Georgia Softball moves along as spring sports continue on

Georgia Softball is the biggest thing Athens has going for it right now. The Bulldogs dominated in their NCAA Tournament regional over the weekend, advancing to the program’s 12th super regional with a 12-3 win over Virginia Tech on Sunday.

Georgia got the party started on Friday with a no-hitter, shutting out North Carolina Central 12-0 behind the arms of Shelby Walters, Madison Kerpics, Riley Orcutt and Kylie Macy. Then, on Saturday in an 8-3 win over Virginia Tech, a four-run fourth inning including a home run from Syndey Chambley (you’re gonna wanna know that name!) propelled UGA to the regional final.

The Bulldogs and Hokies would match up again on Sunday, this time with a spot in the super regionals on the line, and things went all Georgia’s way.

In the first inning alone Georgia scored enough runs to win. Chambley hit a two-run home run to make it 4-0 and was immediately followed up with a solo shot from Jaydyn Goodwin. Chambley hit another, her fourth of the weekend, in the third before a Lyndi Rae Davis long ball in the fourth to make it 8-0 Bulldogs.

Virginia Tech put up two in the bottom half of the fourth, but a four-run ninth inning that was capped off with Chambley’s fifth RBI of the day made it 12-2. The Hokies got one back in the sixth but were unable to avoid the run-rule coming into play in a 12-3, six inning Georgia win.

“What a day,” Georgia head coach Tony Baldwin said to start his postgame press conference on Sunday. “… I’m just really proud of our players answering the bell again. Sometimes it’s really hard when you play such an emotional game on the first day to answer that on the second day. I’m really proud of the way our team answered the bell. Shelby [Walters] was a battler out there and really controlled the game. Our offense was clicking and just strung together some good at-bats. Sydney [Chambley] this weekend has been, I would say, 14 weeks in the making, but we’ll take it.”

“I think that we’ve done a really good job of fighting for what we want,” Chambley added. “One thing we worked really hard on this weekend was finding a way, just being determined and figuring it out. I think we did a really good job of that and passing the bat because all of the things that happened and the runs that were scored couldn’t happen without one after the other passing the bat through the lineup. I think that process of just stepping up to the plate and getting your job done was our mindset and just really paid off for us.” 

Georgia now advances to take on Florida State in the NCAA Tournament super regionals in a best two-of-three series in Tallahassee. Times for Thursday and Friday have been set – 7:00 p.m. ET and 8:00 p.m. ET – with both games on ESPN2. Should a winner-take-all third game be required, it would be played Saturday. A time for that has not been set yet.

Spring Sport Report

Tennis: Georgia tennis season is over – at least on the team side of things. The men fell 4-3 in their quarterfinal match to Ohio State while the women took down Michigan in the quarterfinal but saw their season come to a close against eventual national champion North Carolina in the semis. Five women’s players are set to play for NCAA singles and doubles titles including a pair of All Americans seeded No. 3 (Lea Ma) and No. 4 (Dasha Vidmanova). Meanwhile, on the men’s side of things, Ethan Quinn is the No. 2 overall seed, one of three Bulldogs that will be in action this week in the singles and doubles championships. He’ll team up with Trent Bryde for doubles as the No. 4-seeded team.

Baseball: The Bulldogs took one of three from No. 5 LSU over the weekend, falling in heart breaking fashion on Thursday in extra innings but salvaging one on Senior Day. With the win, Georgia earned a spot in this week’s SEC Baseball Tournament to take place in Hoover, Ala. There Georgia is the No. 11 seed and takes on No. 6 seed South Carolina on Tuesday morning in need of a nice run to make its case for the NCAA Tournament. For more, click here.

Golf: Last time we came your way, the women were headed west while the men were in the midst of wrapping up their action in the regionals. Well, the follow up the Lady Bulldogs winning the Athens Regional both on the team and individual level, the men did the same, becoming the first team in the NCAA to do so since 2016.

Ben van Wyk completed a wire-to-wire win at the Bath Regional while Georgia won its first regional title since 2019 with a three-round total of 29-under-par, eight shots better than second place and fourth-ranked Illinois.

As for the women, they began their run at the NCAA Championships over the weekend in Arizona, taking a spot in the top 15. The field of 30 was cut in half on Sunday afternoon, and Georgia made the cut in the top-10, shooting a 6-over 294. Things once again get cut down on Monday with the top eight teams making match play quarterfinals on Tuesday. Georgia players tee off between 1:11 and 1:55 p.m. ET with live coverage on the Golf Channel running from 4:00-10:00 p.m. ET.