The 21st-ranked Georgia Bulldogs split a midweek doubleheader with top-ranked Oklahoma Tuesday at Jack Turner Stadium. The Bulldogs defeated OU 7-6 in nine innings to begin the day then fell 12-0 in five innings in the nightcap.
The victory in game one was Georgia’s first win over a top-ranked opponent since Georgia (28-12) defeated Florida in the 2016 NCAA Super Regional in Gainesville. It was Georgia’s first No. 1 win in a regular season since 2011 when Georgia run-ruled Arizona 8-0 in Cathedral City, California.
Oklahoma (34-1) came to Athens carrying a perfect 33-0 record. The last time the Sooners lost a game was Feb. 29, 2020 against North Texas in Norman.
Georgia 7, Oklahoma 6 (9 innings)
Georgia out hit the Sooners 11-5 in the game. Redshirt-sophomore Jaiden Fields finished the game 3-for-5 with three RBI including the game-winning hit in the ninth. Four other Bulldogs all recorded two hits each including junior Savana Sikes, sophomores Sydney Kuma and Sara Mosley, and freshman Sydney Chambley.
Graduate Mary Wilson Avant (15-5) pitched a career-long nine innings in the circle. Avant fanned three Sooners in her extra-inning outing, allowing six runs on five hits.
After a scoreless opening inning, OU’s Jayda Coleman put the Sooners on the board with a solo home run in the second, 1-0.
Kuma responded in the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff home run to knot the game at 1-1. Fields then hit a triple to plate Mosley and put the Bulldogs in front, 2-1, heading to the fifth inning.
A two-out grand slam off the bat of Lynnsie Elam put Oklahoma out in front 5-2 in the sixth.
Fields got a base hit to drop in right field and two runs came in to score to make it a one run game, 5-4, in the bottom of the sixth.
The home half of the seventh began with a leadoff double by Chambley. Chambley then swiped third to put the tying run 60 feet away. After a walk to junior Lacey Fincher, Mosley singled to right, driving in Chambley and knotting the game at 6-6. The potential winning run was stranded on third as the game was sent into extra innings.
Avant retired the Sooners in order through the eighth and ninth innings.
With two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth, Fields delivered a single to left field. Pinch runner Jacqui Switzer rounded third and headed home. The throw to the plate was off the mark, allowing Switzer to score the winning run and handing Oklahoma its first loss of 2021, 7-6.
Oklahoma 12, Georgia 0 (5 inn.)
Georgia scattered three hits in the nightcap with one each from Kuma, Mosley, and Chambley. Kuma provided the big hit of the game for Georgia, a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth.
Graduate Alley Cutting (6-5) suffered the loss in the circle. She worked two-thirds of an inning in her start, surrendering four earned runs. Georgia used four total pitchers in the second game of the doubleheader.
OU jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning on three base hits.
The Sooners added to the lead in the second, plating three runs on an RBI single and a pair of bases-loaded walks, 8-0.
Four more runs came in to score for Oklahoma in the top of the fourth, 12-0 Sooners.
Freshman pitcher Britton Rogers put up two scoreless innings in fourth and fifth innings.
The Bulldogs didn’t go quietly in the fifth. After walks to freshman Ellie Armistead and Sikes, Kuma blasted her second home run of the day to left center to bring the final tally to 12-3.
Georgia will travel to Knoxville, Tennessee for a three-game series with the Tennessee Lady Vols beginning Friday at 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s games will air on ESPN 2 at 2 p.m. each day.
Georgia Head Coach Lu Harris-Champer
On changes made going into the second game of the doubleheader…
“Obviously, I wouldn’t want them to change a thing. The way we competed in the first game was outstanding. They just came out and gave everything they had. I’m just proud of the team for just getting out there and playing the game. You know, we got down, we came up, then got back down, came up. Just the grit, the guts, the fight, a lot of heart, and I’m just proud of the team for their fight today. Sydney Kuma, seeing the ball, huge day at the plate. Jaiden Fields had a huge day at the plate game one, really clutch for us. Mary Wilson Avant was awesome, when she pitched it was just outstanding. Her and our pitching coach, Rachele Fico, were awesome together, and Payden [Bordeau] was a rock behind the plate. So many good things, proud of the defense, just proud of the team. I thought Britton [Rogers] did a great job coming in to settle down at the end of the game and put up two zeros. I’m just proud of her performance, just proud of the team. It was a fun day today.”
On the mindset for this weekend against Tennessee…
“Just to continue to be gritty. You got to get out there and find a way. Know that we can, and we will, and we are in it together.”
Redshirt-sophomore Jaiden Fields
On her hitting tonight…
“Yeah, you know it was us, and I was just trying to stay slow and easy in my process, especially after my first little mishap I had. I’ve never had that happen before, but there’s a first time for everything. So, just trying to stay calm and luckily, I had my teammates to lift me up, and I was able to do what I knew that I could do.”
Sophomore Sydney Kuma
On her home runs tonight…
“So, for the first game I was really just trying to work my process, and I feel like as I was working more and more, it allowed me to be successful in the end and help my team out. And towards the end for my second home run, I was just really trying to work a deeper window, although they were bringing a new girl in, but I wasn’t going to let my team go down with no runs on the board.”
On her mindset going into the second game…
“It was really just not getting too happy for that first win although the first win was really important, but keeping the mindset that it is a new ballgame and it’s an opportunity to beat them. So, that’s what I came with.”