Dawg softball ends season after forcing game seven

DURHAM, N.C.-The University of Georgia Softball Team (43-18) worked its way through the loser’s bracket in the Durham Regional hosted by Duke University. The Dawgs went in as the No. 2 seed and Duke the No. 1 seed.

On day one of the regional, UGA took a game one loss to Liberty University sending them to the 0-1 game. The Dawgs had a long road ahead of them playing UMBC after a four-hour weather delay. UGA took the 6-3 win over the Retrievers, forcing them to play a late-night contest with Liberty. The Dawgs took their revenge from the early day one loss picking up a 7-2 win to advance to the regional finals. UGA had to take two contests from Duke to advance to the super regional being hosted by UCLA. The Dawgs took the first game from Duke in a close 5-3 final. Directly after this win, the Dawgs and the Blue Devils squared off again by this time Duke was the one getting the victory. UGA fell 13-5 in five innings to end the season.

The first game of the tournament for UGA was against the No. 3 seed Liberty. The Flames pulled off the 2-0 upset over the Dawgs as they were limited to just three hits. The hottest bat for the Dawgs was the senior hailing from Douglasville in Savanna Sikes. She went 2-for-3 with a double. The catcher from Calhoun, Georgia Lyndi Rae Davis had the only other hit of the contest with a single.

The second game of the tournament is when the well-known UGA bats started to heat up just in time. The big senior from Tanner-Williams, Alabama Lacey Fincher started the game with a round-tripper for the first hit of the tournament for the leadoff hitter. She ended the contest going 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. The Dawgs plated three more runs in the second inning two of which came off of the bat of Chauncey native Aniyah Black with a two-run blast over the left-field fence. She ended the contest with that as her lone hit. The Dawgs didn’t stop there with Sydney Kuma hailing from Fresno, California, driving a solo shot over the centerfield wall followed by a beautiful bat flip. UGA went quiet with the bats until the seventh inning when Fincher hit yet another round-tripper to solidify the Dawgs’ 6-3 victory.

The Dawgs forced a redemption game with The Liberty Flames and got the 7-2 win with the hot bats. Being the visitors in the contest the Dawgs were able to score first off of a single from catcher Davis in the first inning. Nothing for either squad in the second inning but the hot bat of Kuma could not be extinguished as she stayed hot in the Dawgs’ second contest of the day with a two-run moon shot in the third inning. Jaiden Fields, Kennesaw native, picked up the next run for UGA on a basesloaded walk in the fifth inning. The flames were able to only let the Dawgs score one run on the bases-loaded threat, but they weren’t done picking up three runs in the seventh inning. Davis kicked things off with her second RBI single of the day as she ended the contest going 2-for-4 with two RBI. Fields returned to the plate this time swinging the stick as she drove in two runs on a single up the middle. She ended the contest going 1-for-2 with three RBI. Ellijay native Sarah Mosley’s bat was on fire as she went 3-for-4 coming around to score twice. There was nothing Liberty could do with her as she was death by single. Sikes also had a hot bat going 2-for-3 with a double.

The Dawgs went home late and came back to face the host team Duke at 2 p.m. The Blue Devils struck first plating a run in the third inning, but the Dawgs answered back, Jayda Kearney hailing from Columbus, New Jersey, put the Dawgs on the board with an RBI triple down the right-field line. By the fourth inning, the Dawgs had their first lead of the game on the two-RBI double from the Mathews, Virginia, native Ellie Armistead. Duke brought the score back within one in the fifth inning, but Sikes stretched the lead in the home half of the inning with an RBI double. UGA would score their fifth and final run in the sixth inning on an RBI right-field single from Kearney. Fields went 2-for-3 as the hottest bat in the contest with a run scored. Kearney hit for .500 with two RBI.

The final contest ended in a loss despite plating five runs on 10 hits. The Dawgs used their power early as they plated all five runs in the first two innings. Mosley started it off with an RBI double to centerfield. She then came around to score on a foul ball flyout off the bat of Davis. Mosley would end the contest with the one hit, RBI, and run scored. Davis ended the contest going 1-for-3 with an RBI. The Dawgs led by two going into the second inning then Fincher launched a three-run blast over the centerfield wall. Fincher was hot during this contest going 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. Armistead hit 1.000 on the day with a double and a run scored. Dallas, Georgia native Sydney Chambley got her first hit since March 23 with a double.

The hero of the regional for the Dawgs was right-handed pitcher Madison Kerpics hailing from Suwanee, Georgia. She threw 432 pitches, 26.1 innings, and five games for UGA. She picked up two wins, a save, and a loss on the weekend. She also fanned 28 batters and only allowed eight earned runs on 21 hits in her time in the circle. She kept the Dawgs competitive in all five contests going the distance for her team.

The loss to Duke brought the Dawgs season to a close and they will start back up with in the fall with exhibition games.