BLUFFTON, S.C. – The No. 8 University of North Georgia (UNG) softball team closed the 2025 regular season with a 5-4 loss on the road in Bluffton, S.C. against USC Beaufort (USCB) Saturday afternoon.

The loss gave the Sand Sharks (29-23, 8-16 Peach Belt) the series win, marking UNG's (40-11, 19-5) only second loss in a series to a conference opponent this season. 

Having already secured the program's 11th straight PBC Regular-season Championship and the first under head coach Brooke O'Hair, the Nighthawks finish the 2025 campaign atop the PBC standings and will host the 2025 PBC Softball Tournament at Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park in Dahlonega.

Sunday's loss came on a uniquely challenging day offensively for UNG. 

Redshirt sophomore outfielder Tagen Levao-Maisonet batted in three quarters of her team's runs, highlighted by her fifth homer of the season, a two-run blast to give the Nighthawks a 2-0 lead in the second inning. 

USCB bounced back in the third inning with a two-run single, a two-run double and a bases-loaded walk to plate five runs and pull ahead 5-2. 

Levao-Maisonet added her third RBI of the day in the fourth inning with an RBI double to right center field. Junior center fielder Sydnee Reaves then brought her outfielder companion in to score on a sacrifice fly. However, that was the last offense UNG would produce in the game as the Sand Sharks held on for the 5-4 victory. 

Only three Nighthawk batters recorded a hit in Sunday's defeat. The first six hitters in the lineup combined to go 0-for-17 while leaving seven runners on base. 

Levao-Maisonet was the only player with multiple knocks in the game as she went 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. 

Now UNG will prepare to host the PBC Tournament in Dahlonega this upcoming weekend. This year's tournament has changed from years past in that it will be a single elimination event among the eight teams in the field.

All eight participating teams will play in Dahlonega this weekend, another change from previous seasons in which the first weekend of the tournament was hosted at split  sites between the top two teams in the league. Now, the tournament begins at Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium on Friday, May 2 and ends with the championship game on Sunday, May 4. 

The top-seeded Nighthawks will rematch with eighth-seeded USCB in the opening round on Friday. First pitch from Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium is set for 4 p.m.