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Liberty and Georgia will meet to decide the winner of the Athens Regional as the Flames are undefeated in regional play while the Bulldogs survived an elimination game to advance to Sunday’s finale.
In order for the Bulldogs to claim the region title and advance to a Super Regional they will have to defeat Liberty twice.
First pitch for game one is scheduled for 12 p.m. EST and the if necessary game would be played approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.
Day two of the tournament featured Liberty defeating Georgia, Charlotte beating UNC Wilmington and Georgia toppling Charlotte.
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Liberty 7, Georgia 3
Liberty broke a 3-3 tie with a four-run fourth inning, knocking off No. 11 national seed Georgia 7-3 at Jack Turner Stadium.
The Flames (38-23) won their sixth game in a row, advancing to Sunday’s Regional final. The consolation bracket winner will have to beat Liberty twice to advance to the Super Regional. The Athens Regional winner will take on the winner of the Los Angeles Regional in a three-game Super Regional series next weekend.
After Dallas Goodnight led off the Georgia first inning with a home run, the Flames rallied to take the lead.
The Flames tied the game when Megan Fortner lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Rachel Roupe and took the lead in the second inning when Brooke Roberts belted a two-run home run.
Georgia tied the game at 3-3 in the fourth inning, but Liberty put the game away with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Brynn McManus delivered the deciding blow as she hit a bases-clearing double that plated three runs extending the Flames lead to 7-3.
Elena Escobar picked up the win in relief for the Flames
Charlotte 5, UNCW 0
Arianna Rodi drove in three runs and Georgeanna Barefoot and Katie Becker combined on a shutout as the 49ers defeated the Seahawks.
With the victory, Charlotte advanced to another elimination game against Georgia while UNCW saw one of the top seasons in school history come to a close.
The Seahawks, under the direction of second-year head coach Ashley Wade, finished the season with a 33-23 record. UNCW finished just two wins shy of tying the school record for wins in a season and broke the school record for Coastal Athletic Association wins.
Barefoot and UNCW’s Kara Hammock locked in a pitcher’s duel until Rodi blasted a two-run home run to center in the top of the third inning that gave Charlotte a 2-0 lead.
Rodi added a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning as the 49ers plated three more runs.
Georgia 5, Charlotte 0
Lilli Backes pitched a complete-game one-hit shutout and Georgia remained alive in the Athens Regional with a 5-0 win over Charlotte.
With the win, Georgia advanced to the Athens Regional final where it will meet Liberty and will need to defeat the Flames twice in order to secure a berth in the Super Regionals.
Charlotte saw its season come to a close as the 49ers finished the year with a 39-18 record.
“Hats off the Charlotte on a great season. They really finished on a roll there at the end, they have a good coaching staff and good players. It’s never fun to see them, see the other team, finish up their season, but I’m certainly glad that it’s us moving on,” said Georgia head coach Tony Baldwin. “Really proud of the way that we bounced back. Super proud of Lilli [Backes] coming back and throwing the way that we know she can and then just continuing to grind through and having quality at-bats and finally breaking through and putting some runs on the board. It was a great bounce back and here we are. We’re gonna go be ready to go again tomorrow.”
Backes was outstanding for the Bulldogs as she went 7.0 innings and struck out three and walked one to earn her 16th victory of the season.
Sara Mosley knocked her 19th home run of the season, a solo shot in the sixth. It was number 64 of her career, moving her closer to the school record of 68 held by Alyssa DiCarlo. The home run lengthened her hit streak to seven games.
But the Bulldogs featured a balanced attack as five different Bulldog hitters drove in one run while Sydney Kuma recorded two hits.
“We just have to come ready to fight. That’s when you find out what kind of competitor you are, when your back’s up against the wall. I think we showed a little bit of that tonight. It’s gonna have to be ultimately a 14-inning or more kind of a day for us, but it starts with just one inning at a time. Just trying to win an inning and move on to the next and win that inning, and just whatever it takes. That’s the mindset. Whatever we got to do to get to play another day. We got to fight like heck to do it,” said Baldwin.
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