No. 20 Arkansas takes series over No. 3 Georgia

A grand slam by Hannah Gammill in the seventh inning put an exclamation mark on the Arkansas softball team’s series-clinching victory at No. 3 Georgia on Monday.

Gammill homered twice and tied a career-high 5 RBI to lift the No. 20 Razorbacks (26-9, 5-4 SEC) to an 8-2 victory at Jack Turner Stadium in Athens, Ga.

The series victory was Arkansas’ first on the road over a team ranked in the top three.

With Arkansas leading 3-2 entering the final inning, a bases loaded hitby-pitch coupled with Gammill’s grand slam blew open what had been a tight game. The five-run seventh was the Razorbacks’ highest-scoring inning in SEC play.

It was the first series loss for Georgia (29-6, 6-3), which had a chance to pull within one game of Tennessee for first place in the SEC. Those teams are scheduled to play later this week.

The Razorbacks responded from an 8-2 loss Sunday that followed a series-opening 3-2 victory Saturday. Arkansas has not lost back-to-back games this season.

Arkansas left-hander Robyn Herron started and pitched for the first time since a 2-1 loss at Auburn on March 17. She suffered an injury to her throwing arm during the first inning of that game.

She combined with right-hander Morgan Leinstock, who pitched the final 3 2/3 innings, to limit an explosive Georgia offense to five hits.

Herron tossed 3 1/3 innings but was not given the win because she exited with the score tied 2-2. The sophomore from Tampa, Fla., gave up 3 hits and struck out 4 batters with 1 walk. Of her 63 pitches, 41 were strikes.

Leinstock did not allow any runs and struck out three batters, including a game-ending swinging strikeout of Sydney Chambley. She gave up 2 hits on 42 pitches against 13 batters faced.

Of the Razorbacks’ eight runs scored, six were via home runs.

The Razorbacks moved into sixth place in the SEC standings. The Bulldogs dropped to fifth.

Arkansas is scheduled to host No. 13 Missouri in the opener of a threegame series beginning at 5 p.m. Friday.