Georgia softball bounced back strong on February 24, defeating Virginia Tech 7-5, and run-ruling Radford 10-1 in six innings, after suffering a tough 5-4 loss against Virginia Tech on Friday night.
Georgia vs Virginia Tech
In a high-scoring matchup, the bats were rolling for both teams, but Georgia taking advantage of runners on base proved to be the difference maker, with all seven runs coming off of home runs.
Emily Digby led the game off for the Bulldogs with a homerun. Two players hit three-run home runs: Jayda Kearney and the most important one, which came off the bat of Lyndi Rae Davis in the bottom of the fifth inning, turned out to be the game-winner.
“We have a deep enough lineup to stay in it,” Georgia head coach Tony Baldwin said. “We got a couple of big swings from Lyndi Rae [Davis] and Jayda [Kearney] as well as some walks.”
After hitting her first home run on Friday night, Digby followed up with a lead-off home run Saturday – going deep to right field giving Georgia a 1-0 lead.
The Hokies responded back, scoring two runs in the top of the second and one run in the top of the third to take the lead 3-1.
In this game, the Bulldogs had a response for everything. With two on, Kearney came up to bat and smoked one to center field to put UGA back on top, 4-3.
Virginia Tech went on to tie the game at four apiece from there. But, Georgia wasn’t done.
Davis came up to bat and smoked one to right field to give Georgia a 7-4 lead. The score would remain and Georgia would get the win.
“I think today, and what we learned this weekend against the good Virginia Tech team,” Baldwin said. “What we’ve learned by challenging ourselves, is that we can take a punch and stay in the game.”
Georgia vs Radford
Coming in hot, Georgia could not be cooled down in their second game of the day.
Although Georgia was down early 1-0, it did not look back as Jaiden Fields had a monstrous game, getting two hits and blasting a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Sophomore Destin Howard was also impressive, going three innings and giving up only three hits and no walks in relief of Rachel Gibson.
Kearney blasted her second home run of the day to left center soon after, giving her the team lead with six home runs.
“I just told her I love her, whether it goes well or not,” Baldwin said to Kearney. “That’s not going to change. But we did talk about how she’s really good with two strikes. She’s just got to let herself be present.”
Following a triple from Sydney Kuma, a single from Sydney Chambley, a walk and a double from Digby, Georgia took a 3-1 lead.
The Bulldog’s bats remained quiet for the next few innings until the bottom of the sixth inning when they erupted.
A mind-boggling decision by the Radford left fielder to roll the ball back to the mound allowed Armistead to score from third.
From there, base runner after base runner and two, three-run home runs by Fields and Sara Mosely ultimately closed out the game for Georgia 10-1.
The Bulldogs wrapped up the Georgia Classic the following Sunday against Dartmouth.