Goodnight Has Been A Force For Bulldogs
April 30, 2025 | Softball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Dallis Goodnight can't remember exactly how old she was when she and her dad would play catch. She was young, almost certainly under 10, but that's about as specific as she can get. The glove that she was using, that she remembers with sparkling clarity.
"He taught me how to throw and catch a softball. I remember sitting in the front yard with my little pink and black Wilson glove, and he would teach me how to reach across my body to catch the ball," said Goodnight, Georgia's standout senior center fielder. "He coached me for a long time when I was little, throughout All-Stars and things like that."
Keith Goodnight was a solid running back at Illinois State in the early 1990s, and he was an Academic All-American as a senior in 1995. He rushed for 163 yards on just 13 carries in the Redbirds' 1995 opener and averaged 102.6 all-purpose yards a game that season, good enough for fourth in the Gateway Football Conference of the FCS.
Softball was not his sport until it was the one Dallis chose, and then it didn't take long for him to become Coach Goodnight. Now, as Dallis heads into the closing stretch of a very good Georgia career, it is her father, she said, who was the most pivotal person in helping her achieve her dreams.
"It was my dad, for sure," said Goodnight, from Dacula, Ga. "He made the sacrifices as far as financially, time, whatever it may be, to get me here. He was a college athlete himself, so he understood it and he understood me."
Keith and Carina Goodnight had four busy children, so their days were crammed with school, sports and other activities. Dallis tried everything from soccer and basketball to ballet, but softball was where she was both happiest and at her best.
A highly-rated recruit, Goodnight started her collegiate career at Alabama, where she played in 55 games as a freshman. She transferred to Georgia before her sophomore season and has been the Bulldogs' starting center fielder ever since. She hit .304 as a sophomore, with 22 steals, 17 RBIs and 37 runs scored. As a junior, she batted .351, scored 45 runs, drove in 14 and had 13 steals. So far this spring, she's hitting .338, is tied for the team lead with 40 runs and has a team-high 25 steals.
Mentally and physically, Goodnight said, she's a much different player now compared to when she first got to college.
"My strength and speed have increased a lot, but, really, what's taken the biggest step for me is the mindset piece," she said. "With experience and maturity, being able to get over negative outcomes faster, rather than worrying about them and having them affect anything else, I feel like that's been the biggest jump for me. ...
"The growth I've made as a person off the field and on the field, the life lessons I've learned, I feel like I'll be prepared for the real world from the things I've learned in softball."
Goodnight will soon graduate and move on to whatever the next chapter in her life is. She said she'd like to stay involved in sports, if possible, but beyond that, she really doesn't know what's to come. In the meantime, she's trying to savor her final weeks as a Georgia softball player and teammate to "these girls that I'm blessed to be around every day."
"I haven't really had to contemplate anything but school and softball in a long time," the Sport Management major said. "My whole life that's all I know, school and softball, so now I'm like: What do I do now?"
What she and the Bulldogs are doing now is wrapping up their regular season with a three-game series at Missouri starting Thursday. After that, Georgia will host the SEC tournament at Jack Turner Stadium beginning May 6.
"When I play my last softball game, I know it'll be bittersweet," she said, "but until then, I'm just enjoying the moment with my girls and trying to compete for what we want in the future."
Staff Writer
Dallis Goodnight can't remember exactly how old she was when she and her dad would play catch. She was young, almost certainly under 10, but that's about as specific as she can get. The glove that she was using, that she remembers with sparkling clarity.
"He taught me how to throw and catch a softball. I remember sitting in the front yard with my little pink and black Wilson glove, and he would teach me how to reach across my body to catch the ball," said Goodnight, Georgia's standout senior center fielder. "He coached me for a long time when I was little, throughout All-Stars and things like that."
Keith Goodnight was a solid running back at Illinois State in the early 1990s, and he was an Academic All-American as a senior in 1995. He rushed for 163 yards on just 13 carries in the Redbirds' 1995 opener and averaged 102.6 all-purpose yards a game that season, good enough for fourth in the Gateway Football Conference of the FCS.
Softball was not his sport until it was the one Dallis chose, and then it didn't take long for him to become Coach Goodnight. Now, as Dallis heads into the closing stretch of a very good Georgia career, it is her father, she said, who was the most pivotal person in helping her achieve her dreams.
"It was my dad, for sure," said Goodnight, from Dacula, Ga. "He made the sacrifices as far as financially, time, whatever it may be, to get me here. He was a college athlete himself, so he understood it and he understood me."
Keith and Carina Goodnight had four busy children, so their days were crammed with school, sports and other activities. Dallis tried everything from soccer and basketball to ballet, but softball was where she was both happiest and at her best.
A highly-rated recruit, Goodnight started her collegiate career at Alabama, where she played in 55 games as a freshman. She transferred to Georgia before her sophomore season and has been the Bulldogs' starting center fielder ever since. She hit .304 as a sophomore, with 22 steals, 17 RBIs and 37 runs scored. As a junior, she batted .351, scored 45 runs, drove in 14 and had 13 steals. So far this spring, she's hitting .338, is tied for the team lead with 40 runs and has a team-high 25 steals.
Mentally and physically, Goodnight said, she's a much different player now compared to when she first got to college.
"My strength and speed have increased a lot, but, really, what's taken the biggest step for me is the mindset piece," she said. "With experience and maturity, being able to get over negative outcomes faster, rather than worrying about them and having them affect anything else, I feel like that's been the biggest jump for me. ...
"The growth I've made as a person off the field and on the field, the life lessons I've learned, I feel like I'll be prepared for the real world from the things I've learned in softball."
Goodnight will soon graduate and move on to whatever the next chapter in her life is. She said she'd like to stay involved in sports, if possible, but beyond that, she really doesn't know what's to come. In the meantime, she's trying to savor her final weeks as a Georgia softball player and teammate to "these girls that I'm blessed to be around every day."
"I haven't really had to contemplate anything but school and softball in a long time," the Sport Management major said. "My whole life that's all I know, school and softball, so now I'm like: What do I do now?"
What she and the Bulldogs are doing now is wrapping up their regular season with a three-game series at Missouri starting Thursday. After that, Georgia will host the SEC tournament at Jack Turner Stadium beginning May 6.
"When I play my last softball game, I know it'll be bittersweet," she said, "but until then, I'm just enjoying the moment with my girls and trying to compete for what we want in the future."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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