Columbus State Offense Explodes in Nightcap versus Georgia College
| Game 2 | |||||||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia College (25-23) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| Columbus St. (36-18) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 8 | 2 |
| @ Columbus, GA | Cougar Field | |||||||||
| Pitching |
|---|
| Win: Taylor Turner (9-4) - Columbus St. |
| Loss: Erica Bell (8-3) - Georgia College |
| Georgia College Batting |
|---|
| 2B: Natalie Bellantoni |
| 3B: none |
| HR: none |
| Columbus St. Batting |
|---|
| 2B: Casey Googe |
| 3B: none |
| HR: Morgan Knight; Casey Googe |
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Columbus – Columbus State used three big innings to easily hand Georgia College an 11-3 defeat Tuesday afternoon in a Peach Belt Conference tilt played at Cougar Field in Columbus, Georgia.
The win improves the Lady Cougars record to 36-18 on the year and 11-9 in conference while GC falls to 25-23 overall and 9-11 in league play.
CSU ends the regular season in a tie with Flagler for fourth place but the Lady Saints will receive the fourth seed in the upcoming PBC Tournament due to their regular season sweep over Columbus State in St. Augustine, Florida. The tournament will be held in Columbus at Cougar Field with game one beginning at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 21.
Nina Rubio and Morgan Knight both singled to begin the first inning for CSU before three straight walks to Casey Googe, Kara Gordon and Morgan Staffins forced in a pair of runs for the Lady Cougars. Kori Waugh then hit a chopper to the third baseman who attempted to force Googe out at the plate, but the throw hit her in the head and ricocheted away allowing Gordon to score on the play as well.
Georgia College made things interesting in the fifth as the posted a three-spot cutting the deficit to just one, 4-3. After a leadoff walk and a fielding error started off the frame, Whitney Okvist reached on a fielder's choice as the lead runner was forced out at third. Natalie Bellanton then doubled to leftfield plating GC's first run and moving Okvist up to third. A pop out was recorded for the second out before Haley Burnett was intentionally walked to load the bases.
What seemed to be a routine grounder to get Columbus State out of the jam was misplayed extending the inning to allow two more runs to come across for the Bobcats before Burnett was caught in a rundown to end the inning.
The Lady Cougars quickly responded in the bottom half of the inning as Knight and Googe both hit solo homeruns to start off the frame. Later in the inning after two walks and a hit by pitch, Kristen Gregory hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield plating the final and making it a 7-3 CSU lead.
Columbus State ended the game with four runs in the sixth as Googe ripped a one-run double off the top of the centerfield fence putting runners on second and third. Gordon singled up the middle scoring both runs before Gilliam's single down the leftfield line ended the contest.
Taylor Turner earned the win improving to 9-4 on the year as she tossed five innings. She gave up five hits and walked a pair as she surrendered three unearned runs. Kristen Carr tossed the final inning of the contest in relief. The top three batters in the CSU lineup went a combined 6-for-10 with two walks, scored eight times while driving in three.
With their four homeruns on the day, the Lady Cougars now have 64 as a team, the second most in the nation.
Erica Bell suffered the loss for GC working just 0.2 innings giving up four runs (three earned) on three hits and three walks. Haley Burnett pitched four innings allowing three runs while Kelsey Edmonson served up four runs in an inning of work. Burnett had the lone multi-hit performance for the Bobcats going 2-for-2 with a walk.
