BRUNSWICK, Ga.—Southeastern used a late surge to pull away from Coastal Georgia in the first game of Friday's doubleheader but the Mariners repaid the favor in the second game to salvage a split.
The Fire plated three in the seventh to take the first contest 4-0 and dropped the second when the hosts scored twice in the seventh to win 3-2.
Freshman
Edan Playa coaxed 13 groundouts and struck out three in a complete game shutout to improve to 14-2 on the season. Playa allowed just five hits and walked one.
Playa was put to the test in the third when her lone walk of the day led off the third and Coastal Georgia hit back-to-back singles to load the bases with nobody out. Playa then got the reigning Sun Conference player of the year to ground into a fielder's choice with a throw from
Lauren Sekinger home to prevent a run, then got a fly out and a groundout back to her to keep the Mariners scoreless.
That momentum shift helped the Fire get on the board in the next half inning with
Leah Gonzalez led off with a double and came home to score in the form of pinch runner
Mallory Watts on
Kaitlyn Quillen's two-out single to center field.
Playa again was challenged in the sixth when the Mariners got two runners into scoring position to tie the game but got a pop up to the circle to end the inning.
Raylei McKinney doubled the lead with a bases-loaded single to second base. Sekinger brought home a run on a bases-loaded error and an RBI groundout by
Hailey Brooks pushed the lead to four.
Sekinger led the offense with two hits.
Playa was able to work around a two-out double in the seventh to close out the game.
In the second game, the Fire got on the board first again with a bases-loaded error in the third to score Quillen. Coastal Georgia answered with an RBI single to center field to tie the game in the bottom of the inning.
A wild pitch in the sixth scored Watts who ran for Gonzalez after her lead off walk.
The Mariners got a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh but back-to-back groundouts got a runner to third and a single to center field tied the game. Three consecutive singles later, the Mariners came away with the win.
Ella Brooks led the offense with two hits including the lone extra base hit, a double to lead off the fifth.
The series will wrap up tomorrow at noon.
