Dahlonega, GA – Erskine lost to #2 North Georgia 8-0 (six innings) in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Softball Southeast Regional Tournament at Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium.
North Georgia banged out 9 hits in scoring 8 runs in six innings. Saint lead-off batter Ansley Williams led the Saint attack with three hits and scoring three times. Sarah Johnson and Callie Fernandez had two hits and drove in two runs each.
In the circle, Saint pitcher Jessica Coan held the Lady Fleet to just one hit, a double by freshman
Whitney Brown (West Columbia, SC, Airport High School) in the fifth inning, in earning the victory. Sarah Phillips tossed one shutout inning in relief.
Erskine hit the ball hard several times but it always found a Saint defender. With two outs in the fourth inning, the Lady Fleet threatened to score on back-to-back walks but could not get a hit off Coan.
Erskine’s
Kelsey Spurrier (Charlotte, NC, Butler High School) took the loss, giving up five runs, four earned, on seven hits in five innings of work.
Leigh Anne Shelley (Fork, SC, Lake View) started the sixth inning giving up three runs, two earned, on two hits and two walks in a third of an inning when the 8-run mercy run was invoked.
Erskine had only surrendered more than 8 runs in a game one other time this year, a 12-11 extra-inning win over Carson-Newman back in February.
The Lady Fleet (24-16-1) play the fifth seed Augusta State University, who lost to Flagler College in the earlier game, at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.
