Bulldog Nation is a busy place, so much so that it’s tough to keep up with every game, match, meet, and tournament involving University of Georgia student-athletes. Accordingly, rather than attempt to recap each event separately, we reserve reports on certain contests for inclusion in what we like to call the Sunday summary. Here are a few noteworthy occurrences we wanted to make certain didn’t slip through the cracks:
In Saturday’s doubleheader, Georgia split a pair of one-run decisions against Arkansas, taking the opener by a 3-2 margin thanks to a two-run first frame in which Tess Sito reached on an error and came home on a sacrifice fly, a one-run seventh stanza in which Sito sent a two-out single to center to drive in the winning run, and a three-hit, two-run, six-strikeout, complete-game pitching performance by Erin Arevalo.
The Bulldogs appeared likely to win the back half of the twin bill in a pitchers’ duel after the Red and Black took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning when Sito scored from third on a single. However, a two-run Razorback homer in the top of the sixth canto permitted the visitors to notch a 2-1 victory in a game in which the hostesses out-hit their guests, 8-4.
On Sunday, Georgia won the rubber match on senior day, defeating Arkansas, 7-1. Arevalo struck out ten in the victory, in which Paige Wilson and Gracie Goulder both belted home runs. This afternoon’s regular-season finale closed out Lu Harris-Champer’s eleventh 40-win season in Athens and set the stage for the SEC Tournament that begins in Tuscaloosa on Thursday, May 10.
In order to spend more time with his wife and infant son, Bubba Watson has opted not to play in the Players Championship. Good for Bubba, I say. As kmzipsgolf already informed us, one year after Russell Henley won the Stadion Classic, another Athenian took home the trophy, as Hudson Swafford claimed a one-shot victory in the Classic City-based event as a rookie on the Nationwide Tour. Swafford finished at 17 under par for the tournament after firing a nine-under 62 in Sunday’s final round to set a new UGA Golf Course record.
As far as current collegians are concerned, the Georgia lady linksters begin NCAA Regional competition in Columbus, Ohio, this Thursday, May 10, while the Red and Black men’s golf team will host its NCAA Regional in Athens, beginning the following Thursday, May 17.
The aforementioned opening rounds of the male and female NCAA golf tournaments are not the only postseason competitions in which Georgia athletes will be engaged this month, however. As noted above, the women’s softball team begins SEC Tournament play on Thursday, and the Georgia track and field teams begin competition at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Baton Rouge that same day. The women’s tennis team hosts the first round of the NCAA Championships beginning on Friday, one day before the men’s tennis team does likewise.
Go ‘Dawgs!