Chelsea Wilkinson suffered her second loss of the season to fall to 8-2 on the year. She allowed five runs, three of them earned, onfive hits and two walks. She also struck out eight batters. Allie Rhodes got the win to improve to 4-2 on the year. She allowed three runs on eight hits in 5.0 innings of work. Rachel Nasland earned her first save of the season after throwing two scoreless innings.
Sydni Emanuel led the Georgia offense, going 3-for-4 with a run scored. Alex Hugo brought the big bat for Georgia, going 2-for-4 with a home run. Tina Iosefa belted her fourth double of the year.
After a scoreless first inning, Georgia was able to get on the board in the bottom of the first and take a 1-0 lead. Kaylee Puailoa led things off with a double into the right field corner. A sacrifice bunt by Katie Collins put her at third before Sam LaZear came through with a RBI single on a high chopper back to the circle.
Notre Dame answered with four runs in the top of the third inning to take 4-1 lead. After a leadoff walk, a passed ball and an error put runners at first and second, Emilee Koener singled to right that scored the first run of the inning. During the play, the Bulldogs committed a pair of errors that allowed two more runs to score and give the Irish a 3-1 lead. Katey Haus then homered with two outs for the final run of the inning.
The Bulldogs got a run back in the bottom half of the third to cut the lead 4-2. Sydni Emanuel recorded a bunt single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Wilson. With a runner at second, Iosefa roped a double down the left field line, allowing Emanuel to easily score to bring the Bulldogs back to within two.
Notre Dame added a run in the top of the fifth inning to push its lead back to three runs. After a hit batter put a runner on, a wild pitch scored the run to make it a 5-2 game.
The three-run lead didn’t last long as Hugo cut the lead to two runs with a solo home run to right field that resulted in a 5-3 game.
Georgia looked to cut the lead even more in the bottom of the sixth inning. Puailoa led off the inning with a single to center and moved to third on a Notre Dame error and a sacrifice bunt. With two away, LaZear came to the plate and looped a pitch over the head of the shortstop but a divingplay by the left fielder robbed her of the hit to end the inning.
The Bulldogs had a chance in the bottom of the seventh after Emanuel got into scoring position after a single and an error. She was unable to be pushed across the plate as the final out was recorded.
Georgia continues its road swing on Wednesday, Feb. 25 when they travel to Savannah, Ga., for a doubleheader against Savannah State that is set to being at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs then will take part in a three-day tournament in Orlando, Fla., where they will face Indiana, James Madison, Penn State, Fordham and Nebraska-Omaha.