ATHENS, Ga. - The 11th-ranked Georgia softball team blasted three home runs en route to a 9-1 win in five innings over South Carolina Saturday afternoon at Jack Turner Stadium.

Georgia improves to 36-10 on the season and 14-5 in SEC play. This is Georgia's fifth SEC series win of the season.

Georgia and South Carolina, along with the other 11 SEC softball teams, wore teal and teal accents Saturday to honor the memory of Alex Wilcox. Wilcox was a member of the 2018 Mississippi State softball team who inspired the nation with her courageous fight against ovarian cancer. That fight ultimately took her life in the summer of 2018. More information on All for Alex can be found at www.geauxteal.com/allforalex. A silent auction for Georgia's game-worn teal jerseys raised $3,397 for Geaux Teal.

Shelby Walters (17-3) worked the complete game, allowing one unearned run on one hit. Despite giving up a first inning run, Walters took a no-hit bid into the fourth inning. She struck out two and walked one.

Jaiden Fields, Jaydyn Goodwin, and Ellie Armistead all had two hits, each also hitting a home run. Fields had three RBI and scored three times Saturday.

A pair of Georgia errors in the first inning allowed South Carolina to push across an unearned run and take a 1-0 lead in the opening frame.

Fields pulled up at third on a leadoff error in right to begin the bottom of the second. She tagged and scored on a sac fly to left off the bat of Lyndi Rae Davis to tie the game at 1-all. Later in the inning, Goodwin knocked her fifth home run of the season, a solo shot, to give the Bulldogs the lead, 2-1.

Armistead kicked off a five-run third inning with a leadoff home run, 3-1. With Jayda Kearney on second, Fields started a string of four-straight hits to drive in four more runs and widen the Georgia lead to 7-1.

A leadoff walk to Kearney in the home half of the fifth set Fields up for a two-run home run to put Georgia ahead 9-1 and secure the run-rule victory and the series for Georgia.

Head Coach Tony Baldwin

On Jaiden Fields' walk-off...

"I thought she made a really good adjustment. We had talked after her second at-bat. I thought that she needed to give herself a little more time so she could have time to work with her process of her swing. They got behind in the count, so she got to sit on a pitch that she wanted and get a good swing on it. I'm super proud of her. Ellie [Armistead] is playing great softball right now. Jayda [Kearney] is in a really good place. Lyndi Rae [Davis] had some good at-bats today - drove in a run with the sac fly and another with the base hit. There were a lot of really good at-bats today, and we'll go try to do the same tomorrow."

On expectations for Sunday...

"Constant challenge to play all three phases of the game. Be locked in and connected as a team. We'll look to command the ball in the circle and catch and throw out on defense like we are capable of doing. It's not about being perfect, but it's about being as close to our abilities as we can. And whose day is it going to be tomorrow? Somebody will have a good day and hopefully that will be enough to get us one more run than they get."

Up Next

The series finale is set for Sunday at 12 p.m. at Jack Turner Stadium. Seniors from both teams will be honored prior to the game at approximately 11:40 a.m.