FLORENCE, SC – Francis Marion University and North Georgia College & State University split a wild Peach Belt Conference softball doubleheader on Monday afternoon (April 16) with both games going into extra innings. The 24th-ranked Patriots won the opener 1-0 on Allie Aleman’s RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, while North Georgia rallied in the second game to claim an 11-9 slugfest that also lasted eight innings.
Francis Marion ends its regular season 34-14 overall and tied for fifth place in the PBC with an 11-9 mark. FMU will play in the PBC Tournament, beginning on Friday in Hephzibah, Ga. North Georgia (34-19, 12-8) plays host to Mount Olive College for a doubleheader on Tuesday at 1 p.m.
In the opener, FMU freshman lefthander Michaela Wolf (21-8) and NGCSU senior righty Andrea Moss (22-10) matched scoreless frames until the last of the eighth. The Patriots loaded the bases on a single, an infield throwing error, and an intentional walk. With two outs, Aleman blooped a soft liner over the third baseman into shallow left field that scored Stevie Arrand with the game’s lone run.
Wolf allowed only three singles, while striking out eight in her first action since March 29. Moss limited FMU to six singles, while fanning three.
What the first game lacked in offense was more than made up for in game two. The two teams combined for 23 hits, including eight doubles and five home runs, while each squad committed three errors that led to a total of five unearned runs.
FMU sophomore Shannan Tyson was 4-for-5 with three runs scored, two runs batted in, and her first home run of the year. Junior Monica Wofford was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs, while senior first baseman Janine Allen was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and four RBIs. Playing her final home game, Allen recorded her 47th double tying the Patriot career record.
North Georgia was led by center fielder Brittany Cobb, who was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, four RBIs, and her ninth home run of 2007. Second baseman Krista Goodlet had a double and two RBIs.
After FMU scored four runs in the first frame, the Saints answered with five in the top of the second. Francis Marion went back ahead, 6-5, on Tyson’s two-run homer in the bottom of the second. Trailing 7-6 in the seventh, North Georgia scored twice, on a wild pitch and a throwing error, to go up 8-7. A one-out home run to left center field by FMU catcher Kayla Ruede knotted the score at 8-8 to force extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, Cobb doubled home a run and two runs crossed home plate following a two-out Patriot throwing error to give the Saints an 11-8 advantage. FMU trimmed the margin to 11-9 on an RBI infield single by Wofford in the bottom of the inning. That play left runners at first and third with only one out. However, pinch runner Shawn Moore was thrown out trying to steal second and Aleman struck out to end the game.
Moss pitched the final seven innings to earn the win, while FMU sophomore Serena Lim (8-3) was the losing pitcher.
