Georgia softball has become a landing point for curious ACC transfers like these four

Georgia softball was a landing point for curious ACC transfers this year.

Junior pitchers Lilly Backes and Rachel Gibson out of North Carolina and Clemson; sophomore catcher Sarah Gordon out of Louisville; and of course, graduate pitcher Shelby Walters, who joined the Bulldog ranks two years ago from Duke.

It came down to the same two reasons you'd expect: Family and experiences.

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Backes, Gibson and Walters are all originally from Georgia, while Gordon is from South Carolina. When each one entered the portal, the desire to play near family, to have family come to their games and cheer them on in the stands, was a strong factor in the hunt for new stomping grounds.

"I always wanted to play at Georgia and when I got the opportunity, I knew I wanted to come home, be close to family and play for my home state school," Backes said.

The desire for new experiences, to stretch their legs and find the right fit, was there too. Especially for Gibson.

"Originally, I knew I needed to change," Gibson said. "There's nothing wrong with the Clemson program. They were amazing. But for me, personally, I wanted to get into the portal and get some new experiences, see what was out there for me because I had no idea what was going to happen when I did it. I always knew in my head I wanted to go to UGA, it's an amazing school and everyone wants to go to UGA that lives in Georgia. I never really expected they'd reach out to me though, and when they did I was (all in)."

Walters made her return from Durham, North Carolina, two years ago. She felt she was missing out on things happening at home and she didn't like that they were missing out on her growth across state lines. So, she bridged them together and settled in Athens, the place she grew up coming to with her diehard fan of a dad.

Gordon isn't exactly "home" per say, being from Lexington, S.C., but she's way closer than she was out on the eastern border of Kentucky. She didn't want to go to Clemson where her siblings were only because she wanted to create her own path.

"I like getting somewhere where I have to expand out and explore and meet new people," Gordon said. "I feel like, with Clemson, most of my high school went there. I like getting into a new environment and trying to figure out who I am around other people. That was the challenge for me, getting here and meeting a bunch of new people in a new (space)."

Now, Gordon's parents can come to Athens mid-week and be able to witness games like the 2-1 win over Clemson the Bulldogs pulled off two weeks ago, and Walters’ parents haven't missed a single game since she's put on the bold 'G' − her mom even went to Stanford for the DeMarini Invitational.

There aren't a lot of differences between conferences, they all agreed. Both are top notch in their own ways.

Walters is the only one who has had any SEC conference playing time − though everyone else will cross that off the bucket list on Friday when Alabama comes to town − and she said the biggest adjustment moving from the ACC to SEC was seeing top-25 teams consistently on the schedule, sometimes multiple times a week.

"There were some weekends in the ACC where you could kind of be like, 'Oh, we're playing this team.' Like maybe it was kind of an off-weekend kind of thing where it's like, I don't necessarily have to bring my A-game," Walters explained. "But in the SEC, if you bring your A-minus game out there, you're getting absolutely dogged. I'm not saying the level of competition is different, but in the sense of the teams you're playing, it's like a Super Regional every weekend. And the fans are crazy. SEC fans bleed their colors."

Gordon's noticed that effect too, the Dawg effect, and she's inspired by it. Softball is known as a game of failure, but they don't accept that at UGA.

"Everyone's working their butts off, no matter what their role or position is," Gordon said. "Growing up, you see people weave in and out of the sport because they don't like it as much or they don't have the passion and the drive. So, getting to college, I think it's amazing seeing that everyone wants to be here. It makes you want to be here, and it makes you want to compete for the team."

It's one of the best environments the four of them have been a part of and they count themselves lucky for that.

Sara Tidwell covers Athens-area high school sports and University of Georgia athletics for The Athens Banner-Herald. Contact her at stidwell@gannett.com and follow her @saramtidwell on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia softball welcomes three ACC transfers for 2024 season