Game Preview: The No. 4 University of North Georgia softball team conclude regular season play with two PBC twinbills against Columbus State and Georgia College.
Rankings: UNG is ranked No. 4 in the latest NFCA top 25 poll, announced last Wednesday. The only other team in the top 25 is No. 23 Georgia College. Lincoln Memorial and Carson-Newman are each receiving votes. The Nighthawks also claimed the top spot in the first NCAA Southeast Region rankings announced last Wednesday. LMU is the two seed, followed by C-N, Lenoir-Rhyne and Georgia College.
Nighthawks on the Web: Links to both twinbills can be found above or on the UNG Softball schedule page. Fans can also follow the action through Twitter by following the softball team (@UNGSoftball).
Last Week: The Nighthawks swept USC Aiken behind Kylee Smith's perfect game in the first of the two games.
PBC Team Stats: Kylee Smith (0.48) and Laken Chambers (0.84) are first and second in the PBC in ERA while Smith is tied for the league lead in wins. The junior is first in the league in strikeouts with 224. Abbie Crawford is eighth in the league in ERA with a 2.19 earned run average. As a team, the Nighthawks have the lowest ERA at 1.13 and have given up the fewest hits and runs in the league.
Scouting the Opponents: Columbus State is 31-13 on the year and 11-3 in league play, a game back of the Nighthawks in the PBC standings. North Georgia is 18-3 against CSU all time and are riding an 11-game winning streak in the series. Georgia College is 31-16 this season and 9-7 in PBC action. UNG is 24-11 against GC, but the two teams have split the last six meetings.
National Stats: North Georgia has the second lowest ERA as a team in Division II at 1.17, just eight points lower than Southern New Hampshire. The Nighthawks have the most shutouts in the nation with 21. Kylee Smith has the lowest ERA in the nation at 0.51, while Laken Chambers's 0.84 is third best in Division II. Smith is also No. 3 in hits allowed per seven innings, fourth in shutouts, second in strikeouts, third in strikeouts per seven innings and seventh in wins.
Smith PBC Pitcher of the Week: For the fifth time in 2019 and the 12th time in her career, Kylee Smith was named the Peach Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week by the league office Monday. Nothing is better than perfect, which is exactly what Smith was as she set down all 21 USC Aiken Pacers in order in a 6-0 win. It was the 21st perfect game in PBC history, the fifth in program history and only the fifth in a PBC conference game. Smith struck out 12 in that contest to open the twinbill against USCA, then came back in game two for three innings, striking out six and getting another win.
