Georgia softball beats Florida in Game 2, forces winner-take-all game

Rothrock, masterful on Friday, was pulled with no outs in the second inning after Emily Digby added another run with a solo home run.

Georgia senior pitcher Lilli Backes, a North Carolina transfer originally from Peachtree City, was sensational in the circle making those two runs hold up.

Backes fanned eight batters and stranded 11 on base with clutch pitches, escaping one jam after another as she scattered seven hits and five walks in 6 1/3 innings.

This, against a Florida team that entered the day averaging nine runs per game in the NCAA softball tournament.

Georgia sophomore Randi Roelling, a transfer from Cal, came clutch in the seventh inning in relief of Backes, who had thrown 127 pitches in the over 90-degree heat and taken a line drive off her shoulder at the start of the seventh inning.

Roelling, the losing pitcher in Friday’s 8-1 loss, inherited runners on first and second and a one-run lead when she came out of the bullpen.

Roelling induced Florida’s Korbe Otis to fly out to center, but UGA veteran Dallis Goodnight was not able to get off a strong throw, as the runners advanced to second and third.

The game was on the line for Roelling against Gators’ hitter Kenleigh Cahalan, a transfer from Alabama.

Roelling came through, firing a pitch in that Cahalan popped up to second to end the game.

Georgia, despite three fielding errors and two overturned calls that went against them, had survived.

It was a significant win for UGA coach Tony Baldwin, who had put himself in the line of some critics on Friday by declining to embrace questions about the greatness of Florida softball.

“They’re a good team, they’re not the ’27 Yankees, they’ve had a lot of good teams here at Florida,” Baldwin had said when asked how tough the Gators are to deal with.

“I’m not trying to short-sell them at all, but we’re also not going to come in and kiss the ring and bow down and say how are we ever going to beat these guys.”

Indeed, Baldwin had a pretty good idea, as his coaching staff and players were rested and prepared for what proved to be one of the bigger wins in recent program history.

Georgia, which upset No. 14-seed Duke in Durham, North Carolina, to reach the Gainesville Regional, is now just one win away from reaching the Women’s College World Series for what would be the first time since 2021.