DAHLONEGA – The No. 3 University of North Georgia (UNG) softball team staved off elimination twice in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Tournament with a pair of crucial wins on Friday evening over Columbus State 9-2 and Lincoln Memorial 6-4 to keep its 2026 season alive.
Game One: North Georgia 9, Columbus State 2
North Georgia's first elimination game of the day was going to be a tall task, taking on a Cougars team in a rematch of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship from less than a week ago.
Much like the championship game last weekend, the Nighthawks jumped out in front of Columbus State early, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
Carleigh Knowles cashed in on Sydnee Reaves' leadoff walk with an RBI triple to send her home from first and plate the first run of the ballgame. With Knowles 60 feet from scoring at third, Marycille Brumby sent a groundball to the shortstop to bring her home and double the advantage.
The 2-0 score remained true for the next four innings of play, as Chloe Poss found herself in a pitcher's duel with Columbus State's starter Khloe Shears. Poss efficiently retired the side through the first three innings to make quick work of the Cougar bats.
In the fourth, Poss had to work out of a bases-loaded jam to keep her team out in front. With two outs on the board, Columbus State's first baseman Kara Wegienka launched a softball to right field that had enough heat on it to make its way to the parking lot.
Luckily for the Nighthawks, their NFCA All-Region right fielder Kayla Berry was watching that ball soar her way. Berry made a herculean jump, stuck her arm out past the wall and found the softball in her glove as she crashed into the padding. The Acworth, Ga. native just robbed what would have been a Columbus State grand slam in one of the most impressive defensive plays of the season.
Columbus State finally broke through against Poss and the Nighthawks defense in the fifth with an RBI groundout to cut the lead in half.
The Nighthawks needed some late insurance runs to cushion their lead, and they got just that in the top of the sixth.
On numerous occasions this year, the Nighthawks have found a way to keep innings alive with two outs on the board. That trend certainly remained intact, as North Georgia plated five runs in a two-out rally to extend the lead.
The rally came much in large part due to Kaitlyn Johnson, who stepped up and laced a three RBI double to the gap in right center field in her biggest at bat of the season to build the lead to four.
The Cougars were forced to go to their bullpen and make a substitution after that swing from Johnson, but it would not do much good with Reaves stepping up to bat. The senior center fielder launched her league-leading 18th homer of the season to right field and saw her team leave the top of the sixth in front 7-1.
The Cougars chipped away at the lead in the home half of the inning with an RBI double to cut the North Georgia advantage to five.
As the away team in this matchup, North Georgia was looking to tack on some more runs and have some breathing room heading into the bottom of the seventh. The Nighthawks got what they were looking for in the top frame.
In yet another two-out rally, Reaves struck again with a two RBI double to bring home runs eight and nine for UNG to put the nail in the coffin.
Caroline Conner, who had come out of the bullpen in the sixth inning, closed the door on the Cougars with a strikeout to send the Nighthawks on to another elimination game.
Poss locked up her 24th win of the 2026 season, tossing five innings while only letting up three hits and one run to Columbus State.
Reaves led the Nighthawks at the plate with a homer, a double, four RBI and two runs scored.
Game Two: North Georgia 6, Lincoln Memorial 4
The second elimination game proved to be another battle with Lincoln Memorial. The Railsplitters have handed North Georgia two of its nine losses this season, one of which came yesterday in an 8-7 12-inning victory for Lincoln Memorial.
The Railsplitters jumped in front first, using a sacrifice fly and a two RBI double in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead over North Georgia.
Lincoln Memorial added onto its lead in the third, taking advantage of an uncharacteristic misstep from the Nighthawks' defense to score another run. All of the sudden, the eighth-seeded Railsplitters had a 4-0 lead and the No. 1 seed Nighthawks on the ropes.
The Nighthawks immedialty responded in the fourth, snatching the momentum back from Lincoln Memorial.
After a single from Berry, she took advantage of a Cougar error and used her speed to come around and score from first to trim the lead to three.
Journey Roberts, who also capitalized the error and may her way to first, got to show off her speed with an RBI single from Ava Lunsford to score and cut the lead in half.
Reaves kept things moving by connecting on another two RBI double. In a matter of minutes, the Nighthawks had erased a four-run deficit and tied the game.
North Georgia tacked on another run in the fifth, this time to take the lead with a sacrifice fly to right field from Roberts.
A 1-2-3 inning from Lila Mullinax in the bottom of the sixth set the again away team Nighthawks up for one last chance to add some insurance to their lead.
For the final time today, the two-out rally struck again. Lunsford lifted a fly ball behind first base for what would have been the final out of the inning. Instead, the Railsplitters could not come up with the ball and watched it drop to the ground, as Martin came around to score and gave UNG some breathing room.
Mullinax sealed the deal in the bottom of the seventh, seeing just four Lincoln Memorial bats in an efficient inning. The Nighthawks celebrated after the final out with their 2026 campaign still alive.
The freshman pitcher Mullinax came out of the bullpen for her 11th win of the season, tossing 5.1 innings while giving up seven hits and just one run.
Reaves, Martin, Berry, Lunsford and Johnson all delivered multi-hit performances and combined for all of North Georgia's 11 hits in the victory. Jenna Miles used a trio of walks across the two games to lead the plate discipline efforts from the Nighthawks.
The Nighthawks (47-9, 22-5 PBC) will need a pair of wins tomorrow over the No. 5 seed Lander to avoid elimination for the second-straight day and punch their ticket to the Super Regional. North Georgia is 3-1 against the Bearcats this season, most recently seeing them in the PBC Tournament Semifinals last weekend in a 7-0 shutout victory.
First pitch for game one is set for 12 p.m. at Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium.