Middle Georgia State wins two with walk-off homers
Game 1 saw an exciting finish in a close game that Middle Georgia State led most of the way over Gordon State Highlanders before winning in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the 8th inning. The Knights’ Julie Bradley doubled in the first to move Kayla Bawkin to 3rd and Bawkin scored on a passed ball to open the scoring. The Highlanders scored one in the top of the 3rd to tie the game before Bawkin hit a homerun down the left field line to take a 2-1 lead. Gordon State plated another run in the 4th to tie the game but Keri Tompkins gave the Knights the lead back leading off the bottom of the 4th with a solo homerun to left center. The score remained at 3-2 until the top of the 7th when the Highlanders scored to tie the game at 3 before the defense ended the bases loaded threat. The Knights left a runner on 3rd in the bottom of the 7th and the game went to extra innings. Gordon scored a run on a passed ball in the top of the 8th to take a 4-3 lead. After the first two batters got out in the bottom of the 8th, the Knights were down to their last out with a runner at second and Bradley stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun to straight away center for a walk off two run homerun and a 5-4 victory for the Knights.
Game 2 was a different story although the Highlanders struck first with a solo homerun by the second batter Brittany Sinkfield. The Knights came back in the bottom of the 1st with four runs on five hits. A single by Bradley plated Adele Harrison and Bawkin. Bradley was moved to third on a single by Tompkins and scored on a passed ball. Tompkins scored from second on a single by Susanna Stokes for the 4th run of the inning. The second inning saw four more runs by the Knights beginning with a single by Jenna Hanson followed by a stolen base. Bawkin then struck out and the catcher threw the ball down the right field line allowing Hanson to score and Bawkin to move around to 3rd. Bawkin scored on a single by Bradley and Tompkins hit her second homerun of the day driving in Bradley to make the score 8-1 after 2. Gordon State scored one in the top of the 3rd to bring the score to 8-2 but the Knights got two back for it in the bottom of the 3rd on Bawkin’s second homerun of the day that scored Harrison as well to make the score 10-2. The top of the 5th saw the Highlanders plate one on a single then two more on a homerun by Olivia Wolfe to close the gap to 10-5. The next runs were not scored until the bottom of the 6th when Bradley, Tompkins, and Stokes hit back-to-back-to-back homeruns to give the Knights an eight run lead and a 13-5 win over the Highlanders.
Kayla Bawkin: 3-7, 5 runs, 4 RBI, 2 HR
Julie Bradley: 6-8, 4 runs, 6 RBI, 2 HR
Keri Tompkins: 5-7, 4 runs, 4 RBI, 3 HR
Susanna Stokes: 2-6, 1 run, 2 RBI, 1 HR
The Knights are now 20-15 on the season and 2-2 in conference play. The next game for softball is April 6 at Georgia Perimeter in Covington, GA then back home on April 8 against South Georgia and shown live at 2PM and 4PM on www.ihigh.com/mgsknights.