THE FLATS – Georgia Tech softball’s Tricia Awald has been named ACC Player of the Week following her performance in the Jackets’ weekend sweep of Virginia, the league announced on Tuesday. The recognition marks the first weekly ACC honor for Awald in her career.
Awald is now the third Yellow Jacket to garner weekly ACC honors this season as catcher Emma Kauf was named ACC Player of the Week while pitcher Blake Neleman was named ACC Co-Pitcher of the Week, both following Tech’s season-opening Buzz Classic.
Awald was nearly perfect at the dish through Georgia Tech’s vital sweep of Virginia, leading the Jackets batting .714 as she went 5-for-7 with two homers, five RBI and three runs scored. She achieved her strong stat line despite the Hoos opting to pitch around her much of the series as she also came away with four walks, one per game. Awald batted .500 or better in each contest and went a perfect 1.000 at the plate in the final two games of the series.
The Marietta, Ga. native blasted her second grand slam of the season in game two and laced a solo shot in game four to move to a team-leading 11 homeruns this season. Her grand slam broke game two open, moving Tech ahead 6-0 and allowing the Jackets to later run rule the Cavaliers in five, 8-0. Awald’s solo bomb put the Yellow Jackets up for good in game four as they took a 4-3 lead on the way to an eventual 6-3 win.
The lefty slugger finished with an .833 on-base percentage and a 1.571 slugging percentage through the series. In the field, she aided the Jackets to a flawless 1.000 fielding percentage as a team in the series with 25 putouts on her own account.
On the season, Awald has been among the nation’s best at the dish as she’s 25th in the country and leads the conference in on-base percentage (0.548). The first baseman is near the top of the league in multiple ACC categories as she’s third in batting average (0.413), fifth in homeruns (11) and slugging percentage (0.736), seventh in hits (50) and total bases (89), and second in walks per game (0.68). Awald also leads the team in each of the aforementioned categories as the only Jacket batting above .400.
Up Next
Georgia Tech awaits a bid for the ACC Tournament May 12-15 in Louisville, Ky. The Yellow Jackets are currently in position to make the tournament as they’re ninth in the ACC with the top 10 teams in the conference advancing. With one final weekend of competition remaining for other schools across the league and seeding determined based on conference winning percentage, Tech’s fate is yet to be determined.
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