Georgia softball picked up where Kirby Smart’s football program left off last season, scoring fast and furious on Florida State.
The No. 4-ranked Bulldogs (9-0) tallied 14 of their 20 runs in the first two innings en route to run-ruling the No. 5-ranked Seminoles at the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational.
Georgia football, of course, scored a bowl-record 63-3 win over the ACC champion and undefeated Florida State football program in the Orange Bowl.
Six weeks later, on the other side of the state of Florida, the Bulldogs softball program was serving up a payback against a Seminoles program that eliminated it from the NCAA Tournament last season.
Georgia batted through the order in each of the first two innings, tearing through Florida State pitching for 16 hits before the scoreboard came to rest with the Bulldogs on top 20-10 after just five innings.
Jayda Kearney hit two home runs to account for four RBIs in the win, and Sara Mosley was 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in 7 runs.
Freshman Emily Digby, from Dacula, was 3-for-3 hitting with two doubles and 4 RBIs.
North Carolina transfer Lilli Backes came on in relief of Duke transfer Shelby Walters to get the win for Georgia.
Backes (3-0) pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed seven hits and four earned runs.
Georgia, which beat No. 6 Oklahoma State (7-4) and No. 19 UCLA (7-2) on Friday, had its final game of the tournament against Minnesota on Saturday afternoon rained out.
The Bulldogs hit .311 as a team in the tournament, scoring 41 runs in their four wins (over Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, UCLA and Florida State).
Georgia returns to Athens and will host the Georgia Classic next weekend at Jack Turner Stadium.
The Bulldogs will play No. 17-ranked Virginia Tech at 5:30 p.m. on Friday in the first game of the tourney, which also includes Radford and Dartmouth.
Georgia leading hitters this season
Sydney Kuma, .680 average, 3 HR, 3 RBIs
Jayda Kearney, .370 average, 4 HR, 8 RBIs
Sydney Chambley, .304, 4 HR, 12 RBIs
Jaiden Fields, .294, 0 HR, 2 RBIs
Emily Digby, .292, 0 HR, 10 RBIs
Sara Mosley, .242, 2 HR, 12 RBIs
Elli Armistead, .238, 1 HR, 3 RBIs