DAHLONEGA, GA – Junior shortstop Morgan Martin slugged three home runs and drove in five runs to power top-seeded and third-ranked University of North Georgia to an 8-2 victory over second-seeded and eighth-ranked Francis Marion University, Friday morning (May 22) in the final game of the NCAA Division II Southeast Super Regional Softball Tournament.
Francis Marion finishes its 2026 campaign with a 47-13 record, equaling the second-most wins in program history. The Nighthawks (51-9) advance to the Division II World Series in Chattanooga, Tenn., with wins in each of the first two games of the best two-out-of-three format Super Regional.
Junior designated player
McKenzie Jewell led the Patriots at the plate with two hits, including a double.
Senior southpaw
Alyssa Poston (16-3) started for FMU and took the loss. The Hartsville native allowed four runs on six hits in four innings of work and saw her 10-game winning streak snapped.
Graduate student right-hander
Jenna Walling pitched the final three frames and gave up four runs on four hits. The pair finish second (Walling 84) and third (Poston 72) on the Patriot career wins list.
UNG righty Caroline Connor (14-1), who earned the win on Thursday, started Friday's contest and picked up a second victory. She tossed four innings, before freshman right-hander Lila Mullinax pitched the final three frames to earn a save.
North Georgia, playing as the visiting team, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on a long home run to left by Martin. FMU stranded two runners on base in the bottom of the frame.
A two-run double in the third and an RBI-single in the fourth upped the Nighthawk lead to 4-0.
Francis Marion trimmed the deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth. Jewell lined a one-out double to right field. Freshman pinch runner
Lainey Amaker scored when senior third baseman Riley Webster followed with an RBI-double to center field. Webster moved to third on a fly out and then came home on a clutch two-out single to right field by sophomore catcher
Rylee Gray.
However, Martin hit two-run homers in both the fifth and seventh innings to up the UNG margin to 8-2.
The Patriots put two runners on base in the seventh – singles by senior center fielder
Mikaela Goss and senior shortstop
Madalyn White – but Mullinax retired the next two batters to end the game.
FMU senior second baseman
Maddy Golka collected a second-inning single to end her career with a nine-game hitting streak.
Francis Marion says good-bye to 10 seniors on this year's squad, the winningest class in program history with a 189-45 mark in four seasons. The group also produced four Conference Carolinas tournament titles and four trips to the NCAA Tournament, including back-to-back Super Regional appearances.
