DAHLONEGA -- Down to their last strike of the game, the top-seeded University of North Georgia Nighthawks battled back and walked off winners as Tiffanie Burns sent a 2-2 pitch soaring over the left field wall for a walk off grand slam, giving UNG a 9-5 victory over No. 2-seed Georgia College in 12 innings. The drama-filled game one win puts the Nighthawks just one win away from their fourth trip to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship.
"There are really no words. Credit to both teams, Georgia College didn't deserve to lose that game," UNG skipper Mike Davenport said. "We may have won it there in the bottom of the 12th, but they had opportunities and we had opportunities. I guess that's what (the Super Regional) round is supposed to be like, but I commend both teams that fought through the game and we were fortunate to run into one at the end."
Faith Flanders delivered a big blow to UNG in the fourth; plating the first three runs of the game on a three-run lined shot over the center field wall to put Georgia College up, 3-0.
The Bobcats used two infield errors from the North Georgia defense to score an unearned run in the top of the sixth inning extending the GC lead, 4-0.
Ansley Phillips finally got the Nighthawks on the board in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run single to cut the lead in half. With the bases loaded and no one out, back-to-back fly outs brought Jessica Finch to the plate. The UNG catcher barely legged out an infield single with eyes between the pitcher's circle and shortstop, scoring Burns from third to make it 4-3 GC. With the bases loaded and a 3-2 count to Taylor Anne Merrit, Bobcat pitcher Marisa Boyette was called for an illegal pitch to bring home Hannah McSwain from third and tie the game at 4-4.
From there the two teams would go six more innings with both North Georgia's Courtney Poole and Georgia College reliever Carly Lewis working out of numerous jams to keep the game knotted at 4-4.
GC finally broke through in the top of the 12th inning on a one-out RBI single by Holland Coursey that just dropped fair on the left field line to score Abi LeRoy from second, giving the Bobcats a 5-4 advantage.
That led to the final frame of the game, which appropriately saw a dramatic finish.
After a Katie Block flied out to right to start the inning, Victoria Prince earned a walk on a 10-pitch at bat. Finch would fly out to right as well putting UNG down to its final out. That's when Merritt went to work and after falling behind in the count, 0-2, battled back to see nine more pitches before finally ripping a single into left center. Meagan May followed with a line drive single to right center on a 2-0 pitch to score Prince from second and tie the game once again, 5-5.
With runners on the corners, GC opted to pitch around Kim McMillan who had already collected three hits on the night, to get bring up Burns with the bases loaded. After fouling off two pitches with a 2-2 count, Burns found one that she liked, blasting it over the left field wall for a no-doubt grand slam to give UNG the 9-5 victory.
Poole (41-3) earned the marathon victory for North Georgia, pitching all 12.0 innings allowing four earned runs on eight hits while recording 10 strikeouts.
Boyette (24-6) - who reentered the game with one out in the bottom of the 11th - was tagged with the loss for Georgia College, giving up all nine runs in 6.1 combined innings pitched, allowing eight hits with five walks and four strikeouts.
The three pitchers combined to throw a total of 446 pitches in the game that lasted three hours and 44 minutes. The Nighthawks and Bobcats combined to leave 23 runners on base and collected six errors, helping lead to the 12-inning affair.
The two teams will face off tomorrow with game two set for a 1 p.m., first pitch at Hill Stadium. Georgia College will be the designated home team for the game. If the Bobcats were to force the if necessary game three, North Georgia would be the home team by virtue of a coin flip before the series began.
