Georgia awoke as one of the final 12 teams playing in the NCAA Softball tournament on Sunday — as long as its odds of making the Women’s College World Series might still seem.
But here they are, and the score will be 0-0 at first pitch when the Bulldogs play No. 3-national seed Florida at 4 p.m. on Sunday (TV: ESPN) with a trip to the WCWS awaiting the winner.
“I think we’re just going to leave it all out there,” said UGA shortstop Emily Digby, who along with Lyndi Rae Davis hit a solo home run in UGA’s 2-1 upset of the Gators on Saturday.
“We have to be competitive, like we were today, for seven innings, or however long it takes, and just get after them.”
Georgia (35-22, 7-16 in SEC play) will be looking to do something it hasn’t done all season: win a three-game series.
If the Bulldogs do that, they’ll be going back to the WCWS for the first time since 2021 — when they swept Florida in a Super Regional in Gainesville.
Florida (47-15, 14-10 SEC) will be looking to avoid something they’ve never done before — lose a decisive third game in an NCAA Super Regional.
The Gators are 6-0 all-time in the third games of Super Regional play, and with a win on Sunday will be making their third trip to the WCWS in four years.
“I feel like we aren’t playing with much pressure right now, I think all the pressure is on them,” UGA pitcher Lilli Backes said. “They’re expected to win the series, so I think we’re all just playing really free.”
If anybody can speak on pressure, it’s Backes, whose performance on Saturday was nothing less than masterful, as she pitched out of one jam after another, stranding 11 runners, as UGA held on for a miraculous 2-1 victory.
Tony Baldwin, in his fourth season as head coach since being hired by AD Josh Brooks, had almost a complete rebuild on his hands with more than 80 percent of last year’s hitting having departed.
Baldwin, however, is regarded as one of the top hitting coaches in the nation, so expectations were not as tempered as one might think.
Especially with the way this Georgia team grew up and learned to compete, as young and inexperienced as they are at key positions.
“It doesn’t just happen by luck, it happens by putting in the work and learning the lessons,” Baldwin said, “and so here we’re just trying to make our university proud and our alums proud and the people that built this program.”
Georgia faces monumental odds of beating Florida on Sunday, based on the talent level and experience in both programs, along with the teams’ recent history.
The Gators’ 6-1 win in the opening game of the three-game series on Friday was more in line with how many felt things would go.
Everybody, that is, except Baldwin and his players.
It was Baldwin who said after the loss on Friday that UGA wasn’t going to “kiss the ring” at Florida, and he promised his team would be ready to compete on Saturday.
But as Baldwin has noted, the score will be 0-0 at first pitch, and if nothing else he can count on his team to compete.
“We keep talking about relentless competitiveness,” Baldwin said, “and you have to do that all the way to the last out.”
WCWS Field at a Glance
Already In
Texas Tech
Texas
Oklahoma
Oregon
Sunday Decisive Games
2 p.m. Nebraska at Tennessee (ESPN)
3 p.m. UCLA at South Carolina (ESPN2)
4 p.m. Georgia at Florida (ESPN)
5 p.m. Ole Miss at Arkansas (ESPN2)
