Saturday began a two-day celebration where the Grizzlies will honor the Georgia Gwinnett softball team's seven seniors. The Grizzlies split the opening doubleheader of their four-game set against Georgetown (Ky.) on Saturday, dropping game one in a 7-6 heartbreaker while shutting out the Tigers for a 7-0 win in game two.
Prior to game one against the Tigers, the Grizzlies recognized their seven seniors: Ashley Beyke, Alycia Fields, Alyssa Hathcoat, Tori Heinemann, Katie Lange, Rachel Stahlman and Haley Thompson.
"The seniors did a great job today," stated GGC head coach Kat Ihlenburg. "Beyke kept us in game one and Lange threw great in game two. The group also stepped up in game two with its hitting to secure the victory."
Georgetown opened game one with a 1-0 lead in the first inning of play just to see the Grizzlies regain a 2-1 advantage a frame later. Third baseman Brashante Dareus took advantage of a fastball down the middle, ripping a two-run single to left for the Grizzly lead.
The Tigers and Grizzlies traded leads throughout the remaining innings of the contest until Georgetown took the 7-6 lead in the top of the seventh. The Tigers took advantage of a Grizzly error, scoring the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly to center by Chelsae Osborn.
In game two, the Grizzlies did all their damage in the first and third innings of play. Rebounding from a heartbreaking loss in game one, the Grizzlies raced out to a 4-0 lead in the opening inning of play.
The hot bat of Chelsi Palazzo started the scoring assault with a single to left-center. After Thompson was hit by a pitch and Fields reached on a walk, Dareus, like Fields, was walked with the bases loaded to plate the first Grizzly run of game. With just one out in the inning, first baseman Hailey Burnham ripped a two-run single to the right-center gap to plate Fields and Thompson. While stretching around first and heading toward second base, Burnham drew a throw to second by the Georgetown catcher, allowing Dareus to score.
The Grizzlies struck again in the third, scoring their final three insurance runs of the contest. Burnham contributed another RBI-single for the fifth Grizzly run of the game while Heinemann ripped a two-run single to deep left to plate the final two runs of the game for the 7-0 victory in favor of Georgia Gwinnett.
Lange, who was game two's starter for the Grizzlies, toed the rubber and pitched seven innings of shutout ball in the complete game performance. The right-hander allowed just three hits, striking out two Tigers. Georgetown's Loren Roby was credited with the loss, going two and two-thirds innings in the circle, allowing seven runs on eight hits.
The Grizzlies return to action on Sunday when they host Georgetown for a doubleheader in their final day of Senior Weekend. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. with game two beginning approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.
Game Day Central
Live Video:
http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ggc/
Live stats links:
Game 1: http://bit.ly/1R7xKsF
Game 2: http://bit.ly/21ZEePt
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