Georgia softball: Top three Lady Dawgs from the Florida series

The Georgia softball team dominated Florida this past weekend. The Lady Dawgs won game’s one and two 5-4 and 11-1 on Friday and Saturday.

Who doesn’t love a good ole butt whipping on the Florida Gators? It was fun back in October when Georgia football squashed them. And it was just as fun this past weekend when Georgia softball smacked around the Gators Saturday after breaking their hearts on Friday.

The wins couldn’t have come without some great performances by some of the players. here are the top three players from the weekend series with the Gators.

3. Brittany Gray

She may have given up her first two earned runs of the year, but Gray obliterated Florida otherwise. They had no answer for her and the runs she gave up were only motivation.

She came in for Kylie Bass in-game one in the fourth inning and shut Florida down. Florida had tied Georgia 3-3 at that point and she retired six of the first seven batters she faced. Florida found the makings of a rally in the sixth inning and got an earned run on her. But she responed by retiring the next two batters, squashing any hopes of a rally. That set up Alyssa DiCarlo’s walk-off home run in the seventh.

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Gray improved to 13-0 on the season with a hefty amount of run support on Saturday. But you cannot overstate her pitching performance. She retired seven of the first nine batters she pitched. She gave up another one-out run and then retired the last two batters just like the night before. Gray ended the game by sitting down six of her last nine batters to seal the mercy rule win in the fifth.

2. Kendall Burton

Only one player got a hit in all three games and that was Kendall Burton. Not only that, she was 6-of-8 with two runs and a walk. She was a perfect 3-of-3 on Friday, went 1-of-2 with a walk and two runs on Saturday, and finished 2-of-3 on Sunday. Burton even spoiled Aleshia Ocasio’s no-hit bid in the fifth inning on Sunday.

She walked and later scored in the second inning of game two. Burton singled in the fourth inning and later scored the 11th run of the game that put Georgia ahead by 10, the margin needed for the mercy rule. She singled on a bunt late in the game Sunday to end a no-hitter and hit a single to left field with two outs to drive home a run that kept Georgia from getting shut out.

1. Alyssa DiCarlo

Who else was I going to pick as the no. 1 player? DiCarlo did the most damage. She’s public enemy no. 1 for Florida softball fans right now. Friday night, she hit a pop fly for the third out in the first inning. But an illegal pitch gave her one more chance. She took that chance and slung it over the outfield wall.

Her first inning home run started the home run party that was the first inning. Two other Dawgs hit home runs to go up 3-1. Later in the night, with Florida leading 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh and Justice Milz on base, DiCarlo smashed another home run to win the game 5-4.

She was even better in-game two in front of a record-breaking crowd at Jack Turner Stadium. Her first at bat she reached on an error and advanced all the way to third with some great base running. She stole home when the catcher attempted to throw out a runner stealing second.

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Dicarlo then opened the third inning with a solo home run. That began a seven-run rally for Georgia that extended their lead to 9-1. later in the inning, she doubled to right-center field to drive home two runs. That was her last at bat as Georgia eventually stretched the lead to 11-1 and won on a mercy rule in the fifth inning.

She record a hit Sunday, but considering she had the biggest and most demoralizing hits and runs of the first two games of the season, she owns the no. 1 spot this week.