May 18, 2007
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Junior Brittany Barnes smashed a walk-off home run, her 20th dinger of the season, and sophomore Tiffany Johnson (17-6) tossed her 10th complete game of the season, scattering five hits and two runs, to lead No. 15 Georgia Tech (54-14) past No. 18 Texas (38-19), 3-2, in the NCAA Gainesville Regional on Friday at the Florida Softball Stadium.
“Before my at-bat, in the dugout, I was thinking how sweet it would be if I hit a walk-off,” said Barnes. “I was leading off the inning and I just wanted to get on base. I saw my pitch and swung and it went over the fence.”
Senior Caitlin Lever led the Jackets’ offensive attack, going 2-for-3, with a run scored and a stolen base. Junior Savannah Brown finished 1-for-2, with a double, RBI and a walk.
“We came out swinging the bats early,” said Tech Coach Sharon Perkins. “We needed to get ahead early and continue to put pressure on them, and we did that.”
Sophomore Whitney Haller knocked UT starting pitcher Meagan Denny (20-15) out of the game in the first inning on a line drive that struck her hip with runners at second and third and one out. Erin Tresselt came into the game and shut down the Jackets for 5.0 straight innings, before giving up the home run to Barnes to start the seventh inning.
The Yellow Jackets jumped on top of the Longhorns in the bottom of the first inning with two runs as junior Aileen Morales, Lever and Brown all had hits as Tech led 2-0.
The Longhorns scored a run on a wild pitch in the top of the fifth inning after a base hit and a pair of walks, but Johnson limited the damage as the Jackets continued to lead, 2-1.
Texas tied the game in the top of the sixth inning on a solo home run off the bat of Jacqueline Williams as the game advanced to the seventh inning knotted at 2-2.
Barnes connected on her second walk-off home run of the season, her 20th dinger of the year, to give the Jackets a big one-run victory.
Tech scored three runs, on seven hits and had no errors, while UT scored two runs, on five hits, and committed one error.
The 15th-ranked Yellow Jackets will take on No. 13 overall seed Florida (47-20) on Saturday at 1 p.m. The game can be followed live on GatorVision at www.GatorZone.com. All Tech games can be followed via live stats on www.RamblinWreck.com.
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