Georgia Drops 11-5 Decision to Lady Vols

Saturday, April 9

Athens, Ga.

2:00 p.m.

University of Georgia

32-8, 6-5

Tennessee

26-11, 8-5

Tennessee

Georgia

April 09, 2022 | Softball

Box Score

ATHENS, Ga. – The 12^th-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols evened the series against No. 15 Georgia Saturday afternoon at Jack Turner Stadium, 11-5.

Georgia's five hits came from five different hitters. Jaiden Fields and Lacey Fincher both went deep in the contest.

Senior Lauren Mathis (3-2) suffered the loss in the circle. Mathis worked two innings, allowing four unearned runs on three hits. She fanned three Lady Vol hitters. Sophomore Britton Rogers worked four and two-thirds innings out of the pen. She didn't allow a single hit in her final three innings of work.

The first two Lady Vols (26-11, 8-5) reached in the top of the second. Mathis worked two out then an error by Sydney Kuma extended the inning. A run scored on the play then back-to-back doubles drove in three more runs as Tennessee jumped out to a 4-0 lead.

Georgia (32-8, 6-5) wasted no time getting on the board on a Fields leadoff blast off the video board in left in the bottom of the inning, 4-1.

Five Tennessee runs scored in the top of the third highlighted by a three-run home run from Kelcy Leach, widening the Lady Vol lead to 9-1.

Fincher capitalized on back-to-back walks to start the bottom of the inning with an opposite field home run to narrow the lead to 9-4.

Tennessee immediately got two back on a two-run home run from McKenna Gibson, 11-4.

Kuma drilled a two-out base hit back up the middle to drive in Ellie Armistead and get one back in the home half of the fourth, 11-5.

Both Rogers and Tennessee's Ryleigh White pitched shutout softball to close the game as the 11-5 score held.

The series finale will be decided Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Jack Turner Stadium. Sunday's matchup will air nationally on ESPN2.

Georgia Head Coach Tony Baldwin
On today's performance…
"Today was probably a little bit closer game than maybe what the outcome showed. I thought there were a couple opportunities there in those [final] innings where if we would have made a defensive play or executed one more pitch then we get out of the inning- and we didn't do either of those today. So, as a collective we just had to be a little bit better. Hats off to Tennessee; they capitalized on their opportunities. This game, a lot of times, is about timely hitting and they got some of those today- a few more than we did. I'm proud of our resilience. Every inning that they scored we answered right back. We just didn't answer back with enough, but the answer back is the process that it takes to be a good team. We're a resilient team. We'll bounce back tomorrow, and I look forward to trying to go get the series at home."