Box Score (Game One) | Box Score (Game Two) | Photo Gallery 
ATHENS, Ga.-- The WKU softball team (36-14) closed out the program's best season in school history on Sunday, falling in the final two games of the NCAA Athens Regional to host and No. 14 seed Georgia.
The Lady Toppers finished the year with a program-best .720 winning percentage. It was the second time in three years that a WKU squad appeared in NCAA postseason while making it to the regional's finals. The 2015 team overcame adversity with 16 game cancellations to claim the Conference USA regular-season and championship title in its inaugural year with the league.
Eight seniors close out their time on The Hill, including five that put their individual stats in the WKU record books. C-USA Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year Miranda Kramer finishes with the most strikeouts in a season and top-five in a career with 439 and top five in a season and career with 1.24 ERA. She is second with 26 victories on the year.
Four-year veterans Preslie Cruce and Shawna Sadler are also in career record books, as Cruce set the standard with all-time bests in such things as runs, on-base percentage, walks and hit by pitch while top five in hits, RBI, home runs, slugging percentage and assists. Sadler leaves WKU with a .972 fielding percentage in the outfield, good for top five in WKU history.
In their one year at WKU, Larissa Franklin and Dani Pugh made marks in the single-season top five, as Franklin is second in batting average and fourth in hits while Pugh set the record with most putouts.
Game One--Georgia 12, WKU 3 (5 inn.)
The Georgia bats came out hot and didn't let up, as the Bulldogs took game one 12-3 in five innings.
Errors riddled the Lady Toppers, as Georgia used the six errors and its nine hits to its advantage. Sydni Emanuel and Cortni Emanuel combined for five hits and five RBI. WKU's bats were led by Sadler who had two in the contest.
Kramer (26-10) threw 0.2 innings with two hits, four walks and one strikeout while giving up six earned runs. Hannah Parker followed with two innings of work to have six hits, a strikeout and four runs, one earned, in her line. Janna Scheff finished the game with one hit, two runs, one earned, two walks and three strikeouts in 2.1 innings.
The Bulldogs came out aggressive and capitalized on four hits and three miscues to lead 8-0 after the first. On the game's first pitch, S. Emanuel made it to third on a double and error before scoring on a wild pitch in the next at-bat. Kaylee Puailoa, Niaja Griffin, C. Emanuel and S. Emanuel all had RBI in the frame. Georgia made it 12-0 after three, as S. Emanuel and Paige Wilson punched RBI singles down each of the foul lines.
WKU jumped on the scoreboard in the third after leaving two on base in each of the previous innings. Kayti Hanson opened the frame with a walk followed by a Sadler single up the middle. With one away, Kayla Baker had her first at-bat of the weekend to notch a RBI single to center and score Hanson.
Georgia put up a two-run fourth inning to increase its lead to 12-1, as Anna Swafford started with a walk before an overthrow on her stealing second moved her to third and then steal home in the same play. A failed pickoff attempt moved a runner to second to post the frame's final run on a C. Emanuel hit.
In the fourth, WKU cut the deficit to 12-3 after a Sadler hit brings in Parker while the second baseman mishandled the ball to let Franklin score as well.
Game Two--Georgia 17, WKU 0 (5 inn.)
Looking to bounce back, WKU couldn't click in the final game, falling 17-0 to the hot Bulldogs in five innings.
Kramer's final outing for the Red and White saw her go 1.2 innings with four hits, nine earned runs, six walks and two strikeouts. In all, Georgia totaled 13 hits in the game while WKU's fielding had three errors. Hanson had WKU's lone hit in the third inning while the only other baserunner came on a Brooke Holloway walk in the second.
After holding Georgia to one run in the first after a two-out walk to Wilson let her score on a Swafford single, the Bulldogs piled on eight runs in the second to go up 9-0. The frame's runs came from a fielder's choice, two-RBI single, two bases-loaded walks and a bases-clearing triple.
Georgia added to its lead in the third with a RBI single from Swafford and two-RBI hit from Maeve McGuire to lead 12-0. Five more runs came in the fourth for the Bulldogs after a single and error made it a 14-0 ballgame and a one-out Swafford home run made it a final score of 17-0.
