Texas softball will face Georgia in an SEC Tournament semifinal after the Bulldogs stunned No. 1 Oklahoma 10-5 in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The No. 17 Bulldogs (38-17), who are seeded ninth in the conference tournament, will face the fourth-seeded and 10th-ranked Longhorns (40-10) at approximately 6:30 p.m. in Lexington, Ky.
Earlier this season, Texas beat Georgia 2-1 in an SEC series in Athens, Ga. The Longhorns outscored Georgia by a cumulative 15-12 in the tightly contested series.
The winner of the Longhorns’ game against Georgia will face either No. 2 seed Alabama or No. 3 Florida in Saturday’s SEC Tournament championship game.
Follow below for live scores and updates Friday as the Texas Longhorns face the Georgia Bulldogs in an SEC Tournament semifinal.
Texas 3B Jaycie Nichols should get some freshman All-American consideration for her glovework alone. She robs Sarah Gordon of a hit with a diving snag, and SS Vivi Martinez follows with a nice running grab on a short popup. Three up, three down for the Dawgs. The Texas defense is doing its part.
Georgia starter Randi Roelling has now retired seven straight Horns and has yet to allow a hit. Who’s going to blink first? Roelling or Texas ace Teagan Kavan?
Georgia’s Natalie Ray gets the game’s first hit with a 2-out double off Texas starter Teagan Kavan, but that’s it for the Dawgs.
Georgia starter Randi Roelling is rolling with a nasty curveball. Three up, three down. She’s a fighter in the circle, and she’s matching Texas ace Teagan Kavan pitch for pitch. So far, a hit batter (Texas SS Vivi Martinez) has been the game’s only base-runner.
Texas ace Teagan Kavan is working at lightning speed. A dozen more pitches and three more outs. After throwing seven innings yesterday, she’s gotta love just 27 pitches through the first two innings.
Randi Roelling gets the start for the Dawgs. She’s a crafty junior southpaw with a 17-9 record, a 3.11 ERA and an opponents’ batting average of just .235. She plunks Texas SS Vivi Martinez with two outs, but that’s the only base-runner for the Horns. One thing to note: Texas All-American catcher Reese Atwood, who is 2-of-11 with one RBI over the past four games, has dropped to No. 6 in the Texas lineup. She had been hitting fourth since the middle of the season.
Three up, three down for the Dawgs. Texas starter Teagan Kavan needed just 15 pitches to make quick work of the top of the Georgia lineup.
They’re underway in Kentucky, and Teagan Kavan gets the start for the Longhorns for the second consecutive game. She worked seven innings in Texas’s 6-0 win over Ole Miss yesterday and gave up gave up just two hits and struck out nine batters in her fourth shutout win of the season. For the season, Kavan is 20-4 with a 2.62 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP with 192 strikeouts and 48 walks in 157⅔ innings.
The second SEC Tournament semifinal between Texas and Georgia will start almost on time after Alabama’s 9-1 win over Florida in the first semifinal at John Cropp Stadium, Lexington, Kentucky. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m.
Second-seeded Alabama pounded out 13 hits while beating Florida Friday 9-1 in an SEC Tournament semifinal in a game shortened to five innings by the run rule. The No. 4 Tide will face either Texas or Georgia for the SEC Tournament championship Saturday at 4 p.m. Alabama beat Texas 2-1 in an SEC series earlier this season and did not play Georgia.
Where: John Cropp Stadium, Lexington, Ky.
TV/radio: SEC Network; texaslonghorns.com