RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
Photo courtesy Georgia Softball
Liberty and Georgia opened play in the Athens Regional on day one of the NCAA Tournament with victories. The Flames defeated Charlotte while the Bulldogs topped UNC Wilmington.
Liberty defeated Charlotte 6-3 to open play in the Athens Regional and homestanding Georgia followed with an 8-0 win over UNC Wilmington.
Liberty and Georgia will face each other in a winner’s bracket game at 11 a.m. EST on Saturday (May 18) and UNC Wilmington and Charlotte will meet in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. The loser of the Liberty-Georgia contest and the winner of UNC Wilmington-Charlotte game will meet at 4 p.m.
*****
Liberty 6, Charlotte 3
Liberty used a five-run fourth inning to gain an advantage on No. 25 Charlotte on the way to a 6-3 victory over the 49ers in game one of the 2024 NCAA Athens Regional, Friday at Jack Turner Stadium.
The Flames (37-23) pushed their winning streak to five games, advancing to tomorrow’s winners’ bracket game. Liberty will take on Georgia at 11 a.m. on Saturda.
Charlotte, who entered the week with a 16-game winning streak and was ranked No. 25 by Softball America, fell to 38-17 on the season. The 49ers will compete in an elimination game on Saturday against UNCW at 1:30 p.m.
The Flames broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning by scoring five runs.
Raigan Barrett sparked Liberty’s five-run fourth inning, reaching on an error to lead off and Brooke Roberts‘ RBI double got the scoring started. Charlotte’s Sam Gress walked the next two batters, loading the bases for Rachel Roupe. The Liberty junior singled to right, with two runs scoring. Relief pitcher Georgeanna Barefoot came on to face Sierra Kersten, who capped the inning with a two-run double to make it 5-0.
Making her NCAA Tournament debut, Elena Escobar (15-5) earned the win, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out four.
Georgia 8, UNCW 0
The No. 11 national seed Georgia softball team defeated UNCW in five innings 8-0 on Friday at Jack Turner Stadium. Senior Madison Kerpics one-hit the Seahawks to highlight the game for the Bulldogs.
“Really pleased with the mindset that we had. I thought the defense was really sharp. Madison [Kerpics] controlled things in the circle, and, you know, turning the double plays, and getting a couple lead runners, things that we’ve been working on. It was really great to see our team put that into play,” said head coach Tony Baldwin. “I thought our hitters did a good job of controlling the strike zone and then Sara [Mosley] certainly got the big hit too, you know, kind of take some of the pressure off and just let us play softball the rest of the game. So, really pleased with that performance. UNCW has a good team. They’re well coached. The pitchers do a good job, and thankful to be moving on.”
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead against the Seahawks as Sara Mosley belted a first inning grand slam to stake Georgia to a 4-0 lead. The home run was the 63rd of her career and moved her to within five of tying the UGA record of 68 held by Alyssa DiCarlo.
Kerpics was outstanding for Georgia as she permitted one hit and struck out one over five innings.
“It’s so nice. Just having all the pressure off of me and then being able to pitch free out there. I love our offense, and they’re so good. I just love this team and when they can do that for me, it just makes you want to go out there do better.”
UNCW, which dropped to 33-22 on the season, could not recover from the early deficit and will face Charlotte in an elimination game on Saturday.
The Seahawks, who are making their second NCAA Tournament appearance and first under head coach Ashley Wade, was paced by Mary Sobataka who went 1-for-1 with a single and a walk.
COPYRIGHT © 2024 Extra Inning Softball TM