DAHLONEGA | For just the second time in school history, Courtney Poole pitched a perfect game in the front end of a doubleheader with Tiffin on Friday afternoon at Hill Stadium in Dahlonega. The No. 12 Nighthawks took both games winning 8-0 in five innings in game one and 4-3 with a walk-off victory in game two.
 
Poole's perfect game is the first five-inning perfecto for UNG and the first pitched by the Nighthawks in Dahlonega.
 
The junior ace also picked up the victory in the second game, coming on in relief. Poole struck out a total of 10 batters on the day, only allowing two hits in her 3.1 innings of relief in the second game.
 
Game One
After a scoreless first, the Nighthawks got on the board first in the second inning when Meagan May came home to score on a Tiffanie Burns sacrifice fly RBI. Ansley Phillips would add another run driving in Meredith Heyer with an RBI single to left to give UNG a 2-0 lead.
 
North Georgia added five runs in the third inning to put the game out of reach, including a two-run homer over the left field wall by Burns.
 
UNG picked up the all-important eighth run in the bottom of the fourth when Kim McMillan ripped a single off the pitcher's glove to score Katie Block in a bases loaded situation.
 
Poole moved to 6-1 on the year with the 15-up, 15-down performance.
 
Game Two
The back end of the twin bill was a back-and-forth affair. The Nighthawks took the lead in the bottom of the first with a inside the park homerun by Taylor Anne Merritt. Burns added an RBI triple to right center, scoring McMillan to give North Georgia a 2-0 advantage.
 
Both teams traded runs in the second with RBI singles from Tiffin's Allyson Rock and UNG's Ansley Phillips.
 
The Dragons evened the game at 3-3 in the third inning, one of them coming off an RBI double from Madison Yanek that was ripped to right center, the best hit of the day for Tiffin.
 
Each team saw great efforts from their relief pitchers but it would be TU's Sarah Brown to blink first, getting in trouble in the bottom of the seventh.
 
McMillan started the seventh inning rally for the Nighthawks drilling a leadoff single to center on the first pitch. McMillan stole second, advanced to third and UNG would have bases loaded with no one out. That brought up May who singled off the third baseman to score McMillan and claim the game-winning hit, giving UNG the 4-3 win.
 
Next Up
North Georgia will play two more games tomorrow, taking on Brevard and Pfeiffer in consecutive contests. The first game of the day – North Georgia vs. Brevard – is set to being at 11 a.m.