BABSON PARK, Fla. (March 30, 2019) – Through the first 6.1 innings of game two, starter pitcher Emma Maitland of the nationally-recognized Webber International University softball team held the College of Coastal Georgia Mariners to no hits, no runs and no walks and kept all 19 batters off base to that point. In the end, Maitland pitched the complete game victory and helped lead Webber to a 4-2 victory in game two after the Warriors dropped game one on Saturday by a score of 3-1.

In addition to being a battle between two of the three teams tied for first place in The Sun Conference standings, it was also Alumni Day for Webber as former players and coaches were recognized between games.



The game one loss for Webber represented the Warriors' first Sun Conference defeat at home so far on the season as Webber's record moved to 19-11 overall and 8-4 in the conference while Coastal Georgia's moved to 18-13 and 8-4.

In all, Maitland finished with three hits and two runs allowed with six strikeouts through the seven innings to earn her fifth complete game of the year and improve her record to 7-3.

With the perfect game on the line, it was a bloop-single down the left field line by Coastal Georgia's Mary Waldron with two outs in the seventh that ended Maitland's bid for perfection, and then after another single and a walk, Breanna Wells helped the Mariners avoid the shutout with a double to left to score two. Maitland, however, bounced back with a swinging strikeout and a fly out to left field on a great running catch by Kaitlin Cockcroft to seal the win.

Webber's offense in game two was led by Victoria Atkinson, who finished 3-for-3 with a run and had an RBI-bunt single in the third inning to score Alyssa Rodriguez and make it 2-0 Warriors at the time.

What would go on to be the winning runs for Webber came in the bottom of the fifth inning as Mary-Margaret Maggard and Atkinson both singled with one out, and then Samantha Rolfe walked to load the bases for Cockcroft, who came up big with a two-run double to center to make it 4-0.

In game one, Stephanie Johnson (3-2) pitched a complete game as well, allowing six hits and three runs, only two of which were earned.

After an unearned run on heads up base running by Maggard tied the game at 1-1 in the first inning, Webber struck out swinging on an opportunity to tie it up again with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, and instead found itself behind 2-1 after two innings.

From there, Johnson did a fantastic job, recording outs on 12 straight batters until a single in the sixth inning that was stranded at first base. However, in the seventh, Coastal Georgia added to its lead with an unearned run of its own.

Webber, meanwhile, was able to get only one runner into scoring position and was held to three hits over the final five innings of game one.

Head Coach Kristy Burton spoke afterwards saying, "We are so thankful for all the alumni that were able to make it out today. It took a while for our bats to wake up, but both pitchers did a great job keeping us in each game. It was exciting to see us respond in game two after falling in game one. Emma [Maitland] had a perfect game until the top of the seventh. Coach Kendall Core and I were proud to see her respond after a tough loss against USCB a few days ago. As a team, we just have to come out ready to go from out one of the first game to the last out of the second game. We are excited to continue to see this team continue to grow, and it is that time in the season that will test a program and our girls are excited for the fight. We look forward to playing some great games next week."

Webber will remain at home for another Sun Conference doubleheader as the Warriors host Southeastern University starting at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 4. In the first two games between Webber and Southeastern earlier this season on March 9, when the Fire were ranked No. 22 in the NAIA, the Warriors began their great start to Sun Conference play and made a major statement by earning the sweep and shutting out Southeastern in both games 2-0 and 1-0.