Georgia softball is 24-1 and have already swept one conference opponent. The Lady Diamond Dawgs host Florida this weekend in a three-game series.
If you haven’t gotten into spring sports yet in 2018, now’s about time to start. The Georgia softball team has already opened conference play, but the final month and a half of the season is full of games against the remaining 12 SEC teams.
So far this season, the Lady Diamond Dawgs are 24-1 and 3-0 in SEC play after sweeping Arkansas earlier this week. That one loss was a 8-3 loss to no. 3 Oregon at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona. Georgia followed that loss with wins over no. 15 Utah and no. 19 BYU. They defeated those schools by a combined score of 18-2.
In fact, they’ve beaten almost everyone they’ve played by a wide margin. Georgia is outscoring teams 194-23. The eight allowed to Oregon is the most they’ve given up in a game all season. The Bulldogs have pitched 16 shutouts and have only allowed two runs or less seven times. They also average 7.76 runs per game and have ended 11 games early.
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It’s clear that the team is on a mission. They are trying to bounce back from two disappointing regular seasons. They finished 6-18 in SEC play last year and 12-12 in 2016. That is way below the success Georgia softball expects to enjoy each season. The mission began after the regular season ended last year. Their season ended in the Region Finals in an 8-5 loss to Florida State.
But that mission heats up this weekend when Georgia hosts no. 2 Florida this weekend. The Gators are defending SEC Regular Season Champions. They also won National Championships in 2014 and 2015. The Lady Dawgs are certainly sick of Florida’s success.
Pitching
As you can tell by the scoring stats, Georgia has outstanding pitching. The top pitcher is Brittany Gray who boats a 0.00 era with an 11-0 record. Only one unearned run has crossed home plate with her in the circle. She’s only allowed 21 hits as well. With 13 appearances, she’s averaging less than one hit a game.
But she’s not the only one dominating from the circle. Kylie Bass has started seven games but she’s won nine games. She hasn’t conceded a victory either. Her era is a stellar 0.73 with only five earned runs. Only 20 hits have come off her pitches.
Hitting
Five starters are hitting over .400 so far in 2018, and six are hitting over .300. The top hitters are Cortni Emanuel (.458), Kendall Burton (.457), Justice Milz (.441), Alysen Febrey (.429) and Alyssa DiCarlo (.416).
When it comes to slugging, no pitcher is safe against Georgia. DiCarlo has a slugging percentage of .929, nine home runs and 10 doubles. She’s also tied for first on the team with 11 walks and she leads the team with 36 RBI’s. Milz has seven home runs and a slugging percentage of .853. She too has 11 walks and she’s driven home 25 runners. Febrey has six homers with .805 slugging and 27 RBI’s.
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Three other players are slugging over .600. As a team, Georgia has 37 home runs and a batting average of .381. Between that average and a team ERA of 0.70, you can certainly see why Georgia is playing so well 25 games into the 2018 season.