ABAC Fillies force game three against Florence-Darlington Tech

May 8—TIFTON — Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Florence-Darlington Tech will need an extra game to decide their NJCAA Mid-Atlantic district tournament.

Game three is set to start at noon Thursday.

The Stingers scored a run in the seventh for a 4-3 win in the opener before ABAC's bats exploded for an 11-7 victory in the sequel.

Game two was extremely quiet for the first three innings. The Fillies went up 4-0 in the fourth. Soon, the contest became an exhibition of offense.

Five runs plated for ABAC in the top of the sixth. The Stingers came back with three. Though the Fillies added two more in the seventh, a late surge by the visitors made the 11-7 finish closer than it appeared.

Back-to-back doubles by Anna Hutchinson and Ashley Archibald in the fourth made the first dent in the scoreboard of the second contest. That score quickly doubled when Archibald, running on contact, scored easily on an infield grounder by Dylana Barton.

The inning unraveled there for the Florence-Darlington Tech, which needed three pitchers to get through it. Lexi Metts doubled in Barton, then another error off the bat of Trinity Odom, brought in Metts.

ABAC got help from Stinger defenders in the fourth. In the sixth, it was the bats exploding.

Carter Gore started the frame with a single. Head coach Mike Reed, looking for a bit of insurance, brought in speedy Peighton Capwell to run for her. That immediately paid off with a stolen base, then a run on a Alli Eidson double.

Up 5-0, Hutchinson stepped up and blasted a home run to left field for two more runs.

ABAC wasn't through Archibald walked, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on an error forced by Barton. Metts, the ninth hitter of the frame singled to score Barton.

The day was far from over.

Isabel Allen singled with the bases loaded, bring in Olivia Voltolina. Katelyn Church hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Allison Carter. An error brought in Jordan Peritt to make it 9-3.

Barton doubled in Akayla Matthews (running for Eidson) and Hutchinson in the top of the seventh. It was now 11-3 and ABAC nearly needed every bit of it to force game three.

The first four Florence-Darlington Tech reached in the bottom of the seventh. All of them scored.

Alexis Harward scored on a bases loaded wild pitch. Carter delivered Voltolina and Larissa Siders on a single. ABAC finally got an out, then Allen drove in another run.

Hutchinson, in for relief, clamped down there with a flyout and grounder to shortstop to end it.

Hutchinson had three hits on the day and finished a triple short of the cycle. ABAC pounded out 14 hits total, with Eidson also having a three-hit game.

Jaci Smiley earned the win, giving up three runs in six innings.

STINGERS 4, ABAC 3

Perritt drove in Siders with a single to left for the game-winning run in the opener. Siders was on after a fielder's choice, moving into scoring position on a walk to Carter.

ABAC had Ava Roland on in the bottom half, but were unable to move her any further.

Florence-Darlington struck first.

The Stingers loaded the bases in the third with no outs, but came out of it with one run when Carter grounded into a double play. Harward scored.

Their lead was short-lived.

In the bottom half, Gore tripled in Metts to tie. Doubles by Eidson and Archibald brought the score to 3-1.

That's where the score stayed until the fifth.

A misplayed ball with two outs brought in Voltolina and Siders to tie the score. ABAC loaded the bases in the bottom half, but came away empty on an infield pop-up.

Kaylee Barrett pitched a complete game. Only one of the runs against her were earned.

Gore had two hits in the opener.