Dawgs Sweep LSU

SOFTBALL

Freshman Morgan Montemayor pitched a two-hit shutout as No. 1 Georgia completed a Southeastern Conference series sweep over No. 21 LSU with a 12-0, five-inning victory on Sunday at Jack Turner Softball Stadium in front of a season-high crowd of 1,392.

With the sweep, the top-ranked Dawgs improved to 21-1 on the year and are off to a 3-0 start in SEC action while LSU falls to 15-10 overall and 0-5 in league play. For the series, UGA outscored LSU, 26-3, while batting .412 as a team.

Montemayor (9-1) faced LSU for the second time in as many days and provided nearly identical results. Having already tossed a four-hit shutout on Saturday, Montemayor returned to the circle Sunday to shutout out the Tigers again, this time allowing just two hits and striking out a career-high 10 batters.

From the plate, Georgia aided Montemayor with five runs in the first and seven runs in the third as four Dawgs each provided two RBI in the game including seniors Alisa Goler and Laura Trout and juniors Ashley Pauly (2-for-2) and Ashley Razey (2-for-3)

In the opening inning, senior Taylor Schlopy lead off with walk and moved around to third on a double to center from senior Megan Wiggins (2-for-3). Next, Goler drew a walk and ball four was a wild pitch that allowed Schlopy to score and left runners on second and third. Razey then followed driving in her two RBI on a double to center. Later in the inning with two outs, Trout drove in two runs on a single to left.

LSU starter Rachele Fico did not return to the circle in the second inning and took the loss to fall to 5-7.

In the third inning, Georgia batted around for the 12^th time this season to produce seven more runs and extend the lead to 12-0. With Razey and junior Kristyn Sandberg aboard on a pair of single, freshman Julia Echols put down a sacrifice bunt and a throwing error on the play allowed Razey to score. Three batters later with two outs and runners on second and third, Pauly picked up her two RBI with a single to right. Following a fielding error that extended the inning, Wiggins added a run-scoring single to right and Goler capped inning with a two-run double to center.

With the series sweep over LSU, Georgia went 4-0 on the week with three run-rule victories including an 8-0, five inning win over Penn State on Thursday. Pauly led the team in batting average over those four games at .875 (7-for-8, 5 RBI) while Goler provided a team-best nine RBI while slugging 1.444. Wiggins led the team on the week with eight runs scored while adding seven RBI of her own, and Schlopy finished with seven runs scored.

Up next, Georgia takes to the road traveling to Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday to face South Carolina (16-7, 3-2 SEC). The Dawgs and the Gamecocks will play a double header starting at 4 p.m. ET.