth with back-to-back doubles from Alyssa Hathcoat and Tori Heinemann, and it was another double from Mary Burk, who went on to be named the tournament's MVP, that made it 2-0.
Byrom, Alycia Fields and Cassidy Littlefield joined Burk on the A.I.I. All-Tournament squad.
Haley Thompson followed up in the sixth with her school-record-tying seventh home run of the season to give the Green and Gray a 3-0 lead, and a bases-loaded single from Fields in the top of the seventh accounted for the final score.
"I said to Haley that she was going to get something to hit," Ihlenburg revealed. "I just had such a good feeling about her going to the plate in that situation, and she saw the ball well all tournament. Both her and Mary Burk were so locked in from the very start this week."
Thompson finished the tournament with a .538 batting average, and Burk led the team with five runs batted in over the four games.
The Grizzlies will return to action later this month as the NAIA Opening Round will be played May 11-13 on campus sites around the country.
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