The 16th-ranked Georgia softball team earned victories over Illinois and Mercer Sunday afternoon at Jack Turner Stadium to end play of the UGA Classic. The Bulldogs’ win over Mercer was Georgia’s 1,100th victory in the history of the program.
Georgia opened the day edging the Fighting Illini 4-3 then turned around to rout the Bears in the nightcap 16-6 in five innings.
Georgia improves to 26-4 on the season.
No. 16, Georgia 4, Illinois 3
The Bulldog offense scattered seven hits for its four runs. The heart of the order each recorded two hits in Lacey Fincher, Jayda Kearney, and Jaiden Fields. Fincher tallied two RBI.
Britton Rogers (8-1) earned the victory in her start, working five and two thirds innings. She allowed two earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Madison Kerpics earned her third save of the season. She pitched one and a third innings of scoreless, hitless softball out of the pen.
A solo home run from Illinois’ Delaney Rummell put the Fighting Illini (13-11) on the board 1-0 in the top of the second inning.
Georgia didn’t trail for long as Fincher blasted a leadoff home run to right in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 1-1.
Three two-out runs came in to score in the bottom of the third for the Bulldogs. A two-out double from Sydney Chambley and a walk to Sara Mosley put two on. Fincher drove in her second run on a line drive to left, plating Chambley and going ahead 2-1. Kearney then singled to left, driving in Mosley from second. Fincher stole home on a delayed double steal to widen the lead to 4-1 after three.
The Illini executed a delayed double steal in the top of the fourth to get one run back, 4-2.
A couple Bulldog errors in the top of the sixth allowed Illinois to push across a run and cut the lead to one, 4-3. Kerpics entered in the inning, stranding Illini on the corners and preserving the lead.
Kerpics and the defense held the Illini in the seventh to edge Illinois, 4-3, in the first game of the day.
No. 16 Georgia 16, Mercer 6 (5 inn.)
Georgia plated 16 runs on 10 hits in its final game of the UGA Classic. Freshman Lyndi Rae Davis and Fields each drove in four runs to account for 50 percent of the Bulldogs’ run production. Savana Sikes, Jayda Kearney, Sydney Kuma, and CJ Landrum all had two RBI in the game.
Lauren Mathis worked a total of two and two-thirds innings in her start. She allowed three unearned runs and struck out three. Kylie Macy (7-1) earned the victory in relief, working two and a third innings out of the pen.
Mercer (7-19) plated three unearned runs in the top of the second to go ahead 3-0 on the Bulldogs.
Fields launched a two-run home run to right center to put the Bulldogs the board in the home half of the third, 3-2.
Sikes’ first home run of the season was shot down the left field line to tie the game at 3-all in the third. Georgia proceeded to load the bases with one out. Kearney knocked a two-RBI double down the left field line to go ahead 5-3 on the Bears. Fields immediately followed with a base hit to left to drive in Fincher, 6-3. Georgia loaded the bases again then Davis cleared them with a double into the right center gap to break the game open at 9-3. Davis took third on a wild pitch then scored on a groundout by Landrum, scoring the eighth run of the inning and making it a 10-3 game.
A Mercer three-run home run sliced Georgia’s new lead to 10-6 in the top of the fourth.
Georgia immediately responded with six runs in the bottom of the inning to go ahead 16-6. The inning was highlighted by a two-RBI double by Sydney Kuma after a bases-loaded walk to Fields. A Davis single, another Landrum RBI groundout, and an infield single from Sikes brought the final tally to 16-6.
Mathis re-entered in the fifth and pitched a 1-2-3 inning to secure the five-inning run rule.
Georgia will continues its homestand when No. 17 Clemson comes to Athens for the first time on Wednesday. First pitch against the Tigers is set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network.
Head Coach Tony Baldwin
On today’s performance…
“One of the words that we’ve used to describe this team is ‘resilience’. I thought that we showed that today. Any time you play a team multiple times in a weekend, particularly a well-coached team like Illinois, you know there are going to be adjustments that need to be made. There will be ebbs and flows to the game. I thought we managed that really well. I thought Britton (Rogers) gave us a great start and gave us the opportunity to take the lead and control the game. I am super proud of Madison (Kerpics) for coming in and closing it out the way that she did. I thought Jaiden Fields had a really good day with the bat. Up and down the lineup, everyone stepped up and did good things. I don’t think it was our best, but it was resilient and I thought we stayed together and stayed in the fight, which is what it takes.”
On the program’s 1,100th program victory…
“Well, more than anything, I am proud to carry forward the legacy of Georgia Softball and all of the women who have fought to create what is Georgia Softball. It hasn’t always been like this where there are big crowds and we are on TV and all of that. There are a lot of people who put in work behind the scenes in silence to allow this to happen. I am very thankful for those people and I am excited to hopefully make them proud with what we are doing.”
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