GCSU softball opened its season with a series split against the Young Harris College Mountain Lions. The team lost the season opener and the first game of the doubleheader. However, big hits late in the second game flipped the script.
Tiffany Caban started the first game for the Bobcats, yet she found her way into and out of trouble in the first inning, giving up only one run, but escaping a bases-loaded situation. However, the Bobcat bats had the back of the starter, plating three runs in the bottom of the inning, as Emily Hutcheson drove in Kimber Kent on a fielder’s choice and Maddie Todd doubled in Hutcheson and Sydney Lancaster.
Caban allowed another run on a Mady Brady single; however, the Bobcats struck for three once more in the bottom of the third, as Lancaster drove in Kent on a single and Reina Checo doubled in Todd and Hutcheson.
“We were aggressive, stole bags, and then what really helped us, we had clutch two-out hits,” said Head Coach Brittany Johnson. “I think maybe four of our six runs came with two outs–I think a lot of them also had two strikes. So just staying nice and calm and keeping it one pitch at a time, I think we did that really well early on.”
The Mountain Lion bats came alive in the top of the fifth, plating six runs, as Brady, Hannah Davis, Bailee Brown, Shelby Duncan, Addie Heal and Gracie Hughes drove in the respective runs, putting the Bobcats down 8-6.
Neither team scored in the remainder of the contest, with the Mountain Lions limited by Bobcats’ Sydney Garrett, who pitched the rest of the contest, throwing a total of 2 and 1/3 innings while striking out a pair, including her first collegiate strikeout.
“As a pitcher, when I face a batter, I do the normal things like looking at where the batter is in the box and what their swing is like,” Garrett said. “I’d best attack the zone by throwing pitches that I think are relevant and competitive to the zone and the batter.”
Garrett later went out to start the second game, and she’d stay out there in the circle for the remainder of the day.
The Mountain Lions’ Brady plated the first run the team scored off Garrett in the second inning, but the Bobcats scored two in the bottom of the third, as Emily Hobbs drove in Emma Sundermeyer and Kent drove in Hobbs.
Young Harris tied things later in the fifth as Haley Cummings drove in Duncan. However, Garrett pitched two clean innings afterwards to put the Bobcats in a walk-off situation for the bottom of the seventh. After her seven innings of work in the contest, adding to her previous two and a third, she ended her day having pitched more than the average baseball pitcher, while collecting seven strikeouts.
“I would say around the sixth inning of the second game was when I could feel myself getting tired, but something Coach Johnson has told us is that your mental will always give out before your body,” Garrett said. “That basically means that our body can do and go longer than we think. So that was when I told myself I had more gas in the tank and that I was going to challenge myself to last the full seven innings of the second game.”
Kacie Wiggins singles with one out in the innings and later advances to second base on a wild pitch. With only one out in the inning, Young Harris head coach Jessie Homesley went to her freshman pitcher Natalie Paolino, out of the bullpen, to face the Bobcat lead-off hitter in Hobbs.
“They changed the pitcher before my at-bat,” Hobbs said. “Coach Johnson told me that she was a freshman and that I needed to welcome her to college. I said that this senior, grandma, will give her a warm welcome. I just wanted to be relaxed in the box, so that funny conversation definitely helped.”
Hobbs was not able to play a single game in the 2025 GCSU softball campaign due to injury, so this was her first couple of games since 2024.
“I have been blessed to be a starter my first two years of my college career,” Hobbs said. “Sitting out for my entire junior year definitely gave me a new perspective on the game. It truly is a blessing to be back on the field to help my team.”
Hobbs battled in the at-bat, looking for her pitch, and she got it, sending it down the left field line to drive in Wiggins and deliver the Bobcats their first win of the new season.
GCSU softball’s next home contests are set for Friday, Feb. 13, against the University of West Florida with a doubleheader. The first game is scheduled for 2 p.m., and the second for 4 p.m.
“I was so proud of the way we bounced back from the loss of the first game,” Hobbs said. “It was a very close game as it came down to the last half inning of the 7th. I am really looking forward to the rest of this season.”