May 30—GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Georgia softball team picked up its second-straight shutout of No. 4 Florida Saturday afternoon, 6-0, and secured a spot in the 2021 Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
The Bulldogs (34-21) will face either No. 5 Oklahoma State or No. 12 Texas in the opening round of the WCWS Thursday, June 3.
The 2021 WCWS will be Georgia’s fifth appearance in Oklahoma City in program history.
Graduate Mary Wilson Avant (20-10) earned her second complete-game shutout of the Gators on the weekend. She allowed only four hits while striking out four.
Georgia scattered eight hits to Florida’s four. Sophomore Sydney Kuma and junior Lacey Fincher each tallied two hits. Kuma joined redshirt-sophomore Jaiden Fields and freshman Jayda Kearney to take Florida pitchers deep in the game. Junior Savana Sikes was on base four times with a hit-by-pitch and three walks and came in to score twice.
Sikes was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the first. She pulled up at third on a double off the way in left by Kuma. Fincher drove in Sikes with a single down the left field line, putting Georgia out in front 1-0 in the first.
Fields doubled Georgia’s lead with a leadoff home run in the home half of the second, her second long ball of the weekend, to make it a 2-0 game.
Georgia’s third-straight scoring inning came in the third when Kearney knocked a solo home run to left center, lengthening the lead to 3-0 for the Bulldogs.
The third Georgia home run of the day was a two-run monster shot to into the palm trees in center off the bat of Kuma to make it a 5-0 game. With two on later in the inning, freshman Sydney Chambley singled to center to drive in sophomore Sara Mosley and bring the tally to 6-0 in favor of the Bulldogs.
Avant held the shutout through the sixth and seventh innings en route to the victory in game two and a ticket to Oklahoma City.