Monday, May 7, 2012

Softball head coach gets 700th win in series sweep

By on April 25, 2010

The No. 10 Georgia softball team may have posted wins by the scores of 3-1 and 10-2, respectively, Sunday afternoon, but the day’s magic number was 700.

LU HARRIS-CHAMPER

Head coach Lu Harris-Champer earned her way into NCAA softball’s 700-win club as the Bulldogs cruised to a series sweep over South Carolina.

Junior pitcher Katie Murphy (3-2) earned the win in the second game of the series for Harris-Champer’s 491st victory as a Georgia Bulldog, a 3-1 Georgia victory solidified by going four innings and allowing only one earned run on three hits.

Georgia’s (40-8, 17-6 SEC) runs in the contest all came during the bottom of the third inning — with an RBI single by junior Brianna Hesson followed by a two-RBI single from sophomore catcher Kristyn Sandberg.

Sandberg and Hesson are two of the five Bulldogs to reach the 30-RBI mark in 2010.

The final game of the series came in the form of a 10-2 run rule, finalized by the powerful bat of sophomore Ashley Razey.

The day continued what has become a month of walk-off hits for the Southern Miss transfer, as Razey belted a two-run home run to end the game and the conference series.  The final hit of her day completed a 3-for-4 outburst at the plate, driving six runners in to outscore the Gamecocks all by herself.

Razey, another member of the 30-RBI club this season, has hit 11 home runs now in her first season with the Bulldogs.

Georgia took Game 1 on Saturday afternoon, winning 9-8 thanks in part to home runs from juniors Alisa Goler and Megan Wiggins.

The three games won add on to a lengthy laundry list of SEC and non-conference opponents that have fallen to Georgia during its 15-game winning streak.

Since the streak began on April 3, Georgia has gone from a 5-6 SEC record to an impressive 17-6.

The Bulldogs are now neck-and-neck with Tennessee and Florida for the regular season SEC East title, with just one more weekend of SEC action upcoming against Louisiana State.

Harris-Champer, who came to Athens after having already earned 209 wins with Nicholls State and Southern Mississippi, now sports a 701-240-1 record in her 14-year career.