GULF SHORES, Ala. – The No. 8 University of North Georgia (UNG) softball team concluded its outing in the Gulf Shores Invitational with an emphatic 11-3 win over Union Sunday morning.

The Nighthawks will return home with a 3-1 record after four games in the multi-team event. 

UNG started the scoring early with an unearned run in the second inning as sophomore outfielder Kaitlyn Johnson came home on a throwing error from Union third baseman Hailey Sipes.

In the fourth inning, the Nighthawks broke the game wide open with a nine-run inning to take a 10-0 advantage. 

Redshirt sophomore infielder Tagen Levao-Maisonet started things off with an RBI single to bring home Johnson and load the bases. Junior outfielder Sydnee Reaves then worked a walk to bring home another run. 

Then freshman infielder Jenna Miles punched a single to add another run as sophomore utility player Journey Roberts scored. UNG then scored on a fourth consecutive at bat as senior infielder Rylie Moody singled to right field, scoring Levao-Maisonet to make it 5-0. 

Still the Nighthawks were not done. With runners at second and third and only one out, junior first baseman Marycille Brumby snuck a single through the left side to bring home both Moody and Miles, giving UNG a 7-0 lead.

After a pitching change, freshman catcher Carleigh Knowles walked and then stole second base as Brumby took third. Johnson, batting for the second time in the inning, walked to load the bases once more as senior utility player Angelina Badalament stepped up to the plate. Badalament then singled to right to bring in Brumby and keep the bases loaded.

UNG added its final two runs of the monster inning when Levao-Maisonet singled for the second time in the frame, scoring Knowles and Johnson and cementing a whopping 10-0 Nighthawk lead. 

That lead would hold until Union finally scored in the fifth inning as it mustered three runs to make it 10-3. 

The Nighthawks added an insurance run in the top of the sixth as Levao-Maisonet safely reached and Roberts scored on an error from Union's Cassidy Goddard.

Badalement, a marquee two-way player for head coach Brooke O'Hair, closed out the game with a scoreless sixth inning. Badalement pitched a complete game on Sunday with just five hits, three runs, three walks and seven strikeouts. 

UNG now returns to Dahlonega, Ga. for its home opener in the Mizuno Invitational next Saturday, Feb. 8 against Lake Erie. The event consists of consecutive doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday for the Nighthawks with Lake Erie and West Florida visiting Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park. Saturday's first game against the Storm is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.