BRUNSWICK, Ga.. - The USCB softball team battled on Wednesday night at Brunswick High School, but the Sand Sharks fell in the doubleheader, 1-0 and 9-8 (nine innings), to Coastal Georgia.
INSIDE THE GAME ONE BOX SCORE
Ally Muraskin - six innings, four hits, one run, two walks, 10 strikeouts
Bri Dunn - 3-for-3, three singles
Kaleigh Furbush and Francie Gaskin - one single each
HOW GAME ONE HAPPENED
Coastal Georgia opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a lone run. Melani Jones connected with a RBI double to score Sarah Thinger, who reached on a leadoff single.
USCB's offense struggled until the fourth inning with Dunn led off the frame with a single up the middle. Alte laid down a sacrifice bunt to move her teammate into scoring position. Furbush followed with a single to left, and with aggressive base running, Dunn was tagged out at home to keep USCB off the scoreboard.
The Sand Shark offense continued to sputter, despite having runners on base in the sixth and seventh inning. However, USCB narrowly fell to CCGA, 1-0.
INSIDE THE GAME TWO BOX SCORE
Ashlyn Alte - 2-for-5, double, one RBI, one run
Gaskin - 2-for-4, double, two RBIs
Devon Weller - 2-for-5, double, two RBIs
Shania Domingue - 2-for-5, two singles, one RBI
Furbush - 2-for-5, double
Amber Locasto - 1-for-3, two runs
Sierra Bilinski - four innings, four hits, one earned run, two strikeouts
HOW GAME TWO HAPPENED
Wasting no time, USCB opened the scoring in the first inning. After Dunn, Alte and Furbush singled, Dunn and Alte touched home thanks to a wild pitch and a throwing error by Coastal Georgia.
The Sand Sharks had a chance to add on more runs in the top of the second, as they, again, forced the bases loaded with one out. However, all three Sand Sharks were left stranded.
Up by two, the Sand Sharks added a run in the top of the fourth when Locasto touched home on Gaskin's RBI single.
The Sand Shark lead was trimmed in the home half of the fourth when the Mariners strung together two RBI hits to make it a 3-2 contest.
The Sand Sharks didn't mess around in the top of the fifth, when they pushed the lead to four. Gaskin grounded out to score Marti Gathings, and Weller made it hurt with a two RBI double to make the contest 6-2.
In the home half of the fifth, Coastal Georgia erased the deficit with a four-run, five-hit inning.
Tied at 6-all, the two teams couldn't score another run, as they went into extra innings.
With Emily Phillips on second base in the top of the eighth, Alte smacked a clutch, two-out RBI double to take the 7-6 lead.
CCGA knotted the game at 7-7 with Rori Rhodes tallied the game-tying hit.
Heading into the eighth, USCB retaliated when Domingue collected a RBI single to score Hoolie Garcia - who pinch ran for Furbush in the ninth.
Unfortunately, the Mariners worked quickly and won the game with two run-scoring hits to win the game, 9-8.
RECORDS UPDATE
USCB - 22-20 overall, 12-10 The Sun Conference
Coastal Georgia - 27-11 overall, 13-9 The Sun Conference
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Sand Sharks will conclude their regular season on Saturday, May 1 when they host Southeastern for Senior Day. The doubleheader will also serve as Breast Cancer Awareness day, as former USCB assistant coach and alumni, Ali Falmoe (Simmons), will return to throw out the first pitch. The doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. at Richard Gray Stadium.
