DAHLONEGA – After falling behind 4-0 in the top of the first inning, the No. 5 University of North Georgia (UNG) softball team rallied for a thrilling 6-5 come-from-behind win over Flagler in the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Tournament Quarterfinals.
The Nighthawks dug themselves a hole for Flagler to take advantage of in the early goings on Friday evening. The Saints used a pair of RBI singles and capitalized on a few defensive miscues from North Georgia to jump out to an early 4-0 advantage.
Carleigh Knowles had an answer for the Saints in the home half of the first, as she laced an RBI double to the wall in left field to cut the lead to three.
North Georgia, a team that has constantly strung together multiple quality at bats in a row this season, got just what it was looking for in the second.
Back-to-back triples from Kayla Berry and Journey Roberts cut the Flagler lead in half, and Ava Lunsford kept the bats hot with an RBI single to bring the Nighthawks within one.
Caroline Conner quickly retired the side in the top of the third to bring her team back up to bat in the third. Morgan Martin made her way on base by the fielder's choice and made her way home by taking advantage of an error on the Saints' shortstop to even up the score.
Lunsford paid off another base knock from Berry by scoring her with an RBI single, as the Nighthawks completely flipped the script and battled their way back to lead the game 5-4.
A few innings later in the top of the fifth, the Saints bats struck again with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to knot up the score once more.
In the bottom frame, Berry continued to dominate with another double to put herself in scoring position. Roberts made sure to pay off the impressive hitting from Berry by sending a ground ball into centerfield to bring her home, as the Nighthawks had recaptured the lead 6-5.
With the score in North Georgia's favor, the PBC Pitcher of the Year Chloe Poss came out of the bullpen in the top of the sixth to keep the Nighthawks out in front for good. Poss worked two scoreless innings in the save to close the door on the Saints and help send North Georgia to the next round of the tournament.
Conner earned her 10th win of the season in her first PBC Tournament game, tossing 4.1 innings on two hits, one run and four walks.
Berry posted one of her best games of the season at the plate, finishing 3-4 with three runs scored. Kaitlyn Johnson, Lunsford, Roberts and Berry combined for nine of the 11 North Georgia hits in the win.
Flagler (14-36, 10-17 PBC) was led by Stephanie Daly's two hits.
The Nighthawks (43-8, 22-5 PBC) move on to the semifinals to take on the fourth seed Lander, after the Bearcats' 7-6 comeback win over USC Aiken. First pitch is set for tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
