The No. 11 Georgia Gwinnett softball team swept its competition Friday on the opening day of the Ashford University Breast Cancer Awareness Jamboree held at the Morrison Sports Complex in Morrison, Ill.
The Grizzlies (33-13) opened up the Jamboree with an 8-0 victory over Clarke (Iowa), defeating the Crusaders in six innings. Georgia Gwinnett followed up its shutout performance against the Crusaders with a 16-1, run-rule win over host Ashford (Iowa) in five innings.
Both of Georgia Gwinnett's starting pitchers turned in dominant performances. Against Clarke, Ashley Beyke went 5.1 innings of shutout work, striking out three batters while surrendering just two hits on the afternoon. In game two, Chelsi Palazzo continued the Grizzlies' trend of excellent pitching by throwing a complete game, five-inning shutout against Ashford. The Woodstock native allowed one run on three hits and struck out seven of the 19 batters she faced.
Georgia Gwinnett backed its superb pitching with an offensive assault that saw a total of 24 runs scored on 31 hits. Against Clarke, the Grizzlies were led by shortstop Elyssa Melton (1-4, 4 RBIs) and first baseman Hailey Burnham (2-3, 1 RBI) while four Grizzlies, Alyssa Hathcoat, Brashante Dareus, Haley Thompson, and Burnham, had three hits each against Ashford.
In the opening game against Clarke, GGC broke a scoreless contest in the bottom of the third, taking a 1-0 lead on an RBI-groundout by Melton. Two innings later, the Grizzlies scored their second run of the game on an RBI-single to center by Dareus.
GGC's scoring boom, leading to the 8-0 victory, came in the bottom of the sixth as Georgia Gwinnett drove in six runs on five hits. After Thompson reached on a Crusader error, the second baseman scored two batters later when Burnham ripped an RBI-single to center. With the bases loaded, right fielder Mary Burk hit into a fielder's choice, allowing designated hitter Kodi Ricketson to cross the plate, pushing the GGC advantage to 4-0.
The GGC rally received its biggest boost just two batters later when Melton ripped a bases-clearing, three-run triple to the center field fence. Up 7-0, the Grizzlies sealed the 8-0 win with Dareus' second RBI-single of the afternoon.
Wasting no time, the Grizzlies fed off their offensive fury in the Jamboree opener by scoring seven runs in the first two innings in their night cap against Ashford. GGC started the game off with six of its first seven batters capturing a hit. Two key hits in the first featured a two-run single by Thompson and a two-run home run by Ricketson.
Down 7-0 after two innings, Ashford scored its lone run of the game on a solo home run by Taylor Ellestad, cutting the GGC advantage to 7-1.
The Grizzlies went on to score nine unanswered runs over the next two innings en route to the 16-1 victory. Georgia Gwinnett scored just one run in the fourth on another RBI-single by Burnham and then closed out the game with an eight-run fifth to run-rule the Saints. Of note, Courtney McKenzie drove in her third career run on her third career hit during the Grizzlies' eight-run inning.
Georgia Gwinnett is back in action on Saturday for day two of the Jamboree as the Grizzlies face Mount Mercy (Iowa) at 11:00 a.m. and St. Francis (Ill.), which is receiving votes nationally, at 1:30 p.m.
All games times are Eastern.
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