Georgia
UCLA softball opens Super Regional series with shutout of Georgia
LOS ANGELES — Maya Brady homered twice and scored three runs to lead the UCLA softball team to an 8-0 victory over Georgia in six innings on Thursday night in the Los Angeles Super Regional at Easton Stadium.
The sixth-seeded Bruins will continue the best-of-three series with Game 2 against the 11th-seeded Bulldogs on Friday at 7 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, would be Saturday.
“I’ll just say this: Game 1 is always the biggest one,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez told reporters after the game. “We’ve got to be able to appreciate tonight, get some rest and come back because I guarantee it’ll be a dogfight tomorrow.”
UCLA freshman lefty Kaitlyn Terry pitched a complete six innings and gave up four hits, with three walks and five strikeouts.
Terry said that taking “debbies,” or deep, exaggerated breaths, before each pitch has helped her stay focused through the pressure of postseason.
“It makes me reset everything,” Terry said, “and just makes me like pitch loose because when I pitch tight, it’s just not good. So honestly, I think taking ‘debbies’ is my biggest thing.”
Brady cracked a solo home run over the right field wall in the bottom of the first inning to get UCLA’s offense started early after the defense held the Bulldogs hitless in the top of the frame.
She went deep a second time when she attacked the second pitch she saw in the bottom of the fifth inning for another leadoff solo home run and her 17th overall this season.
“It’s just literally trying to put my team in the best position to get us a dub at the end of the day or at least a little room against a swinging team like (Georgia),” Brady said. “Everything I do is for my teammates.”
Brady came up with big defensive plays at shortstop throughout the game as well. She made a catch along the third base line to force Georgia’s Jaydyn Goodwin to foul out to end the top of the second inning and turned a quick double play at second base in the fourth.
Inouye-Perez compared Brady’s ability to make plays in the infield to Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson.
“She’s smooth like that,” Inouye-Perez said. “I wanted her at shortstop this year – I wanted her with the young pitching staff to be on the field so that she could communicate and keep the team together. And she has done a phenomenal job.”
Jadelyn Allchin stretched out for a diving catch in left field at the top of the second inning to prevent Sara Mosley from getting on base. UCLA’s outfield played deep all evening against a Georgia offense that features two players who each have 20 home runs this season – No. 4 hitter Mosley and No. 3 hitter Jayda Kearny.
Kearny recorded one hit and Mosley had none on Friday night.
“Momentum is a big deal. We had it at a point in the season and we’ve been battling to get it back for a long time,” Georgia coach Tony Baldwin told reporters. “I like our team, I like our people, I love going to work with them, I love competing with them. We just haven’t been consistent enough to get the ball rolling with momentum on our side.”
Thessa Malau’ulu and Janelle Meoño both grounded out in the bottom of the third inning to bring the top of the batting order back out and also give Brady a chance to get her second big hit of the game.
Brady doubled, then Allchin laced a single down the first base line to score the Pac-12 Player of the Year. The Bruins were able to load the bases when Sharlize Palacios and Megan Grant were both walked, but Jordan Woolery struck out swinging to leave all three runners stranded.
UCLA’s third home run of the evening came in the bottom of the evening and gave the Bruins a 6-0 advantage. Allchin singled and Palacios reached first on an HBP. Gabriela Jaquez, who also plays on UCLA’s women’s basketball team, came in to pinch run for Palacios.
Megan Grant grounded out to move the runners over and Woolery homered to bring them both in.
Savannah Pola ended the game when she singled to right field to push pinch runner Taylor Stephens and Allchin across home plate in the sixth inning.
“We know what Maya Brady can do and she continues to do it and it’s so impressive to watch,” Inouye-Perez said, “but we’re at our best when the bottom half is taking care of it.”
Two homers and a web gem 😮💨
All in a day’s work for @UCLASoftball’s Maya Brady.#RoadToWCWS pic.twitter.com/JSEr9Sl6vC
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 24, 2024
A @jordanwooleryy 3 from way downtown!
𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐆.
📺: ESPN2
📲: https://t.co/T5Ovxk6xCw#GoBruins | #LevelUp pic.twitter.com/jqKGAScoY3— UCLA Softball (@UCLASoftball) May 24, 2024
WALK IT OFF AGAIN, SAVI!!!
ONE WIN AWAY!!!#GoBruins | @savannahpola pic.twitter.com/cc2uWn7bg7
— UCLA Softball (@UCLASoftball) May 24, 2024
Gulfstream recently announced a $5 million investment in Georgia education, welcoming students and leaders to its Savannah headquarters.
