On Monday, the fifth-ranked Georgia Gwinnett softball team received a pitching gem from senior Chelsi Palazzo as the Woodstock, Ga., native recorded a no-hitter in GGC's 1-0 victory over Milligan (Tenn.) in the opening contest of the NAIA Softball Championship Opening Round - Lawrenceville Bracket.
Palazzo carried a perfect game into the seventh inning and with two outs in the inning walked her first batter of the game as the Buffaloes only had one base runner all contest.
"The team did well to earn its first win of the opening round tournament," said GGC head coach Kat Ihlenburg. "Chelsi had tremendous command of the zone, and her no-hitter is a testament of her hard work. The defense behind her was superb in support of the no-hitter. We look forward to a great day tomorrow."
Georgia Gwinnett's lone run of the contest came in the bottom of the third inning off a bloop single to shallow left by right fielder RaeQuinn Rossetti. Designated player Mary Burk led off the inning by being hit by a pitch. Burk then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by third baseman Elyssa Melton. With one out in the inning, center fielder Niki Cook pushed Burk 60 feet closer to the plate with single to left. Rossetti's slap hit to left field, which proved to be the game winner, would score GGC's lone run of the contest.
Palazzo (17-2) had seven strikeouts and faced just 22 batters in the game. The right-hander forced two groundouts and three fly outs in the contest as only three balls hit by Milligan left the infield during the contest.
With the victory, the Grizzlies now move on to face second-seeded Warner (Fla.) Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. The double-elimination tournament also sees third-seeded Williams Baptist (Ark.) and fourth-seeded Milligan facing off in an elimination game on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.
The Grizzlies (49-7-1) sit just one win shy of the 50-wins mark in 2017 and could potentially reach this mark against Warner on Tuesday. This would be the first time in Georgia Gwinnett softball history that 50 wins have been reached in a season.
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