Georgia Run Rules Kentucky in First Round of SEC Tournament, 8-0

Tuesday, May 6

Athens, Ga.

1:00 p.m.

University of Georgia

31-19

Kentucky

29-26

Kentucky

Georgia

Georgia Run Rules Kentucky in First Round of SEC Tournament, 8-0

May 06, 2025 | Softball

Box Score Photo Gallery

SOFTBALL | vs. (13) Kentucky | W, 8-0 (5 inn.)
Winning pitcher: Lilli Backes (14-9)
Losing Pitcher: Carson Fall (6-7)

Season Record: 31-19, 7-16 SEC

ATHENS, Ga. – The 12^th-seeded Georgia Bulldogs defeated 13^th-seeded Kentucky, 8-0, in five innings to open play at the SEC Tournament at Jack Turner Stadium on Tuesday.

Georgia advances to play fifth-seeded Arkansas on Wednesday. Game Five of the SEC Tournament between Georgia and Arkansas will square off 35 minutes following the conclusion of the 11 a.m. game.

FAST FACTS

Jaydyn Goodwin went 2-for-3 with four RBI. She tied Georgia's SEC Tournament record with her four RBI. Paige Wilson drove in four runs against Florida on May 11, 2013, in Lexington.
Dallis Goodnight also scattered two hits with an RBI in the contest. Goodnight and Goodwin combined for four of Georgia's eight total hits.
Lilli Backes pitched the complete-game shutout in the circle, improving to 14-9 on the season. She gave up three hits, struck out six, and walked two.
Georgia has now won its first SEC Tournament game in back-to-back seasons, the first time Georgia has done so since 2014 and 2015.
The Bulldogs are 2-1 all-time against Arkansas in the SEC Tournament. The most recent meeting was in 2019 in College Station in the opening round. Georgia won the game 4-1.

KEY QUOTES
Georgia Head Coach Tony Baldwin
Opening statement…
"Really excited to get things started. Shout out to all of the Georgia administration and all of the supporting cast members that have really worked hard to put on a great show. I thought the facility looks amazing, and it was just fun to have all of the buzz and the excitement that the SEC Tournament provides here on our home field. As far as the game goes, I thought Lilli [Backes] did a really good job of establishing command in the strike zone early – probably as few change-ups as we've thrown in a minute for her – and that was just a tribute to the fact that she was commanding the other stuff so well. Dallis [Goodnight] was really a spark for us today – got a big hit there in the five-run inning – and Shorty [Jaydyn Goodwin] did what Shorty does. I'm really proud of the way that we played and we got after it. I thought we were pretty free in our competitiveness and we didn't make it a bigger deal than it is. Overall, I would say this is a crazy, funny game. Sunday, I felt like we hit the ball well for seven innings, and we get shut out, and today we had some things fall in that we'll certainly take. We've taken our fair share of the tough breaks that this game provides, so we'll take the good breaks today and just enjoy the win and get ready to go again tomorrow."

On the five-run fourth inning…
"Just proud of the way we were stringing together some at-bats there and made some adjustments. We had talked going into that inning about – Coach Lu [Harris-Champer] used to always say you feel time, you don't think time when it comes to hitting, and I felt like we were thinking time a lot trying to figure out what we were trying to hit. And so we really talked about making an intent to just time the ball and feel what shows up, and I thought we did a good job in that inning. We got a couple of breaks too. We had a couple of little balls fall in that we'll take, and otherwise I thought we ran the bases aggressively and we applied pressure in those two big innings."

#1 Dallis Goodnight | Sr. | OF
On her hit to lead off a three-run first inning…
"Yeah, I mean I was just excited to get going with the tournament at home but just trying to get a good pitch to hit and find my way on base – that's really my job is just get on base, run the bases. We have many power hitters behind us to hit me in, and it worked out today."

#99 Lilli Backes | Sr. | LHP
On the grind of the SEC regular season and being at her peak for a game like today…
"I think this season's been a grind. We've been working to improve every day, and every game we've done a little bit better, so it was awesome for us to come out today and everything seemed to come together at the right time."

UP NEXT
Georgia advances to play fifth-seeded Arkansas on Wednesday. Game Five of the SEC Tournament between Georgia and Arkansas will square off 35 minutes following the conclusion of the 11 a.m. game.