Georgia softball runs Kentucky out of town in first round of SEC Tournament: Key takeaways Georgia softball kicked off the SEC Tournament with an 8-0 mercy-rule shutout over 13-seeded Kentucky. The 12-seeded Bulldogs (31-19) chased off the Wildcats (29-26) in five innings on May 6. The Bulldogs got off to a hot, 3-0 start thanks to a double up right center field by Jaydyn Goodwin.
Things remained slow on both ends from there until errors in the bottom of the fourth inning gave them the advantage. Sarah Gordon essentially called game when she popped a ball over home plate to sneak Ellison and Goodwin home on the come down. Georgia advances to play 5-seeded Arkansas (38-11) around 2 p.m. on May 7 in the second round.
The game will begin 35 minutes after 8-seeded Mississippi State takes on 9-seeded LSU at 11 a.m. There are morning storms on the forecast in Athens, with rain predicted until noon. "They're extremely well coached and they seem to be on a roll right now," coach Tony Baldwin said of Arkansas.
"But the crazy thing about this game is, it's one game. We don't have to beat them 56 times. We just have to find a way to have things go our way tomorrow.
I feel good about where we are." Here are three quick takeaways from Georgia softball's first round win: BRACKET: Full TV schedule, seedings for 2025 championship TICKETS: How to attend 2025 SEC softball championships in Athens BEFORE YOU GO: SEC softball Tournament parking, schedule in Athens, Georgia AWARDS: USA TODAY Sports Network 2025 All-SEC softball coach and player of the year Jaydyn Goodwin gets the Dawgs a good win If anyone can be commended for the first-round victory over Kentucky, it's Jaydyn Goodwin. The junior left fielder had 2 runs, 2 hits and 4 RBIs in 3 plate appearances against the Wildcats.
She tied her season-high for runs batted in, which she set at four when Michigan State was in Athens in February. The first two RBIs she claimed Tuesday came off a double up right center field. She got Georgia the early 2-0 lead when Dallis Goodnight and Tyler Ellison returned home in the bottom of the first inning.
The other two were marked off a single to bring home Goodnight again and Mua Williams in the bottom of the fourth inning, making it 6-0. When asked how Goodwin has improved her plate discipline, Baldwin said it all came back to her maturity. "The gal has had a lot of at-bats at the SEC level as a junior," Baldwin said.
"She's learned, sometimes the hard way, that at the end of the day, when you're one of the focal points that people are trying to attack, you have to be able to have a little bit of a game plan. "She's learned what her strengths are. …
Her hand-eye coordination is as good as anybody I've ever coached. She just doesn't swing and miss, and that's a blessing and a curse sometimes." Goodwin is ranked second on the team with a .350 batting average and 1.038 on base percentage across 50 games and 163 at bats, garnering 43 runs, 57 hits, 44 RBIs and 10 home runs.
She's second on the team for RBIs, trailing Sarah Gordon, who has 46. Lilli Backes stands her ground in the circle Senior left-handed pitcher Lilli Backes added a 14th win to her column Tuesday when she held down the circle for five innings against Kentucky. She's now 14-9 on the season to lead the Bulldogs rotation with an 3.40 ERA and 1.41 WHIP.
Facing 21 Kentucky batters, she only allowed 3 hits and 2 walks, collecting 6 strikeouts for a game ERA of 3.28 across 101 pitches. She's often used as the relief pitcher, having only 19 starts in 32 games, so to come out at the start and finish it all on her own was an achievement in itself. Assistant coach Chelsea Wilkinson, who played at Georgia from 2013-16 and has seen success in this tournament, mentored Backes through her first season in Athens in 2024, helping her make an immediate impact.
In Tuesday's game, with runners on the corners, Wilkinson gave Backes a piece of advice: "She said to focus on my spots," Backes relayed. "It only takes one good pitch to get out of it." Dallis Goodnight does what she does best: Stolen bases When senior center fielder Dallis Goodnight gets on first base, and the infielders gather at the circle to debrief, it's safe to assume they're working out a way to stop her from stealing second.
Stealing bases is one of the things she does best, after all. The second play of the day was Goodnight… stealing second. She singled through the right side to get on first as the lead hitter and snagged it with Tyler Ellison at bat.
"Just trying to get a good hit and find my way on base, that's really my job," Goodnight said. "Just get on base, roll the bases." Goodnight is ranked 38th in the nation in total stolen bases and stolen bases per game, averaging .53 for a total of 27 on the season.
She's ranked fourth in the SEC, behind Alabama's Audrey Vandagriff (48 total), Florida's Kendra Falby (34 total) and Texas' Kayden Henry (28 total).
