North Georgia Upends Fifth-Ranked Braves At PBC Softball Tournament

FLORENCE, S.C. - Fourth-seeded North Georgia rallied for a pair of runs in each of the first and third innings behind a two-hit shutout from Sarah Phillips to post a 4-0 victory over top-seeded and fifth-ranked UNCP Saturday afternoon at the Peach Belt Conference Softball Tournament.

Anna Williamson and Jelena Shaw both turned in hits for UNCP (44-12) who had its 13-game winning streak snapped with the setback. Leslee Smith doubled, tripled and drove in three runs for North Georgia (33-11) who dropped both ends of its home doubleheader with the Braves just last week.

Phillips (16-5) struck out six and allowed just a pair of harmless singles to register her 16th win of the season for the Lady Saints, while UNCP's Martika Elmore (22-4) had her personal 12-game winning skein snapped after surrendering four earned runs on five hits in just 2-2/3 innings from the circle.

North Georgia utilized three hits and a pair of sacrifice knocks to plate a pair of runs in the first, and then used a two-run double from Smith in the third to post a pair of insurance runs. The 4-0 lead was more than enough support for Phillips who retired the side in order in five different frames.

The Braves will now move on to play a 3 p.m. elimination game against sixth-seeded and 18th-ranked Francis Marion (31-12) who ousted USC Aiken with a 13-4 rout in the loser's bracket earlier on Saturday. The winner of that contest will remain at Freedom Florence Park to play a second elimination contest at 5 p.m.