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#1 Saints Rally With Six Unanswered Runs To Down Carson-Newman 6-3

DAHLONEGA, GA – North Georgia College & State University rallied from a first-inning deficit Friday evening to score six straight runs and defeat Carson-Newman 6-3 in game one of the 2009 NCAA Southeast Dahlonega Regional.

North Georgia continued their winning streak, taking their 24th consecutive game and 39 of their last 40, improving to 47-3 on the season. Carson-Newman falls for the first time in eight games, dropping their record to 32-16.

The Lady Eagles jumped on the Saints in the early going, using a solo blast with two outs in the first inning off the bat of Stephanie Templeton to give Carson-Newman an early 1-0 lead.

North Georgia came right back and took the lead in bottom of the opening frame, taking advantage of two Carson-Newman errors and scoring a pair of runs without the benefit of a hit. Laura Voyles led off and walked and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Courtney McGuire. The Saints took the lead for good later in the inning as Kasey Knight forced the issue, tagging and advancing to third and scoring on an error for a 2-1 advantage.

The Saints came right back in the second innings and added three more run on as many hits. Hilary Cox led off and doubled to left center, and Stephanie Farmakis followed and reached on an error before both runners stole a base and gave North Georgia a 3-1 lead. Kayla Martin and Voyles continued to keep the offense going in the second inning, adding RBI hits as the Saints raced out to a 5-1 lead.

After a scoreless third inning, Voyles continued her clutch hitting in the fourth, sending a line drive homer to left center as the Saints extended their lead to 6-1.

Carson-Newman put pressure on the Saints in the fifth inning, scoring a run courtesy of a North Georgia error before Sarah Phillips induced a groundout and strikeout to end the inning.

The Lady Eagles added one more run in the sixth inning as Mary Shealy notched a run batted in with a groundout for the final run of the game.

Phillips ( 36-1) wins her 33rd consecutive game, tossing another complete game, allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out four.

Templeton (12-3) falls for the first time this postseason, allowing six runs, three earned, on seven hits while striking out three and walking five.

These same two teams will play the second game in the best of three series Saturday afternoon with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. Game three, if necessary, will be played Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The winner of the series will advance to the Division II College World Series in Salem, Virgina.