Sept. 18, 2008
2009 Schedule | New Stadium Construction Photo Galleries
ATLANTA – Four teams from the 2008 Women’s College World Series field and an additional two teams that were in Super Regional play highlight the 2009 Georgia Tech Softball Schedule released today by head coach Sharon Perkins. Another challenging schedule featuring 11 teams from the 2008 NCAA Tournament await the Yellow Jackets as they look for their eighth straight postseason bid.
“We put together a schedule like this to help prepare us for the tough conference season and beyond,” Perkins said. “To be the best you have to beat the best and having a top 25 RPI was one of my goals when I got here. With more than 10 top 25 teams scheduled, we will really get a chance to play elite competition and gain the necessary experience for post-season.”
The Yellow Jackets will also open up their brand-new on-campus stadium this season. Tech will host 18 home games at the new stadium which will be centrally located at the corner of eighth and Fowler streets in the heart of campus. The first game in the new stadium will be a doubleheader against UT-Martin on March 10. While several of the Jackets’ early home games could end under the lights, the first true night game will be an ACC clash against NC State on April 10.
“I cannot wait for our fans to have a chance to watch us play in our new stadium,” Perkins added. “Centrally located in the middle of campus, I hope that we can have an electric atmosphere that makes it one of the toughest places to play in the nation. Once our fans have a chance to watch top level softball on a beautiful spring evening while enjoying a view of the downtown Atlanta skyline they will see what makes collegiate softball so special.”
The first of nine fall games begins on Saturday, Sept. 27, with the annual alumni game at 1:00 p.m. The Jackets will also play Georgia State (Sept. 27; 1:00 p.m.), North Georgia (Sept. 28; 1:00 p.m.), Jacksonville State (Oct. 5; 2:00 p.m.), Young Harris (Oct. 12; 1:00 p.m.) and Georgia Perimeter College (Oct. 12; 3:00 p.m.). All are doubleheaders with the exception of Young Harris and GPC and will still be played at Glenn Field.
Georgia Tech will open the season with a pair of road doubleheaders at Georgia State and Furman the weekend of Feb. 7-8. Tech will then head back to Gainesville, Fla., site of their last two NCAA Tournament regionals, for the Lipton Invitational, Feb. 13-15. The Jackets will face Florida Atlantic, South Alabama, Texas Tech, Coastal Carolina and Florida, one of the four WCWS teams from a year ago. The next weekend, the Jackets embark for the California desert where they will participate in the Cathedral City Classic. Located just outside of Palm Springs, this is one of the premier tournaments in the nation and features 20 teams from last year’s NCAA Tournament field. In California, the Jackets will play UNLV, Loyola Marymount, Oregon, Cal-Poly and Oregon State.
After a mid-week single game at Kennesaw State (Feb. 25), Tech heads to Columbus, Ga., for the NFCA Leadoff Classic. There, the Jackets will face WCWS participant Louisiana-Lafayette, as well as LSU, Illinois State, Northwestern and Penn State. Northwestern was one of the Super Regional teams from a year ago.
The first weekend of March (6-8), the Jackets will host the annual Buzz Classic at the Twin Creeks Complex in Woodstock, Ga. This year, it will just be a round-robin tournament with Tech squaring off against Mercer, Purdue, Toledo, Winthrop and Western Kentucky.
On Tuesday, March 10, the Jackets will open up a seven-game homestand at the brand new Georgia Tech Softball Complex. The opener will be against UT-Martin for a doubleheader, while the rest of the homestand features single games against Kennesaw State (March 14) and Western Carolina (March 14), as well as a doubleheader vs. Winthrop (March 18).
Tech opens ACC play at defending champion and WCWS participant Virginia Tech for a three-game series, March 21-22, before returning home to play a twinbill against Georgia Southern on March 24 and a three-game series vs. Florida State, March 28-29.
After a road series at Boston College April, 4-5, and a single game at Georgia (April 8), the Jackets return home to host NC State on April 10 and 11. The April 10 doubleheader will mark the first true night game at the new stadium. In two years since taking over the Tech program, Perkins is 4-0 against Georgia, a 2008 Super Regional team.
Tech hits the road April 18 and 19 at Virginia, before retuning home to host 2008 WCWS foe Alabama on April 22. The final home weekend of the regular season will be against North Carolina April 25-26) before the Jackets travel to Maryland for the final regular season games, May 2-3.
The 2009 ACC Championship will be May 7-10 in Raleigh, N.C. This year, it will be a single-elimination tournament.
