DAHLONEGA, Ga. — The seventh-seeded Tusculum University softball team fell to host and second-seed North Georgia on Thursday (May 8) in the NCAA II Southeast Regional opening game.
Tusculum (37-18) will face the loser of the Lincoln Memorial/No. 23 Lenoir-Rhyne contest on May 9 at 2 p.m. in an elimination game.
No. 11 North Georgia took an early lead and held on, leaving nine Tusculum runners on base. Hailey Nichols belted two doubles in the loss.
The Nighthawks tacked on two runs in the second. UNG used three-straight singles and a base-advancement error to plate the runs. Heads up defense by the Pioneers got TU off of the field. After a fly out, North Georgia had runners moving up but they failed to tag.
Tusculum’s lone run came in the third. Caylen Conrad doubled to lead off the inning, followed by a Danielle Jason walk. After an infield pop up, Conrad was out on a fielder’s choice play. With two outs, Sammy Jimenez hit a fielder’s choice to the shortstop, who made a bad throw to third, which allowed Jason to score.
UNG added an unearned run in the third. North Georgia used four hits in the fifth to make it a 5-1 ballgame.
The home team added another run in the sixth, but it was almost more. The Nighthawks scored on a pair of doubles. A groundout moved the runner to third. The next batter singled and the runner scored, but the batter was called out upon appeal since she was not re-entered into the contest, thus the run did not count.
TU loaded the bases in the seventh, but did not scratch across a run. Nichols led off with another double. With two outs, Brooke Smith was hit by a pitch and Ellie Alvarez raced out an infield single. However, the threat was cut down with a game-ending flyball.
Megan Ackerman (20-10) threw a complete game. She allowed six runs (four earned) on nine hits with one strikeout.
