The next Georgia national championship season might already be underway in Florida.
The No. 4-ranked Bulldogs softball team opened the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational with a 7-6, walk-off win in 10 innings over Wisconsin on Thursday and face No. 6 Oklahoma State and No. 19 UCLA this afternoon.
The Georgia game with the Cowgirls is at 10 a.m. and will be televised by ESPU, while the game with the Bruins is at 4 p.m. on ESPN-plus.
It appears pitching and defense will again be the questions for the Bulldogs, now in their third season under renowned hitting coach Tony Baldwin and picked to finish second in the SEC this season.
Georgia (6-0) spotted the Badgers (4-2) a 4-0 lead on Thursday after starter Madison Kerpics was chased in the second inning.
The Bulldogs’ offensive firepower answered the bell, Sydney Kuma leading the way with three hits including a two-run home run.
Kuma leads Georgia in hitting entering Friday’s action with a staggering .750 batting average through the first six games of the season.
Dallas Goodnight, a Dacula product who started her career at Alabama, got the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 10th inning. It was Goodnight’s first game this season.
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North Carolina transfer and former Georgia high school all-stater Lilli Backes pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings of relief before Shelby Walters, in her second season at UGA after transferring in from Duke, pitched the final three innings and got the win.
Georgia was eliminated in the NCAA Tournament Super Regionals last season by eventual WCWS runner-up Florida State.
The Bulldogs went 42-15, including a second-place 16-9 SEC mark that represented the team’s best league mark since 2009.
