GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Lyndi Rae Davis and Emily Digby hit home runs, and Georgia continually wiggled out of trouble to defeat Florida 2-1 on Saturday and force a deciding third game at the NCAA Division I softball tournament’s Gainesville Super Regional.
Sunday’s winner will advance to the Women’s College World Series, which starts Thursday in Oklahoma City.
The third-seeded Gators had seven hits and drew five walks, but they went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 baserunners. The unseeded Bulldogs, playing as the designated home team Saturday after losing Friday’s opener 6-1, committed three errors.
After Florida (47-15) loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first and failed to score, Davis — a senior and former Calhoun High School standout — homered in the bottom of the inning. The Gators started the second with a double and added a two-out single but couldn’t get a runner in, and this time Digby homered in the home half.
The Gators got an unearned run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Lilli Backes (16-10) had all kinds of trouble through 6 1/3 innings for Georgia (34-23) before leaving with two on and one out in the seventh.
Reagan Walsh opened the seventh with a single and made it to second on Backes’ error. A walk and a strikeout ended the day for Backes as Randi Roelling came on in relief. She got a long flyout that moved the baserunners over before an infield popup ended it for her fourth save this year.
Keagan Rothrock (15-6) took the loss, exiting after Digby’s homer.