University of Georgia Athletics
Hugo Makes CCSU Pay In Sixth
May 16, 2015 | Softball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
ATHENS, Ga. -- Pitching to Alex Hugo when you don't have to, that's playing with fire. The No. 14-seeded Georgia softball team's bomb-bashing junior proved that Friday afternoon with the bases empty in the bottom of the sixth inning of a 1-1 NCAA tournament game.
Hugo led the nation with 25 home runs as a sophomore and had 19 this season going into Georgia's Athens Regional opener against Central Connecticut State. She's a player, now hitting .403, that swings at nearly every pitch like the ball personally wronged her and she's back for revenge.
It was 1-1 when Hugo led off the sixth against Blue Devils starter Laura Messina, who leads the nation with 15 shutouts. One pitch, one swing and it was 1-1 no more.
Hugo's 20th homer of the season was a line-drive shot to left that prompted someone sitting in the press box to remark that Hugo is the reason he doesn't park his car in the lot behind the left-field fence at Jack Turner Stadium.
The homer sparked a five-run inning, which included Maeve McGuire's first home run of the season, and the Bulldogs (41-14) moved on in the winner's bracket of the Athens Regional with a 6-1 victory. They will face Western Kentucky (35-12) on Saturday at noon.
"I honestly didn't even realize until she hit it," Messina said afterward. "Somebody was like, uh, she's hit 19 home runs, so I was like, oh, I feel a little bit less bad about that.
"In a tight game like that I should have gotten the ball a little off the plate more."
CCSU coach Breanne Gleason said she was aware of Hugo's power but putting her on base with a walk could also lead to trouble because of the rest of the Bulldogs' lineup. It was a "pick your poison" situation, she said, but she also had faith in her pitcher.
"I'll go with this one any day, against anybody," she said, leaning against Messina. "Hugo won that one, but (Messina) won the rest of them."
A game that started with a tiny bit of small-ball success ended for the Bulldogs with a bang. A couple of bangs, actually.
In the third inning, after the Blue Devils' Katie Schmidt hit her first homer of the season, off Georgia's Chelsea Wilkinson, the Bulldogs got three straight one-out infield singles from Niaja Griffin, Cortni Emanuel and Sydni Emanuel. Hugo then brought Griffin home with a flyout in foul territory to make it 1-1.
Both pitchers and defenses continued to control the game through the top of the sixth -- Wilkinson finished with 12 strikeouts -- and then came the bottom of the sixth.
"Just clutch offense," Georgia coach Lu Harris-Champer said.
Two batters after Hugo's blast, Anna Swafford singled and stole second. Paige Wilson then brought Swafford home with a single to left-center. Kayla Puaiola made it 4-1 with an RBI single, before getting caught stealing. McGuire's shot over the wall in center made it 5-1.
"She's amazing, she works so hard and it's really awesome to see her play," McGuire, a sophomore, said of Hugo. "I just want to be like her when I grow up."
Griffin doubled after McGuire's homer and later scored from third on a Cortni Emanuel bunt single, her third hit of the game, to make it 6-1.
John Frierson is a staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Hall of Fame at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. You can follow him on Twitter: @TheFrierson and @ITAHallofFame.
