Emerging from a rugged Southeastern Conference that produced three of the top seven national seeds, the Georgia women’s softball team captured the No. 10 overall seed, and, along with it, the right to host a double-elimination NCAA Regional in Athens beginning this Thursday, May 17.

The Bulldog ladies will open play against Coastal Carolina, a school perhaps best known to Red and Black fans as the college that produced the famous line, "We need more ‘Dawgs!" Joining the Bulldogs and the Chanticleers in the Classic City will be ACC regular-season champion North Carolina and Southern Conference champion Georgia Southern.

The winner of the Athens Regional will take on the winner of the Knoxville Regional in the second round. The Knoxville Regional, of course, is hosted by No. 7 seed Tennessee. Should the Lady Vols emerge victorious from the opening round on their home field, they would host the NCAA Super Regional, but, if Georgia prevails in its regional and Tennessee comes up short, the Super Regional will be coming to our campus, instead.

First things first, though. Before the Red and Black can begin thinking ahead, they must first take care of business, so the order of the day is to beat Coastal, then take it from there.

Go ‘Dawgs!

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You're probably just as shocked as I am that there are actually enough women at Georgia Tech to field a softball team, but, in all fairness, I guess there's no rule against North Avenue Trade requiring all sixteen coeds to play on the squad. But however they managed to get enough ladies on the diamond, the ones they found handled their business, defeating the visiting Bulldogs 2-0. I guess the Engineers brought their A-game on their high holy day.

Defensively, the Diamond Dawgs did well enough in the first five innings. Junior Tess Sito delivered a typically strong performance from the mound, allowing just one hit and no runs in four innings. Sophomore Morgan Montemayor took the loss as a reliever, but she gave up no earned runs. With the only Jacket batter to manage a hit waiting on first base after a walk, a surprise bunt led in-fielder Gracie Goulder to rush a throw to second, which bounced off Ashley Pauley's glove into right field. The runner made it all the way home on the play. The surprise bunter worked her way from second to third and then from third home on consecutive ground outs to score the game's second and final run.

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Tonight your seventh-ranked Georgia Bulldogs handily defeated the Furman Paladins 8-0 in six innings at home. The Diamond Dogs were models of efficiency, scoring their eight runs off of nine hits. Second basewoman Ashley Pauly, catcher Kristyn Sandberg, and third basewoman Gracie Goulder each batted two runs in. Tess Sito handled pitching duties, striking out ten batters -- a season high -- while allowing just two hits. She was even better as a batter, getting on base on all three of her appearances at the plate and ultimately scoring each time. She's also the subject of tonight's Better Know a Bulldog.

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In case you haven't been paying attention, our softball squad is legit, y'all. The Bulldogs rounded out another successful weekend with a 2-0 win over Mercer today. That took them to 5-0 for the weekend, and 18-2 on the year. These Diamond Dogs are justifying all the preseason hype and proving they're worth the number 7 national ranking.

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It'd be an understatement to say that the No. 13 Georgia Softball Team is on a bit of a hot streak. This weekend at the Cathedral City Classic in Cathedral City, California, Georgia tallied up a 4-1 record, beating Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, UCLA and Oklahoma. Their only loss was to Washington. Oh, and by the way, every single one of those teams were ranked in the top 10, sans Cal State Fullerton.

Yeah, the girls are good. More info on the weekend after the jump...

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I hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend as much as our softball squad did. The Dawgs won all four of their games to move to 8-1 on the year. (The weekend's fifth contest against Winthrop was cancelled due to the weather.)

The weekend got off to a strong start, with back-to-back wins against Connecticut (8-1) and Tennessee Tech (6-1). Senior Erin Arevalo handled pitching duties against the Huskies, allowing only two hits against ten strike-outs. Her classmate Ashley Pauley notched six (!) RBIs. Against the Golden Eagles, sophomore Morgan Montemayor struck out ten batters with six hits and four walks. On offense, Paig Wilson hit up the middle in the first inning to bring in two runs, and first basewoman Tess Sito later recorded two RBIs of her own.

Saturday was even better. Junior Tess Sito shutout Western Illinois, and Erin Arevalo continued a strong 2012 with a shutout of Buffalo. The Dawgs scored just two runs against the Leathernecks, both off of sacrifice flies, but scored eight against the Bulls, including home runs from Krystyn Sandberg and Brittney Hubbard.

After two successful home tournaments, the Dawgs head to California on Thursday for the Cathedral City Classic, where they'll face Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, Washington, UCLA, and Oklahoma. It's time to justify that preseason number 14 ranking.

Go Dawgs!

On Friday night, the softball squad dispatched Army (12-0) in five innings. Bulldog senior Erin Arevalo recorded seven strikeouts, two hits, and one walk in five innings. Senior Kristyn Sandberg and freshman Gracie Goulder led the Bulldogs, going 2-for-2 with two runs and three RBIs. Junior Tess Sito went 2-for-3 and batted in one run.

On Saturday, the Dawgs beat Utah State (8-0) in five innings and St. John's (2-1) in eight. Sophomore Morgan Montemayor pitched against the Aggies, giving up only two hits against eight strikeouts. Second basewoman Ashley Pauly and catcher Kristyn Sandberg each batted in two runs. Senior Erin Arevalo gave up one run against the Red Storm but recorded eight strike-outs. The Bulldogs notched ten hits, but Kristyn Sandberg and junior Tess Sito batted the only runs in.

Although this morning's games were cancelled due to the unexpected cold, Georgia beat Campbell (10-1) but lost to NC State (2-3). Sito took the mound for the first time this year against Campbell, striking out seven batters and giving up only two hits. Kristyn Sandberg continued her impressive RBI streak, notching three against the Camels. Against the Wolfpack, Morgan Montemayor took the season's first loss despite tallying seven strike-outs.

If you're keeping score at home, our softball team went 4-1 for the weekend. I'd say that's not a bad start at all. Keep an eye on the softball team this year. The last time we won the SEC in softball, we also won in football.

Go Dawgs!

Georgia softball's sixteenth campaign commences tonight against Army at Jack Turner Stadium at 7:00 p.m. This will be the first game of this weekend's fifth annual Red and Black Showcase, in which the Bulldogs boast an impressive 19-1 record. The rest of this weekend's opponents are:

• Utah State, Saturday at 11 a.m.,
• St. John's, Saturday at 1 p.m.,
• Campbell, Sunday at 1 p.m., and
• NC State, Sunday at 3 p.m.

The tenth ranked Bulldogs return four position starters and two pitchers from a team that finished 51-14 and advanced to the Super Regionals. Tune in to the audio broadcast at GeorgiaDogs.com to listen to the start of a campaign that could see Coach Lu Harris-Champer secure her 800th win as a collegiate head coach.

Go Dawgs!