Bobcat softball secures sixth in PBC for 2024

Published 8:41 am Tuesday, April 23, 2024

It only took about an hour to complete what was put off for two days Monday, and in the end the Georgia College & State University softball team settled into sixth place in the final weekend of 2024 regular-season play. With a Game 1 win on Saturday and a Game 2 victory with innings divided between Saturday and Monday, the Bobcats of coach Kenneth Bellamy earned their eighth and ninth Peach Belt Conference win to finish alone in sixth place out of eight playoff qualifiers.

What that means is GCSU will go to second-place finisher Columbus State University along with third place Lander and seventh-place Georgia Southwestern State for one of two double-elimination mini tournaments in the Peach Belt playoffs. North Georgia, defending Peach Belt and NCAA Division II champions, hosts three other PBC clubs (Augusta, Flagler and USC-Aiken) next weekend, and the two surviving teams will play a best-of-3 series for the conference championship.

South Carolina-Beaufort, which was fighting for its season as the ninth-place team coming into the Peeler Complex in Milledgeville this past weekend, was officially eliminated Saturday after a tight 3-2 win for the GCSU Bobcats. Two and a half innings into Game 2, with the hosts leading 2-0, play was suspended for a lightning delay and then rained out for the evening. They opted to finish play Monday due to weather forecasts for more rain Sunday.

GCSU maintained the shutout from one day to the next and added more runs to win 5-0.

It was a weekend where Bobcat seniors came through both on offense and in the field. Jana Shellhorse, who played her entire college softball career in Milledgeville starting at Georgia Military College, got the Game 1 pitching victory – her 10^th – even though she did not strike out a batter in seven innings. The USC-Beaufort Sand Sharks actually outhit the Bobcats 8 to 6, and Shellhorse issued three walks.

There was just one error committed behind Shellhorse, and that was in the top of the first. USC-Beaufort did not score, but the Bobcats did to start the game. Kam Caldwell singled to left with one out and scored as senior Jessica Owens (another former GMC Bulldog) tripled to right.

The Sand Sharks had five total baserunners through three innings but did not score until taking a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth. They loaded the bases with one out then called on a pinch-hitter, Cassie Brundage, who delivered a flair to center field that plated the two runs.

One more walk filled the bases again with Sand Sharks, but they all stayed there as the game moved on to the home fourth.

After the Owens triple, GCSU had just two more hits going into the home fifth. With one out, Eliza Kuhne and Emily Hobbs reached. They got into scoring position for Caldwell’s two-run first-pitch single.

Shellhorse retired 10 of the last 12 batters she faced with an equal number of groundouts and fly-ball outs.

Shelby Jones pitched the Game 2 shutout for her ninth win. She had four strikeouts – all of which accounted for the final out of an inning – and did not walk a batter while scattering four hits, two on Saturday and two on Monday. Chloe Turner was the only Sand Shark to get into scoring position on a second-inning double, but she was erased trying to get to third base, Hobbs to Caldwell.

The Bobcat offense jumped on Sand Shark pitching right away with Hobbs starting the first inning with an infield hit and stolen base. With two outs, Owens was hit by a pitch to bring up Golden Thrower, the senior starting as the designated player. She doubled to left for one RBI, then senior catcher Zhea Zweifel singled to make it 2-0.

Saturday’s play ended with the Bobcats batting in the bottom of the third. Zweifel had her second straight hit when that inning resumed, but the score stayed 2-0 going into the fourth. With two outs in the bottom half, Caldwell belted her second home run of the season doubling the advantage to 4-0.

Hobbs went deep for a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth. It was her 12^th home run of 2024, tying Karlie Gutierrez for the team lead.