NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC – Jaileana Deese knocked in the game’s only run with a sixth-inning double, and Morgan Britt and Morgan Hatchell combined to strike out 15 batters and pitch a 2-hitter as Lumberton edged Georgia 1-0 Thursday in the Dixie Belles World Series.
Lumberton remains undefeated and advances to a 9 a.m. championship game Friday against Virgina. A Lumberton victory would secure the championship. A Virginia victory would force another championship game at 11 a.m. Friday.
Hatchell laced a one-out single in the Lumberton sixth inning, and one out later, Deese blasted the double over the leftfielder’s head allowing Hatchell to race all the way home from first base on the play.
Both teams struggled early as a very wide strike zone made quick work of the hitters. Georgia lefthander Skylar Wiggins painted the line in the opposite batter’s box 5 times for called strike-outs. Wiggins finished with 6 strike-outs in her 3 innings of work and gave up only one infield hit and 3 walks.
Lumberton stranded ten runners in the game including 2 runners in the first, second and fifth innings.
Hatchell pitched the first 3 innings, struck out 7 batters and allowed 2 infield hits and a walk. Britt fired 4 hitless innings of relief to pick up the win and struck out eight.
Georgia left 4 runners on base and did not hit a ball into the outfield. Their biggest threat came in the second inning when they put runners at second and third base with no outs. However Hatchell worked out of the jam with a pop-up to secondbaseman Britt and 2 strike-outs.
Defensive gems for Lumberton included firstbaseman Carley Dawson’s diving stab of a low liner in the sixth inning, and Hatchell’s alert back-up play in the seventh.
Rightfielder Hatchell retrieved an overthrow of first and gunned the ball to shortstop Deese to catch the Georgia runner in a run-down. Deese chased the runner back and fired to firstbaseman Carley Dawson who applied the tag for the second out of the inning. Britt struck out the next batter to end the game.
Deese slammed 2 doubles and batted 3-3 with a run batted in. Hatchell, Katlyn Jones, Kasey West, and Nykyra Mitchell connected for one hit each. Hatchell scored a run.
Righthander Ainsley Woods pitched the final 4 innings for Georgia and allowed a run on 6 hits, while striking out two.
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