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North Georgia Rolls Into Championship Game with 8-1 Defeat of Augusta State

DAHLONEGA, GA – The top-ranked and #1 seed North Georgia jumped out to a five-run lead before defeating 4th-seeded Augusta State University 8-1 Saturday afternoon in game three of the NCAA Southeast Dahlonega Regional.

The Saints extend their winning streak to 22 games, improving to 45-3 on the season and advancing to the Regional Championship on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The Lady Jaguars fall to 33-20 on the year and fall to the losers bracket for an elimination game Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. for the right to advance to Championship Sunday.

North Georgia manufactured a run in the first inning for the second consecutive game as Laura Voyles raced to the plate on a fielding error, just beating the tag to give the Saints a 1-0 lead.

After a pair of scoreless innings, the Saints struck again in the third inning, using four hits and taking advantage of two Lady Jaguar errors to plate four more runs for a 5-0 lead. Kaelin Farrington singled through the left side to leadoff, and Voyles followed and delivered a double to center field, plating Farrington for a 2-0 advantage. The Saints then scored three unanswered runs as Voyles, Kasey Knight, and Courtney McGuire all scored in the inning.

Augusta plated their only run of the game in the fourth inning, using a pair of hits to score the run. Kacee Camp notched a single, stole second, and Jessica Thornton delivered a clutch two-out single to bring Camp home and cut the North Georgia lead to four at 5-1.

North Georgia added two insurance runs in the fifth, and a single run in the sixth for the 8-1 victory. Leslee Smith paced the Saints at the plate, going 3-for-4 with an RBI, while a trio of players tallied a pair of hits. Hilary Cox was 1-for-3 at the plate, but drove in two of the Saints five runs batted in.

Jessica Thornton went 2-for-3 for Augusta State with the Lady Jaguar’s only RBI, while Camp tallied a pair of hits in the losing effort.

Sarah Phillips (34-1) continued her dominance on the mound, winning her 31st consecutive game, tossing another complete game, allowing five hits and one earned run while striking out five.

Emily Corish (7-3) was the tough luck loser, allowing four hits and three runs, two earned, in 2.0 innings of work.