Game 1
No. 1 North Georgia 4, Molloy 0 | Box Score
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - The top-ranked North Georgia Saints picked up their 51st win in 51 tries on Thursday afternoon in the opening game of 2010 NCAA Division II National Championships by defeating Molloy, 4-0, at Heritage Park in St. Joseph.
Molloy (43-20) threatened in the first but had their hopes dashed when freshman Haley Calderwood grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Later in the inning, the Saints began the scoring on their fourth pitch when junior catcher Lauren Voyles blasted a home run over the left center field wall to give the Saints the early lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, North Georgia added to its lead on just its second hit of the contest when senior outfielder Courtney McGuire sent one sailing over the wall in right center field to extend the Saints’ lead to 2-0.
North Georgia (51-0) added two more runs in the sixth inning off of an RBI-triple from McGuire and an RBI-single from sophomore Hilary Cox to cap the scoring at four.
Molloy was led in the game by freshman Jeana Frey who picked up two of the Lions’ three hits on the afternoon.
2010 Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American Sarah Phillips increased her record to 44-0 in the circle on the year by allowing no runs off of three hits with six strikeouts for North Georgia.
Earning the loss in the game was Molloy freshman Megan Butterworth who went 5.2 innings for the Lions, giving up four runs off of six hits with eight strikeouts, including six straight in the first, second and third innings.
North Georgia will now advance to play the winner of Thursday’s game between No. 2 Valdosta State and No. 6 Bloomsburg on Friday at 4 p.m. CDT. Meanwhile, Molloy will take on the loser of that game on Saturday at 12 p.m. CDT.