Georgetown Softball Falls to Rio Grande

Softball | Tue, May 18, 2021

Story by Georgetown College Athletics

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Double plays and big innings were the undoing for Georgetown College softball team in its finale Tuesday in the NAIA Softball Championship Lawrenceville Bracket. The Tigers (27-22) had promising innings going in the third and fourth, but University of Rio Grande was able to squelch those with the timely defensive plays.

The RedStorm (46-15) used the moment in the fourth to score five and added four more in the sixth to end the game, 9-1. Madie Sims and Kylee West had two hits apiece. Sims tallied an RBI as she drove in Kaylyn Barnett to give GC a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth.

West started the third with a single. A strikeout later, Carly Oliver hit a sharp ball up the middle. Rio pitcher Raelynn Hastings was able to react, collect, get the lead runner and the shortstop fired to first base for the final two outs.

Sarah Claxon and the Georgetown defense responded by stranding another Rio runner to come back up in the fourth.

Lindsey Mitchell, Barnett and Sims all singled for a run with two on and just one out. However, a sharp ball down third was corralled and Kenzie Cremeens quickly stepped on third and fired across the diamond for the second double play of the game.

With a lead, things seemed to be going the Tigers way with one out and a runner on second. A ball hit back up the middle seemed routine enough, but turned into an error that scored a run and resulted in the batter being on second. The RedStorm then proceeded to produce two singles, a triple, a walk and a single to force Claxon from the game.

The fifth was fairly quiet and GC had some momentum with two singles in the sixth, but a strikeout, groundout and fielder’s choice ended that threat. Rio came back to work for four hits and four runs to end the game.