Sydnee Reaves and teammates celebrating her leadoff homerun against Lander in Peach Belt Conference Tournament. Photo by David Trotter.
For the fourth time in five years, the University of North Georgia Softball team has advanced to the NCAA DII Softball National Championship. UNG is seeking its third National Championship title in program history and is looking to make it two titles in the past three years.
It has been a quite a unique season for the Nighthawks as they experienced a lot of turnover on the roster and even brought in a new head coach in Brooke O’ Hair.
The Nighthawks started their season by going 7-4 in their first 11 games. Starting after that 11th game, they would on a 19-game winning streak before having it stopped on the road by Flagler.
UNG finished the rest of the season by winning 19 of their last 23 games. The Nighthhawks’ overall record of 40-11 was good enough to win their 11th consecutive Peach Belt Conference Regular Season Title.
This season, the PBC Softball Tournament switched to single elimination, which the Nighthawks would win the first two rounds of. They fell short to Georgia Southwestern in the Tournament Championship to finish as runner-ups.
North Georgia opened the NCAA Tournament against a familiar foe in Tusculum, whom the Nighthawks split with in a regular season double header. They would advance to face Lenior-Rhyne, a rematch of last years Super Regional matchup. North Georgia fell to LR in game two, but would rally back winning three straight games to advance to Super Regionals again.
The Nighthawks would then travel on the road for the Super Regionals to play against the No. 2 team in the country, Francis Marion. UNG was able to take two out of the three games due to great pitching and clutch hitting to take down FMU and advance back to Chattanooga after missing the National Championship site last year.
North Georgia enters this years National Championship as one of the best offensive teams in the country. Currently the Nighthawks are fourth in doubles (114), sixth in batting average (.346), second in hits (600), third in home runs (83), third in runs-batted-in (444), and seventh in on base percentage (0.426).
21 of those home runs for the Nighthawks have come from freshman phenom Carleigh Knowles, which also represented a program record. Knowles would also win NFCA NCAA DII Freshman of the Year award.
“It feels good, knowing hard work has paid off. It’s always kind of nice to get a reward for something just to know that you know it is paying off,” said Knowles on winning D2 Freshmen of the Year.
Another player making an impact in the Nighthawks lineup is the junior transfer out of Montevallo, Sydnee Reaves. Reaves didn’t enter the transfer portal until late November. One of her first offers was from UNG and she took it. This season, she has .404 batting average, with 90 hits, 11 home runs, 58 RBIs, and an on base percentage of .452. Reaves feels redeemed to be able to play in the month of May and see her talents play a role, as in her two seasons with Montevallo, the Falcons did not finish a season above .500.
“It’s been great. I’ve got to experience a lot of firsts this year. You know, last year I was done playing in April. So just to make it past conference to regionals, to Super Regionals, and now it’s the World Series that’s so many new things I’m getting to experience and that’s kind of why I came here,” said Reaves on transferring.
For head coach Brooke O’Hair, it is a significant milestone in her career to make it to her first National Championship.
“I think it’s exciting, you know, and to be honest, I really don’t pay a lot of attention to that [first time making it to National Championship site]. For me, it’s just all about, you know, making sure that we’re doing a good job as coaches to make these kids better people and better athletes and hope that the end of the year is that last game of the season and national championship game. But for me, it’s more important of just how the season goes from the first game to the last game. To have the feeling of actually getting to the national tournament and having the opportunity to have your last game of the season be for the championship title is pretty exciting. It’s a true testament to these young ladies.” – Brook O’Hair, UNG softball head coach
For most of the season, the Nighthawks have had some really reliable pitching, especially after the elite talents of Kristen Davis and Tybee Denton graduated last year. It has been mostly a rotation of Chloe Poss, Angelina Badalament and lately Graci West. Poss owns a team leading 3.27 ERA, 56 strikeouts, and a 20-4 record. She has been the leading girl in the circle for the Nighthawks.
The team they are playing to open the National Championship is a familiar opponent in Saginaw Valley State. The Nighthawks played against the Cardinals back in February in a doubleheader home series. North Georgia took both games from the Saginaw Valley State in very tight margins, winning game one 16-14, and game two 4-3.
The Nighthawks will continue their quest for a National Championship tomorrow May 22, at Frost Stadium in Chattanooga Tennessee. First pitch between the Nighthawks and Cardinals is set for 1:30 p.m. and will be streamed on NCAA.com