A SWINGING START TO THE SEASON: In her Night Hawk debut, Alexis Adams knocked a single into left to bring Annalise Buncy home. (Grayson Plunkett)

THOMASVILLE- The Night Hawks opened the 2025 campaign against a former conference foe in the Ave Maria Gyrenes.

In game one, Sierra Ussery took the circle for Thomas as she struck out her first batter of the season to start the contest. After holding off the Gyrenes in the first, the bats got going quickly for the Night Hawks as Grace Hodges started with a single up the middle, after a sacrifice bunt from Ansley Eason, Hodges advanced to third with one out. Following a fly out, Rileigh Spinosa reached on a throwing error from the Gyrenes’ third baseman to bring Hodges home to go up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. However, it was the only run scored in the inning as Ussery grounded out to short to end it.

The offense from both teams went quiet until the top of fourth where Ave Maria got going as a couple of singles brought the tying run in scoring position. Ussery was then relieved by Darian Pippin who made her Night Hawk debut. The Lake Sumter State transfer found herself in trouble after a walk to load the bases, but she got out of the jam with back-to-back pop outs to short. The fourth inning was the closest Ave Maria got to tying the game as Pippin allowed only three hits in 3 2/3 innings to record the save as Thomas won game one.

Game two saw the bats warm up a bit as in the bottom of the second, Madison Powell hit a single to left, then advanced to second as Macie Spohn reached on a throwing error. With two outs, Kristin Steller put one in play, but Powell ended up being thrown out by the catcher as she tried to make it to third.

The defense remained strong as they kept the game tied at zero as Thomas went up to bat in the bottom of the fourth. Annalise Buncy opened up the back half of the inning with a single, but a throwing error allowed her to go all the way to third, putting the go-ahead run 90 feet from home. Next, Alexis Adams, making her debut for the Night Hawks knocked a single into left to bring Buncy home. Thomas was not able to capitalize further on the momentum as Adams was left on base to end the inning.

A third Night Hawk made her debut as Baileigh Herrera took the circle for game two, the Junior from Wauchula, Fla. was impressive as she held the Gyrenes to one hit until the top of the fifth as a throwing error and a hit gave Ave Maria a runner in scoring position with two outs, Herrera stayed composed and struck out the next batter to get out of the spot. The Night Hawks added insurance in the bottom of the fifth as Hodges got on base with a single and then stole second to get into scoring position, Eason knocked a double into the gap, bringing Hodges home for a two-run lead. Herrera only allowed two more hits in the top of the seventh, and with the tying run on first, she proceeded to strike out the next batter and ground out the one after to end the game.

The Night Hawks will go on a three-game road trip this week as they take on Warner University on Friday, February 7th at 5:00 p.m.