March 17, 2011
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech softball team (19-4) begins its spring break trip this weekend by participating in the Chanticleer Challenge in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Yellow Jackets will face Lipscomb (7-8) twice, Coastal Carolina (14-6), Kansas (21-3) and Providence (5-10) in the three-day event.
The Yellow Jackets have won 12 games in a row which is tied for the third-longest winning streak in school history. Seven of Tech’s last eight wins have been via a shut out.
Live audio and stats for each game this weekend will be available at RamblinWreck.com. Tech will face Lipscomb (2:30 p.m.) and Coastal Carolina (6:30 p.m.) on Friday, Kansas (Noon) and Lipscomb (2:30 p.m.) on Saturday and then Providence (10 a.m.) on Sunday. Tech already has a 7-0 win over the Friars last month in Miami, Fla.
Following an off day on Monday, the Yellow Jackets will travel to Rock Hill, S.C. for a 5 p.m. doubleheader at Tuesday at Winthrop before returning home to open up ACC play against NC State next weekend.
Freshman Hayley Downs leads the Jackets batting .500 on the season. She has hit safely in five straight games at a .700 clip (7-for-10). In the 12 games she has played in and gotten at least one at bat, the Grayson, Ga., native has hit safely in 10 of them.
Eight of the regular Georgia Tech starters are batting over .333 and four are hitting at least .400. Tech is batting .343 as a team and has now hit 44 home runs in 23 games. Six players have at least five round-trippers.
Since moving to the No. 7 spot in the batting order, junior Kelsi Weseman is batting .875 (7-for-8) with five home runs, 11 RBI and three walks. She has homered in each game since being moved to seventh in the lineup and is now hitting .400 on the season with nine home runs and 23 RBI.
On the season, the No. 7 spot in Tech’s batting order is hitting .491 (26-for-53).
Junior Shannon Bear is batting .418 with six home runs and 18 RBI, while sophomore Hope Rush has hit at a .407 clip with eight homers and 23 RBI. Senior Kristine Priebe has seven home runs and 21 RBI while junior Jessica Sinclair and freshman Alysha Rudnik have each hit five round-trippers as well.
Senior Christy Jones is batting .356 at the top of the order with 14 runs scored and is 16-for-17 in stolen base attempts. As a team, the Yellow Jackets have 33 stolen bases.
The pitching staff comes in with an ERA of 1.32 and has allowed just three earned runs in the last 49.1 innings pitched. Senior Kristen Adkins, a three-time ACC Pitcher of the Week already, is 9-2 with a 0.74 ERA and a .196 opponent’s batting average. She has 69 strikeouts in 66 innings and has now allowed a run in 22.1 consecutive innings now.
Rush, meanwhile, is 7-2 with a 1.06 ERA and .194 opponent’s batting average. She has a streak of 21.2 innings now without allowing a run.
