GREENWOOD, S.C. – The No. 4 University of North Georgia softball team ended the 2024 regular season with a 3-0 win in the season finale at Lander in Greenwood, S.C. After already clinching the Peach Belt Conference regular season championship, the Nighthawks will return home to Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park on Friday, Apr. 26 to host the PBC Tournament as the top seed.
Sunday's season finale was delayed multiple times to inclement weather in the Greenwood, S.C. area, forcing UNG and the Bearcats to end the year with a 7 p.m. night game.
Despite the delay, the Nighthawks cruised behind the arm of senior starter Tybee Denton to a 3-0 victory, ending the year at 43-8 overall record with a 21-3 mark in conference play.
In the game, Denton allowed just four hits and three walks while striking out five Lander batters on the way to her PBC leading eighth shutout of the season.
On the offensive side, UNG entered Sunday's contest with some scorching hot bats after hitting a total of eight home runs in Saturday's double header split. The victory in the series and season finale instead came at the hands of small ball success for the Nighthawks.
In the second inning, UNG scored the game's first run in the top of the second after redshirt freshman infielder Tagen Levao-Maisonet brought home a run after an infield error from the Bearcats.
In the next inning, after seniors Georgia Blair and Mallory Parker each got on base with a single, sophomore first baseman Marycille Brumby batted home Blair on a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 2-0 Nighthawks.
Both teams went scoreless over the next four innings as Denton struck out a trio of batters until UNG added a run in the seventh.
It was again Levao-Maisonet doing the damage for the Nighthawks, this time with one big swing.
As she connected on a two-out pitch over the plate, Levao-Maisonet belted the ball over the left field wall for her second home run of the season.
The 3-0 lead was enough for Denton to finish her conference-leading 18th complete game with a one-two-three inning, capped off in adequate fashion with one final strikeout.
Now UNG gets four days of rest before returning to The Hill to host the PBC Tournament on Friday, Apr. 26. Seeding and game times for the postseason tournament will be announced by the league office tomorrow, Monday, Apr. 21.
