Box Score GREENSBORO, N.C. – For the second consecutive game, UNCG's softball team (26-15, 3-3 SoCon) was lifted by the seventh inning heroics of Nicole Thomas (Irvine, Calif./Northwood) to walk-off against Mercer (18-23, 1-5 SoCon). An RBI single in the bottom of the seventh tied the game 4-4 with the Spartans down to their final out and Danielle Vega (Rialto, Calif./Aquinas) would score on a throwing error by the Bears to win the game 5-4.
Alicia Bazonski (Sheffield, Mass./Mount Everett) bounced back from her first outing of the weekend with a victory in the circle allowing four runs, three earned, while striking out four in seven innings for her 14th win of the season.
UNCG got on the board with an RBI single by N. Thomas, which scored McClaskey for the Spartans to take a one-run lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Mercer took a 3-1 lead in the top of the third with a trifecta of hits but Bazonski escaped further damage when she struck out Mercer's pinch hitter Jaya Alaan with the bases loaded.
Sidney Grkman (Salisbury, N.C./Jesse Carson) change the momentum for the Spartans with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth, cutting the Bears lead to 3-2. It marked the 12th straight game UNCG has hit at least one home run.
Mercer scored on a fielding error by the Spartans in the top of the sixth to once again lead by two runs.
UNCG stranded a runner on second base in the bottom half of the inning and Bazonski made quick work of the Bears' middle of the order in the top of the seventh.
After a foul out by Grkman to start the bottom of the seventh, Lacey Leary (Norwood, N.C./Spartanburg Methodist) pinch-hit for Alexis Overdiep (Apex, N.C./Apex) drew a seven-pitch base on balls, as the Spartans would turn to the top of the lineup with one out.
Lindsay Thomas (Irvine, Calif./Northwood) got ever piece a 0-0 pitch but it would be caught at the warning track in centerfield for the second out of the inning. Rachael McClaskey (Pine Hill, N.J./Overbrook) doubled off the left field fence for her second extra base hit of the game to score pinch runner Overdiep from third.
Vega stepped into the batters box with the tying run in scoring position and was hit by the first pitch that came her way.
It was then that N. Thomas was at the plate, in a very similar scenario to the previous game when she hit a walk-off grand slam. Thomas singled to right field tying the game as McClaskey scored easily from second. Vega came home on a throwing error by the Bears' second baseman for the walk-off victory, UNCG's second in as many games.
N. Thomas went three-for-three at the plate with two RBI and a walk. Grkman and McClaskey also have multi-hit games for UNCG while Thomas extended her reached base streak to nine games.
The win marks the 26th of the season, which surpasses the Spartans wins total from a season ago and the first SoCon series win of the season and first since May 3, 2015, when the Spartans beat Furman two games to one in Greenville, S.C.
UNCG returns to action Wednesday, April 13, when the Spartans travel to Elon (21-17) for a midweek match up with their former SoCon foe. Last time the two met, UNCG defeated the Pheonix 3-1 in Greensboro, March 23.
First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. at the Hunt Softball Park.
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