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SB with Video Highlights/Box Score: Georgia wins two in the Georgia Classic

 The third-ranked Georgia softball team picked up wins over No. 21 Virginia Tech, 7-5, and Radford, 10-1 in six innings, Saturday in the Georgia Classic at Jack Turner Stadium.

Georgia climbs to 11-1 on the season.

No. 3 Georgia 7, No. 21 Virginia Tech 5

The offense scattered eight hits for seven runs, led by two-hit performances by Emily Digby and Dallis Goodnight at the top and bottom of the lineup. Jayda Kearney and Lyndi Rae Davis each hit three-run home runs in the contest.

Madison Kerpics worked four innings in her start, suffering a no-decision. She allowed four runs on four hits. Shelby Walters (4-1) earned the win in relief, working three innings out of the pen, giving up one run on four hits.

After recording her first career home run Friday evening, Digby led off the game for the Bulldogs with a home run in the bottom of the first to quickly go ahead 1-0.

The Hokies (10-3-1) pushed two runs across the plate in the top of the second to go ahead 2-1. A leadoff home run in the third widened the Hokie lead to 3-1.

Kearney put the Dogs back in front with one swing of the bat, knocking a three-run home run to dead center field in the bottom of the third, 4-3.

Virginia Tech tied the game at 4-all in the fourth, but a three-run home run off the bat of Davis put Georgia back in the lead in the fifth, 7-4.

The Hokies mounted a comeback in the seventh, pushing a run across to cut the lead to 7-5, but Walters wiggled out of the bases-loaded situation to secure the win.

No. 3 Georgia 10, Radford 1 (6 inn.)

Georgia scattered 10 hits in the nightcap with Sydney Kuma, Jaiden Fields, and Kearney each scattering two hits. Fields and Sara Mosley each hit three-run home runs in the sixth inning en route to the run rule of the Highlanders (7-4). 

Rachel Gibson worked two innings in her first start as a Bulldog, allowing one run on one hit. She struck out three Highlanders. Destin Howard (1-0) earned the win, working three scoreless innings in relief. Lilli Backes entered in the top of the sixth with Georgia ahead 3-1, picking up the save, her third of the season.

The Highlanders pushed a run across the plate early in the game, going up 1-0 after the opening frame.

Kearney blasted her second home run of the day, a solo shot, to tie the game at 1-1 in the first inning. Following a triple to right off the bat of Kuma, Sydney Chambley drove her in with a single to left to go ahead 2-1.

Digby drove in Ellie Armistead with a two-out double in the second to widen the lead to 3-1.

The bats came alive for the Dogs in the bottom of the sixth, plating seven runs. Armistead scored on a bad throw into the infield by the left fielder, 4-1. Three-run home runs from Jaiden Fields and Sara Mosley added six runs, enough to run rule the Highlanders in six innings, 10-1.

Georgia closes play of the Georgia Classic on Sunday at 1 p.m. when it faces off against the Dartmouth Mean Green at Jack Turner Stadium.

Head coach Tony Baldwin

On what he liked most about the Virginia Tech game throughout…

“Wow, what a great day. I mean, great crowd and playing a great team. I have tons of respect for the way Virginia Tech plays. They are as good as an offensive team as we are going to see this season. They can really swing it, they got a good plan. I thought our pitchers did a good job of just staying in it. I think today, and what we learned this weekend against the good Virginia Tech team, and what we’ve learned by challenging ourselves, is that we can take a punch and stay in the game. You can just be resilient and just keep competing. I thought we did that today. I didn’t think we were our best on offense, but we have a deep enough lineup that we have to stay in it. We got a couple of big swings from Lyndi Rae [Davis] and Jayda [Kearney] as well as some walks. That gives us an opportunity to do some good things. I thought the pitching competed, I thought we were really sharp on defense, and did a good job of minimizing damage.”

On his words to Jayda Kearney today… 

“I just told her I love her, whether it goes well or not. 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. And sometimes, when things aren’t going your way, you get so tense that you’re not allowing your skills and talent to come out.”

Baseball with video Highlights/Box Score: Dawgs walk off Northern Kentucky, 7-6

Georgia’s Kolby Branch tied the game with a three-run home run in the ninth inning and Dillon Carter followed with a solo blast over the scoreboard for a 7-6 walk-off over Northern Kentucky Saturday at Foley Field.

Georgia (6-0) was forced to bat in the ninth inning for the first time this season as the Norse carried a 6-3 lead in front a crowd of 2,866. Clayton Chadwick and Sebastian Murillo reached on back-to-back walks setting the stage for Branch’s first Bulldog home run. Then with one out, Carter smashed his third home run of the year to cap the comeback.

“You’ve got to tip your hat to Northern Kentucky because they gave us a tough punch today, and we just kept battling,” said Georgia’s Ike Cousins head baseball coach Wes Johnson. “You look back at games like this to remember that you’re never out of a game no matter what. We’ll keep fighting all the way through.”

“When you see some adversity like today, you don’t how a team is going to react, but luckily this team reacted well,” Branch added.

Georgia took an early 2-0 lead on a run-scoring single by senior Fernando Gonzalez and a long home run (429 feet) by sophomore Charlie Condon, his third of the year. The Norse (2-4) tied the game in the fifth and had a chance to take a lead, putting two runners in scoring position with one out. Sophomore right-hander Kolten Smith got the Bulldogs out of the jam and kept it a tie game.

