Lacey Sumerlin and Maeve McGuire led Georgia Sunday night with a pair of home runs to defeat Kentucky 7-5 and tie the series 1-1. The game seemed to be a hit-off as both teams combined for five home runs.
Sunday’s game marked Georgia’s first SEC win of the season. Sumerlin kicked it off for Georgia with a first-inning grand slam over the scoreboard. McGuire then added her third home run of the season in the third. The two players lit the bats up as Sumerlin finished with a walk and a double and two runs scored. McGuire also recorded a pair of runs with her right-center shot.
Georgia recorded 13 hits in the game off of three Kentucky pitchers. Shannon Smith got the start for Kentucky and took the loss after four hits in just one frame. Kentucky didn’t strike out a single Bulldog batter in the game either. Relief pitcher, Kylie Bass tallied the win after pitching three innings allowing four hits and two runs. She struck out three batters in the process. Brittany Gray tabbed her first save of the season after pitching a perfect seventh inning. Mary Wilson Avant started for the Bulldogs and pitched three innings, giving up three runs and seven hits.
Kentucky struck first with a solo home run in the first inning by Katie Reed. Georgia answered by loading the bases with dingers from Cortni Emanual and Sydni Emanual followed by an Alyssa DiCarlo walk. That’s when Sumerlin came up to bat and hit a bomb to mark her second grand slam of the season.
During the third inning, Kentucky scored off a Georgia error. McGuire stepped up and hit a ball over right field’s fence to make it 6-2. The Wildcats quickly answered in the top of the fourth when Rachael Metzger hit a home run to make it 6-3. Georgia added its final run off of a Brea Dickey RBI single to secure the lead.
Metzger hit a two-run home run in the sixth to pull Kentucky within two. However, the effort wasn’t quite enough as Bass ended the rest of the frame. Gray came in and shut down the Wildcat offense in the seventh.
The final game is Monday, March 20, at 7 p.m. when the two teams will go head-to-head to see who wins the series.
Check out all the shots from the series by Greg Poole:
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