TIFTON — Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College softball is riding a hot streak ahead of their GCAA season debut Saturday at Andrew College.
The Fillies have won eight straight and 10 of their last 11 games heading into a Wednesday doubleheader at Chipola, Florida.
Carter Gore is leading ABAC in average, hits, RBIs and doubles, and is tied in triples. Gore’s average is sitting at .452, with 17 driven in and 28 hits. Dylana Barton and Anna Hutchinson have 12 RBIs each with Laney McGee at 11.
Five Fillies have scored at least 10 runs. Lexi Metts is at 13, with McGee, Barton, Ashley Archibald and Alli Eidson all at 10. Archibald and Ava Roland are tied for team lead in homers at three each.
ABAC has terrorized the basepaths as a team, with 23 successful stolen bases. They’ve only been caught once.
In the circle, ABAC’s team ERA sits at 3.06, with three featured pitchers. Jaci Smiley has five wins, Hutchinson has four and Kaylee Barrett has three. Hutchinson has the best ERA at 2.10. Smiley averages six strikeouts per seven innings.
They’ve been gritty in victory. Last week saw head coach Mike Reed’s squad beat Chipola, 8-7 and 5-3. The former saw them break out of a 5-5 tie with a three-run 5th inning. A five-run 5th powered them in the other game, with the Fillies hanging on in the 7th. Hutchinson played a big part in both, with a save and win in the circle and a homer at the plate.
Their first opponent on the GCAA slate, Andrew, is also on a streak, but not a good one. The Lady Tigers will enter the doubleheader at 2-21, having lost their last six. Fourteen of their opponents have scored 10 or more runs in a game and six have plated 16 or more.
Andrew has been shut out eight times this year, including their last two.
ABAC’s next scheduled game in non-conference, against the Lady Boll Weevils of Enterprise State, Alabama. Their home GCAA opened is a doubleheader March 13 against Georgia Military College. Starting with GMC, all of ABAC’s remaining regular season games are against conference opponents.