ATHENS, Ga. – Designated hitter Daniel Jackson and centerfielder Rylan Lujo combined for nine RBI Sunday, leading fifth-ranked Georgia to a 12-1 win over LSU at Foley Field.
Georgia improved to 41-11 overall, 21-6 in the SEC, while LSU dropped to 29-24 overall and 9-18 in conference play.
The Tigers return to action at 6:30 p.m. CT Thursday when they play host to Florida in Game 1 of a three-game SEC series in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. Thursday’s game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and streamed on SEC Network +.
“Georgia won the moments in this series,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “They’re going to score, so you’ve got to capitalize against them when you have scoring opportunities on offense.”
Georgia starting pitcher Caden Aoki (8-0) was the winner, limiting LSU to one run on four hits in 5.0 innings with two walks and seven strikeouts.
LSU right-hander Casan Evans (2-3), making his first appearance since April 17 versus Texas A&M, started the game Sunday and was charged with the loss, working 1.2 innings and allowing four runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
“I thought Casan’s stuff looked great, and that’s good for him from a health standpoint,” Johnson said. “He’s a guy that the more he pitches, the better he is, so there might have been a little bit of rust, but I thought he competed fine.”
Georgia struck for four runs in the bottom of the second inning in an outburst highlighted by Jackson’s two-out, two-run single and an RBI single by second baseman Ryan Black.
The Tigers narrowed the gap to 4-1 in the third when designated hitter Omar Serna Jr. delivered an RBI single.
Georgia extended its lead to 7-1 in the fourth as Jackson launched a two-run homer and centerfielder Lujo lined a run-scoring single.
Lujo unloaded a grand slam in the fifth, giving the Bulldogs an 11-1 advantage.
The Georgia baseball team had long since poured out of the Foley Field home dugout and the water bottles that were thrown on the field in jubilation had been cleaned up.
The Bulldogs celebration that carried into center field after a 13-8 victory on Saturday night over LSU on May 9 had ended and players had doused coach Wes Johnson with blue sports drink.
Now, some 20 minutes later, it was postgame photo time for the freshly minted 2026 SEC regular season champions.
They gathered in front of the spot on the right field wall where the previous seven seasons of Georgia SEC championships were listed, the last in 2008. Above them on the video board was a graphic that recognized this year’s team as SEC champions.
“Watching the program grow in such a shot amount of time, it’s awesome,” said pitcher Paul Farley, who has been with the Bulldogs for all three seasons with Johnson and got the win in relief Saturday. “We’ve got four SEC games left and to be able to hang that up there the SEC champs already it’s amazing.”
Farley was speaking figuratively because the 2026 numbers weren’t on the outfield fence just yet.
Fifth-ranked Georgia (40-11, 20-6 SEC) still has a chance to put a College World Series trip up there in left field for the first time since 2008 and in a best case scenario add another national championship year in right field with the 1990 season.
“SEC champs is great, but obviously we want to do bigger and better things,” Farley said.
LSU, the team that won it all last season, was still around having a postgame talk on the artificial turf field long after the game ended.
Johnson was with LSU in 2023 as pitching coach when it won another College World Series.
“It’s massive,” Johnson said of this latest championship. “Anytime you can win this league, man, it’s so hard. Then win it outright. It’s something you want to check off on your list of things you’ve ever accomplished. It’s 10 weekends of just meat house grinding.”
Johnson said he didn’t know that the dominoes had fallen Saturday to set up Georgia being able to clinch except that he saw that Texas lost at Tennessee as the result flashed on the scoreboard.
Texas A&M also lost twice at Ole Miss to set up the clinch for Georgia.
“I’m calling pitches, I’m locked in,” Johnson said.
He said assistant coach Will Coggin told him when the game ended that ‘We’re champs.’”
Many of the players knew.
“We had a few inside operatives, I’d say, tell us,” Farley said.
Shortstop Kolby Branch said he didn’t know “until the water bottles started flying.”
Branch said another Georgia team loaded with transfers grew closer in the fall and built relationships that have turned into wins this season.
Johnson said winning the regular season title in his third season as coach in the age of the transfer portal and NIL “means a lot.”
Johnson mentioned Farley, Branch and Tre Phelps being at Georgia for all three of his seasons.
“Seeing where we were in the first fall, we forget this used to be dirt and grass,” Johnson said standing on on turf field. “And we didn’t have the cool building and we only had one batting cage, all the stuff we’ve been able to do since we’ve been here. The other side is just understanding true belief and understanding what guys can do.”
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