In the bottom of the sixth with the score still 2-2, the Bulldogs put runners at the corners with nobody out. Norse senior right-hander Nick McClanahan retired the heart of the Bulldog lineup, getting Condon on a shallow flyout and striking out Dylan Goldstein and Logan Jordan. Trailing 5-2 in the eighth, Georgia loaded the bases again for the same trio of hitters with nobody out. Condon made it 5-3 with a sacrifice fly and then McLanahan and the Norse escaped further trouble to maintain the lead.

Northern Kentucky pushed across three runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to build their advantage including home runs by Mitch Wood and Liam McFadden-Ackman. McClanahan struck out five over three innings but got a no decision. NKU reliever Jake Johnson took the loss. Smith went five innings and allowed four runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts for the win.

The series concludes Saturday with first pitch set for 1:02 p.m. The game will be available on SECN+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.

T&F: Christopher Morales Williams set the world indoor record in the 400-meter dash to win Georgia’s fifth men’s title in the SEC Indoor Track & Field Championship

Morales Williams, a native of Vaughan, Ontario, set the school (44.75, Elija Godwin, 2023), meet (Godwin), facility (44.57, Kerron Clement, 2005), collegiate (44.52, Michael Norman, 2018) and world records (Norman) by flying to a 44.49 in the final, leaving Florida senior JeVaughn Powell (45.61) far behind. 

The Lady Bulldogs had a champion of their own as senior Mikeisha Welcome opened with a mark that was long enough to clinch her team’s seventh title of its kind since 2015 and first since 2021.  This marks Welcome’s first SEC crown after transferring to UGA from Oklahoma prior to the 2023 season.

https://twitter.com/UGATrack/status/1761563698114830578

Arkansas (131 points), Florida (80) and LSU (68.5) made up the top three teams on the women’s side.  The Lady Bulldogs tallied 47 points to finish sixth.  On the men’s side, Arkansas (163), Florida (106) and Texas A&M (71) were the top three while the Bulldog men finished seventh with 38 points.

Other Bulldog scorers in addition to Morales Williams and Welcome on Saturday included: Elena Kuichenko (women’s high jump – 3^rd), Kaila Jackson (women’s 60m – 3^rd; women’s 200m – 6^th), Kelsie Murrell-Ross (women’s shot put – 4^th), Zavien Wolfe (men’s triple jump – 4^th), Aaliyah Butler (women’s 400m – 5^th), Brody Buffington (men’s 60m – 5^th), Hossam Hatib, Morales Williams, Mekhi Gammons, Jordan McKenzie (men’s 4x400m relay – 5^th), Haley Tate, Kimberly Harris, Sydney Harris and Butler (women’s 4x400m relay – 6^th), Gavin Beverage (men’s shot put – 7^th), Charlotte Augenstein (women’s mile – 7^th), Leah Anderson (women’s triple jump – 7^th), Jan Duhovnik (heptathlon – 8^th).

https://twitter.com/NCAATrackField/status/1761575538492096863?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1761575538492096863%7Ctwgr%5E63732ccfa6223af8e17f8f7ae50c7acbdc758c15%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.watchathletics.com%2Farticle%2F12885%2Fchristopher-morales-williams-breaks-world-indoor-400m-record-at-sec-championship

The Bulldogs had four scorers on day one.  Nikolai van Huyssteen (men’s pole vault – 2^nd), Ella Rush (pentathlon – 4^th), Wolfe (men’s long jump – 5^th), Augenstein, Zoe Pollock, Dominique Mustin, Sophia Baker (women’s distance medley relay – 8^th).

WBB: Georgia (11-15, 2-11 SEC) at Florida (14-11, 5-8 SEC) today at 1:00

1 p.m. ET ||  Stegeman Coliseum  || SEC Network

TV: SEC Network (Sam Gore and Tamika Catchings)

Listen: Jeff Dantzler (GeorgiaDogs.com, 960 AM The Ref or 103.7 FM)

Opening Tip

» Georgia returns home to host the Florida Gators on Senior Day at Stegeman Coliseum. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. ET. 

» The Lady Bulldogs will honor seniors Javyn Nicholson, Jordan Cole, Taniyah Thompson, Chloe Chapman and Zoesha Smith following the game. 

» Georgia owns a commanding 64-19 lead in the all-time series against Florida. Georgia has won 11 of the last 13 matchups against the Gators. 

» Fifth-year senior forward Javyn Nicholson is coming off arguably the two best games of her career. She scored a career-best 27 points against No. 1 South Carolina and followed with a 26-point effort at Ole Miss. Nicholson has scored in double figures in 25 of 26 contests this year. 

» Fifth-year senior guard Taniyah Thompson has seen increased minutes since the season-ending injury to Zoesha Smith. Thompson was averaging 12.1 minutes per game before the injury and has increased that to 26.7 since the injury. 

» Junior guard De’Mauri Flournoy has scored in double figures in seven of the last nine games. 

» Redshirt-freshman Savannah Henderson had the best game of her career with nine points against No. 1 South Carolina. She hit 3-of-4 from 3-point range.  

» Georgia is in its second season under the leadership of Coach ABE. ABE’s successful first year included a NCAA tournament appearance, 22 wins, and a fifth-place finish in the final SEC standings. 

» The Lady Bulldogs were the only SEC squad to not have a single player enter the transfer portal this past offseason. 

»  Coach ABE’s teams have won 20 or more games in 11-straight seasons, while her 12 NCAA tournament appearances rank third among active SEC coaches, only behind Kim Mulkey (LSU) and Dawn Staley (South Carolina).

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