DAHLONEGA, Ga. -- Armstrong Atlantic used a big sixth inning to defeat North Georgia 12-10, winning the 2014 NCAA Division II Southeast Super Regional on Saturday afternoon and advancing to the DII national championships.
The best-of-three super regional saw North Georgia take Saturday's first contest 7-5 with three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Armstrong had won the first game of the super regional 3-2 on Friday. The Pirates (35-13) make their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Division II national championships in Salem, Virginia, on May 22-26. North Georgia sees its season come to a close with a 47-11 record.
The Pirates trailed 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning of the deciding contest as North Georgia's Victoria Prince delivered an RBI single to snap a 4-4 tie and give the Nighthawks the lead.
Armstrong then delivered a big eight-run sixth-inning, capitalizing on three North Georgia errors and getting a key two-run RBI double from Peyton Roth, an RBI single by Andrea Dalton and sacrifice flies from Hannah Reppert and Kacie Patterson in the frame to take a 12-5 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, North Georgia rallied with five runs getting RBI singles from Courtney Poole and Meredith Heyer as well as taking advantage of an Armstrong error to close the score to 12-10 with the tying runs on first and third. Ollivia McLemore retired the final two batters on a pair of groundouts, however, to preserve the victory.
McLemore (24-6) hurled seven innings, giving up 14 hits and 10 runs -- only three earned -- while walking three to notch the win for the Pirates. Roth went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI to lead the Pirates at the plate, while Hannah Reppert had two hits and two RBI and Andrea Dalton went 2-for-5 with three RBI.
