March 26, 2011
ATLANTA – A suicide squeeze bunt by senior Kristine Priebe in the bottom of the seventh inning brought home junior Kelsi Weseman to score the game-winning run as the Georgia Tech softball team (26-5, 1-0 ACC) rallied for a 5-4 victory in game one against the NC State Wolfpack (15-13, 1-3). Game two was suspended in the fifth inning until Noon on Sunday because of rain.
Weseman was 1-2 in game one, but reached base three times after getting hit by pitches twice. Senior Kristen Adkins (12-2) earned the game one victory, coming into the game in the final inning of play while striking out one batter. Sophomore starting pitcher Hope Rush fanned two over six innings, allowed nine hits and four earned runs.
The Wolfpack got off to a fast start in the top of the first inning. With one out, Landon Warren laced a double to left centerfield advancing to third on a ground out to the shortstop. One batter later, Bridget Desbois roped a double down the leftfield line scoring Warren as NC State left the inning with a one-run lead.
The NC State bats continued to produce in the second inning as the Wolfpack loaded the bases with two outs, but the Jackets exited the inning unscathed as Rush got State’s centerfielder Landon Warren to strike out looking to end the inning.
The Jackets took the lead in the bottom of the second inning as, with one out, Kristine Priebe reached on a choppy single heading up the middle. Alysha Rudnik ripped a single into right field and while Priebe went from first to third, Rudnik tried to move up to second drawing a throw from NC State’s Bridget Desbois that sailed all the way to the rightfield wall allowing both runners to score as the Jackets took the 2-1 advantage.
NC State retaliated in the top of the fourth as the first two runners to come to the plate, Chelsea Tate and Alicia Abbott, scored via some small ball to give the Wolfpack the lead back, 3-2. NC State tacked on another run in the top of the fifth when, with bases loaded, Rush hit Alyssa Ishibashi with a pitch to force in the Wolfpack’s fourth run of the game. Rush got out of the inning in the next at bat as Toni Ann Williford flew out to leftfield.
Game two began similarly to game one as the Wolfpack manufactured a couple runs in the top of the first to take an early 2-0 lead. Unlike game one, the Jackets loaded the bases in the bottom half of the frame, but they couldn’t push anything across. There was nothing going through the next three innings and at the beginning of the fifth the teams decided to call the game due to the rain.
The Jackets are back in action tomorrow, Sunday March 26 at Noon where they will resume the end of game two and play game three of the weekend series with NC State. Live video, audio and stats will be available at RamblinWreck.com.
