Softball Sweeps 2018 A.I.I. Championship
It took three innings for the top-seeded Georgia Gwinnett College softball team to get its offense in gear Saturday, but once the hits started coming an abundance of runs followed in an 8-0 five-inning victory against No. 3-seed Talladega College in the championship game of the 2018 Association of Independent Institutions tournament at the Grizzly Softball Complex.
The Grizzlies, improving to 49-3 for the season and the nation's unanimous No. 1-ranked team, swept through this week's A.I.I. in dominating fashion. They outscored three different opponents 25-to-1 and allowed just three hits in those games, including a no-hitter in the opening game of the tournament.
This was the second consecutive A.I.I. championship for Georgia Gwinnett College and the third in the program's six seasons.
Junior Taylor Hansis had another stellar performance in the pitcher's circle, having her second shutout of the tournament to improve to 23-2 this season. She was named the A.I.I.'s Pitcher of the Year for the second straight spring.
Senior A.I.I. Player of the Year Niki Cook got the tournament hosts on the scoreboard with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning. A run-scoring single from junior Elyssa Melton gave GGC a 2-0 advantage. Another sacrifice fly from junior Tori Robinson later in the frame brought home Melton.
The Grizzlies added three more runs in the fourth inning and then got a walk-off two-run home run from junior Aubree Cox in the bottom of the fifth inning. Freshman Holly Janco drove in a pair of runs with a RBI double in the fourth frame. Janco went 2-for-2 with two runs scored Saturday and was named the 2018 A.I.I. Softball Championships' Most Outstanding Player.
Sophomore RaeQuinn Rossetti, Cox, Melton and Janco each contributed two hits in the victory.
