ATHENS — Regardless of what happens this weekend, the Georgia softball seniors will go down as the best class in the program’s history.
But this is hardly a group ready to rest on its laurels. So it is with considerable motivation that the Bulldogs (50-12) enter this weekend’s NCAA super regional in Athens. If they can win the best-of-three series against Baylor, they’ll make it to the College World Series for a third consecutive year. UGA had not been to the CWS before this class arrived.
“It’s unbelievable,” Georgia coach Lu Harris-Champer said. “They’ll be known as the strongest class in the history of the program. They’ve done so many great things. To think about all the things they’ve brought to the program and where they’ve taken Georgia softball is awesome.”
The senior class consists of eight players who come from around the country. Brianna Hesson (Sugar Hill) and Megan Wiggins (Snellville) are both homegrown products. But the others are from California (Taylor Schlopy, Jennie Auger), Texas (Sarah McCloud), South Carolina (Laura Trout), Illinois (Alisa Goler) and Iowa (Katie Murphy). They were all highly touted prospects, Georgia’s softball version of the “Dream Team,” if you will. Together they have won 193 of 254 games (76 percent) and have never lost an NCAA tournament game at home.
Hesson believes it’s the group’s geographic diversity that has made it a close unit.
“Coach has been about us coming together as a family,” said Hesson, a right-fielder who’s hitting .333 and leads the team with 63 RBIs. “We had to realize that kids are here from California and Texas and all over. So a lot of them can’t hop in a car and go see their family. Essentially we’re all a lot of them have. And I think that’s where we’re coming from as a team.”
Georgia has been a national force all season, spending four weeks ranked No. 1. But midseason struggles in SEC play and a late-season swoon sent them down in the polls.
After an inexplicable 7-5 loss to Longwood to end the regular season, the Bulldogs went on a tear in the SEC tournament. They defeated LSU 10-0 by run-rule and knocked off Alabama 4-2 before losing to Tennessee in the championship game.
Last weekend they steamrolled through the Athens regional, winning games over Georgia State, UAB and FSU by the aggregate score of 27-4.
That Longwood loss, Hesson theorized, may have been just what the doctor ordered.
“That brought us back to reality,” she said. “They were fighting to get into the NCAAs. So of course they’re going to come in scrapping to get it.
“It made us realize that people aren’t going to roll over for us because we’re Georgia. They’re going to come after us knocking and kicking and trying to bring us down.”
That will be Baylor’s attitude. Riding the strong arm of pitcher Whitney Canion, they shut down the College Park regional with shutout wins over Lehigh and East Carolina (twice) to advance to the super regionals.
“They are a very good team, and they are very well coached,” Harris-Champer said. “They are a very athletic team, and I think they will be doing a lot of running, a lot of bunting and will put the ball in play. We just have to focus on what we do and compete.”
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NCAA super regional
Georgia (50-12) vs. Baylor (43-12)
When, where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday (second Sunday game is if necessary)
TV: ESPNU
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