The Bulldogs were on the road yesterday for their final time of the regular season as they traveled to Cartersville, Georgia, to take on the Chargers from Georgia Highlands College. GMC split the doubleheader, winning game one 8-5 before falling in game two 9-1, ending their season-high nine-game win streak.
Game one was tight early, then the Bulldogs opened things up a bit, but the Chargers wouldn't back down and battled back to make it close at the end. The Chargers got on the board first as they scored one run in the bottom of the first inning off a Bulldog error. The Bulldogs answered immediately when Jessica Owens reached on a line drive to left field. She was moved to second by Mckenzie Graves on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a two-out single to right by Caroline Hughes to score 1-1. Starting pitcher Jana Shellhorse struck out the side in the bottom of the second. Autumn Land led off the Bulldogs half of the third inning with a single up the middle; with one out, Brianna Painter matched Land's single, and the Bulldogs were in business with two runners on and Whitley Ward coming to the plate. Ward launched the first pitch she saw to left field for a three-run homer, putting the Bulldogs ahead 4-1. Graves reached on a two-out walk to keep the inning alive and followed by a double from catcher Kinsley Goolsby. Hughes then picked up her second RBI of the game on a single up the middle, scoring Graves. The Chargers earned one run back in the bottom of the third, making the score 5-2 Bulldogs. The top of the four mirrored the third inning, as Land and Painter both reached on singles before Ward hit a line drive off the pitcher's leg to load the bases. After a GHC pitching change, Land scored on a ground out to third by Owens, and both the other runners advanced one base. Graves drove in the game's final two runs for the Bulldogs, as Painter and Ward scored off her two-out single up the middle, giving the Bulldogs an 8-2 lead. The Chargers tried to rally back, scoring two runs in the fourth inning and one in the bottom of the seventh before Shellhorse struck out the game's final batter on a changeup. Shellhorse picked up her 100th career strikeout and her tenth win of the season.
Georgia Highlands, starting pitcher, was able to cool the Bulldogs' bats in game two, as GMC only had two hits and scored just one run. GMC's lone run came in the first inning as Brianna Painter hit a missile to left-center for her second home run of the season. Beth Eddins, game two's starting pitcher, held the Chargers bats in check for the first two innings before they got on the board in the third inning with three runs, and again in the fourth for four; two runs off Eddins and two off relief pitcher Layla Barron. The Bulldogs were unable to get anything going offensively in game two. Jessica Owens had the only other hit for the Bulldogs, a single off the fence in right field. After a few miscues by the Bulldogs' defense, the Chargers scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to end the game by the eight-run rule. Eddins struck out five batters in three and a third innings of work, while Barron only allowed two hits in her appearance.
"There are going to be games where our bats don't carry us, and in those games, we have to play solid defense and have solid pitching, and we didn't have that in game two tonight. After the pitching change in game one was made, we didn't do a very good job of adjusting at the plate, and that is an area we need to improve on. It was a tough conference loss to a tough team, and now we need bounce back next week. We are still in a spot to control our destiny, and I like that we get to finish things out at home the next couple of weeks."
Georgia Military College will host USC Salkehatchie in a non-conference doubleheader next Thursday, April 22nd, at Couch Field. Game times are 4:00 and 6:00 pm.
