Dennis leads offensive explosion in Game 1 win over Union

After a tough home opener against UNOH, Georgetown looked for a bounce back on Thursday at Union Commonwealth. It took some time, but the Tiger bats came to life by scoring 13 runs in 2 innings to beat the Bulldogs, 13-3, in 5 innings.

With Emma Cummings in the circle, Union scored a run in each of the 1st 2 innings to take an early lead. After a scoreless 3rd, Georgetown came to bat in the 4th. Michalee Clay led off with a single. Stevie Shepherd followed with a bunt single that moved Clay all the way to 3rd. After Shepherd stole 2nd, Lilli Koch singled to bring Clay home to get the Tigers on the board. After a pop-up, Koch and Shepherd stole 3rd and 2nd, respectively. Haylee Stansbury stepped to the plate and laced a single to bring Koch and Shepherd home and give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

Kady Dennis then followed with an RBI double to extend the lead to 2. Dennis scored on a Kinley Lucas single for a 5-2 lead. After a fielder's choice and error, Georgetown had Ainsley Herron on 2nd and Alanna Pierce on 1st with 2 away. Michalee Clay stepped in for the 2nd time in the inning and singled to score Herron and move Pierce to 3rd. Clay then stole 2nd ahead of a single by Stevie Shepherd, which brought Pierce and Clay home to cap an inning in which Georgetown scored 8 times on 8 hits.

In the bottom of the inning, Emma Cummings walked the leadoff hitter. The next batter hit a liner to 3rd, which Lilli Koch stabbed out of the air and fired over to 1st for a 5-3 double play. Cummings then induced a pop-up to retire the side in order.

Georgetown's offense wasn't finished, as proven by the top of the 5th inning. Grace Losey led off with a single and steal of 2nd. After a pop-up, Kady Dennis stepped into the box, found a pitch she liked and smashed it over the fence for a 2-run home run to push the Tiger lead to 10-2. Kinley Lucas then stepped in with a triple to keep the pressure on. 2 batters later, Alanna Pierce singled to bring home Lucas. Pierce got to 2nd on an error, then stole 3rd. Michalee Clay then drew a walk to put runners at the corners. Clay then moved to 2nd on an error, which allowed Pierce to come home from 3rd for a 12-2 lead. Clay then got to 3rd on a passed ball and scored on a Stevie Shepherd single. 5 more runs gave the Tigers a 13-2 lead heading to the bottom of 5. Union scored once in the bottom of the inning, but it was not enough to continue as the Tigers won via the mercy rule.

Kady Dennis led the offense with a double, home run, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored in the win. Stevie Shepherd went 3-4 with 3 RBI in the game. Every Tiger starter tallied at least 1 hit in the 5 innings played. The Tigers also ran wild by stealing 9 bases. Emma Cummings picked up the win by going the full 5 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on just 3 hits.