OKLAHOMA CITY | The University of North Georgia softball team will play for its first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship. The No. 6 Nighthawks emerged out of the loser's bracket after winning two elimination games on Saturday and two on Sunday to make the national title tilt. Facing fellow Peach State school, Shorter in the semifinal, North Georgia used a pair of 8-2 and 7-5 victories to advance to the final game of the 2015 season.
 
Also of significant note, UNG junior Courtney Poole set a new school record for wins in a single-season now sitting at 46-4. As a team, the Nighthawks have now tied the single-season win total in program history, taking a 53-8 record into the national championship game. North Georgia also won 53 games in 2011, in the team's last trip to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship.
 
The title game versus Dixie State (Utah) is set for a Noon CDT first pitch. The game will be broadcast on NCAA.com with Lincoln Rose and Leah Secondo on the call.
 
Game 11 – North Georgia 8, Shorter 2
Powered by a four-run first, North Georgia raced out to a 5-0 lead after two innings and cruised to an 8-2 win over Shorter, forcing an "if necessary" game.
 
Meagan May, Kim McMillan and Jessica Finch each went 3-for-4 in a 14-hit UNG attack. McMillan knocked in two runs. Courtney Poole picked up her 45th win with a complete-game effort. She allowed two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. The win also set a program and Peach Belt Conference record previously held by her assistant coach Sarah Phillips.
 
In the first inning, the Nighthawks scored their first two runs on a RBI fielder's choice by Ansley Phillips and a run-scoring single from Finch. After an illegal pitch plated the third run, Katie Block dropped down a perfect bunt for the fourth run on a squeeze play. McMillan pushed across the fifth run with a RBI single in the second. 
 
Shorter got on the board in the bottom of the third on back-to-back RBI singles by Kendall Johnson and Ericka Bynum.
 
The Nighthawks tacked on single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh. Alexis Collis plated a run in the fifth while McMillan knocked in one in the sixth and Meredith Heyer batted in the final run of the game in the seventh to give UNG the 8-2 lead that proved final.
 
Poole picked up the win, allowing two runs on seven hits with four strike outs.
 
Game 13 – North Georgia 7, Shorter 5
As they did in the first semifinal against Shorter, North Georgia jumped out to an early lead in the first inning. However, after failing to pick up a run-rule win in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Nighthawks had to hold off a late rally by the Hawks (43-17), but held on for the 7-5 win. 
 
With two outs in the top of the first Tiffanie Burns picked up a single up the middle and Ansley Phillips followed, ripping a single through the left side. Jessica Finch didn't let the two-out rally go to waste blasting a three-run home run over the left field fence. UNG tacked on two more runs in the fourth, courtesy of a two-out Shorter error with a ground ball rolling through the legs of the SU first baseman.  North Georgia added another two in the sixth on RBI singles by Meagan May and Meredith Heyer.
 
Shorter got on the board with the help of three Nighthawk errors, scoring two unearned runs to cut the deficit to 7-2 in the sixth.
 
Ericka Bynum made things interesting in the seventh. With two outs, she launched a three-run home run to left to make it a two-run ball game, but Poole regrouped and induced a fly ball to center for the final out.
 
Poole (46-4) allowed just the three earned runs on the Bynum homer. She struck out six and walked one in a complete-game outing.