Georgia softball down to last out in finals, makes insane comeback to walk off Regional

Georgia softball is headed to the Super Regionals at the end of the week after an insane comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning of game seven.

The Bulldogs forced a tiebreaker against Liberty after defeating them 14-5 in game six of the NCAA Athens Regional, going on to beat them in the seventh and final game a mere 3-2. Down to their last out, dreams on the line, they managed to snag their 13th Super Regionals appearance thanks to some speedy running and clean hitting.

"When your teammates have set you up to get in that position, the confidence my teammates have in me put me here, so I'm going to get the job done for them and just, see ball, hit ball, let it rip," Sydney Chambley said.

"Obviously, at that part we needed a run, and we got there because of Syd Chambley, really good job of base running in the sixth," head coach Tony Baldwin added. "To score from second on a fly out was heads up base running and that gave us the chance. Then it was just, how do we continue to give ourselves an opportunity. We've been on the tough break side of a lot of these outcomes over the last 26, 30 games. Eventually the odds had to go in our favor, so the goal was just to give ourselves a chance."

The winner of the Los Angeles Regional is yet to be determined, with No. 6 UCLA and Grand Canyon squaring off at 3 p.m. PT.

The first game was a season-high performance for UGA with 14 runs and 17 hits. Sara Mosley inched closer to the all-time home-run record, now at 65 after cracking one over the right field wall in the top of the seventh inning.

Six home runs total were launched into the yard at Jack Turner Stadium during this game, two coming from Chambley's bat. It's the first time since 2016 when UGA faced Austin Peay that it's had six or more home runs in a single game. Others to credit for the feat are Jayda Kearney, Lyndi Rae Davis and Emily Digby.

Madison Kerpics and Lilli Backes held things down in the circle, with Backes closing it out for her 17th win this season. Combined, they allowed nine hits, five errors and had four walks and five strikeouts. Backes was the starter for game seven on the mound.

The second game was a lot slower, with no one scoring until the top of the fourth, when Savannah Jessee sent a double out into left field for Liberty to take the lead. Brooke Roberts homered to right center field in the top of the fifth inning to add another to the Flames' total.

Chambley was able to score, unearned, in the bottom of the sixth inning when Davis let one fly out to left center field and the outfielder dropped the catch. It gave the fans a glimmer of hope, and the sun began to shine.

Goodnight singled and advanced to second on the throw while Digby ran home to tie the game. With two outs on the board, the absolute last hope for the Bulldogs, Chambley singled to center field and Goodnight found the speed, rounding third and heading home to win the regional for the red and black.

"Digby, I've been saying this all season, she's the most competitive 230 hitter in the country," Baldwin said. "She really competed; she gave us chances by getting hits. Everybody would like to do what Syd Cham did or Dal did, but the ground ball up the middle scored the run because Ellie put down a good quick bunt and gave us a chance to advance a runner.

"Then Dal, they've been pitching her tough all game so she didn't wait around and give them the opportunity to change speeds. First good pitch she saw, we call it 'winner, winner chicken dinner.' We practice it, we've been talking about it since September and when we finally bounced that one up the middle. I was actually down saying how proud I was of Ellie for doing her job to give us a chance to tie the game when I looked up and the ball was going over the centerfielder's head. ... Syd's been having unbelievable at-bats for the last month, ... and if there was ever a time for one to go over someone's head, it was today."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia softball onto the Super Regionals after walk-off in finals