North Georgia Wins 2009 Softball Tournament Title

FLORENCE, SC – Top-seeded North Georgia completed their perfect run through the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Sunday afternoon, defeating USC Aiken 4-0 to capture the 2009 PBC Tournament Championship, the program’s first ever tournament championship.

Sarah Phillips was the named the PBC Tournament’s most valuable player, while Leslee Smith and Hilary Cox earned All-Tournament honors.

North Georgia continues their historic season, winning their 20th straight game and improving to 43-3 on the season. The Saints capture the Tournament Championship after winning the regular season title just a week ago. Mike Davenport’s crew improves to 8-2 all-time in the PBC Tournament, while the PBC Coach of the Year wins his 354th career game with the championship victory.

The Saints take down the Pacers for the third time this season, and the second time in the tournament, as USC Aiken was the only conference school to defeat North Georgia in the regular season. The Pacers broke the Saints 15-game winning streak back in March, but the Saints have strung together 20 straight victories and have now won 35 of their last 36 games.

Sarah Phillips earned PBC Tournament MVP honors after going 4-0 over the weekend, tossing a perfect game against Georgia Southwestern and allowing just nine hits in all 26 innings of work to earn the most valuable player award. The sophomore is just three days removed from winning the PBC Pitcher of the Year honors at the Peach Belt Tournament banquet on Thursday evening.

Kayla Martin provided the first run of the game in the second frame, launching a two-out blast to left center to give the Saints a 1-0 lead. The Saints added another run in the fourth inning as Pilar Harden raced to the plate on a groundout by Stephanie Farmakis to give North Georgia a 2-0 advantage.

After the Saints added a run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Leslee Smith to bring Laura Voyles to plate, Hilary Cox put the final touches on the victory, blasting a leadoff homer to straight away center field to give North Georgia the 4-0 win.

The Saints will now await word on seeding and location for the 2009 NCAA Softball Tournament as North Georgia makes their second straight tournament appearance. USC Aiken will also be participating in the tournametn with an at-large berth.

Boxscore

All-Tournament Team

Jessica Strong, Armstrong Atlantic State
Sherquita Bostick, GCSU
Angii Verbeelen, Augusta State
Michaela Wolf, Francis Marion
Kayla Ruede, Francis Marion
Toni Flessate, USC Aiken
Jessica Strickland, USC Aiken
Hilary Cox, North Georgia
Leslee Smith, North Georgia
Sarah Phillips, North Georgia (MVP)