May 17, 2006
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech softball team (46-20) will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for the NCAA Regional as the No. 2 seed this Friday-Sunday, May 19-21. The double-elimination tournament will begin with the second-seeded Yellow Jackets against No. 3 seed Florida A&M (39-23) on Friday at 5 p.m. ET.
A look at the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional
#1 Alabama (49-9)
#2 Georgia Tech (46-20)
#3 Florida A&M (39-23)
#4 Mississippi Valley State (23-28)
Live stats will be provided at www.ramblinwreck.com.
This marks the fifth consecutive season the Yellow Jackets have received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Tech advanced to the NCAA Athens Regional final a season ago, falling 2-1 to top-seeded Georgia. The Jackets finished fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season standings and lost to Florida State in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
The winner of the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional will face the winner of the NCAA Fresno Regional – No. 12 overall seed Stanford, No. 2 Fresno State, No. 3 Cal State Fullerton and No. 4 Tulsa – in a NCAA Super Regional which will be a best-of-three series for the right to go to the College World Series.
Freshman sensation Whitney Haller, a native of Marietta, Ga., shattered ACC single-season records in home runs (23), RBI (70), total bases (162) and saves (6). She also currently holds the league’s top batting average (.393) and slugging percentage (.806). Haller was named ACC Freshman of the Year and selected to the All-ACC first team.
Senior Amy Hosier led the ACC with a .522 on base percentage and set a new Tech single-season school record with 51 walks. She ranks third in the league with a .377 batting average and has a career-high nine home runs. Hosier was named to the All-ACC first team for the second straight season and was selected to the ACC All-Tournament team.
Junior Caitlin Lever earned second team All-ACC honors for the Jackets and led the ACC Tournament with five runs scored, and finished second with six runs batted in and two home runs. She was named the ACC All-Tournnament team.
Senior Christine Sheridan was also named to the ACC All-Tournament team after batting .500 in five games. She ranks fourth on the team in batting, behind Haller, Hosier and Lever, with a .337 batting average and has a .431 on base percentage as the leadoff hitter for Tech.
The Jackets rank in several offensive categories in the NCAA and lead the conference in all offensive categories, except triples. Tech set new records in runs scored (402), hits (524), doubles (92), Home Runs (71), RBI (364), total bases (849), walks (235), and holds records in slugging percentage (.497) and on base percentage (.396) so far this season.
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