ATHENS, Ga. – No. 25 Georgia Tech softball (18-8, 6-0 ACC) suffered a loss on Wednesday evening, falling to No. 5 Georgia (21-3, 0-0 SEC) by a score of 6-3 at Jack Turner Stadium. The Yellow Jackets scored three runs in the top of the 7th but ran out of time, snapping Tech’s winning streak at 15 games.
QUICK HITS
- The Jackets’ winning streak was stopped at 15 games, officially the 2nd longest winning streak in program history.
- Blake Neleman made her eighth start of the year, pitching the initial 2.0 innings.
- It was the 91st start of her career at Tech, tying her with Whitney Humphreys (2005-08) for the fifth most starts in program history.
- She recorded her 600th career strikeout in the second inning, becoming just the second Yellow Jacket to ever reach the 600 K plateau, alongside Jessica Sallinger (2002-05).
- Reese Hunter secured the Jackets’ first hit of the ball game, extending her on-base streak to eight games, just one game shy of her career-long, set earlier this season.
- Kinsey Norton was the first Jacket out of the bullpen, taking over to begin the third inning. She saw her scoreless inning streak come to an end after a career-best 14.1 innings without allowing a run.
- Sara Beth Allen reached base after being hit by a pitch in the top of the 7th, extending her career-best on-base streak to 19 games.
- Mallorie Black lined a two-run double in the top of the 7th. It was her 33rd and 34th RBI of the year, tying her with Madison Dobbins and one other player for the most RBI in the ACC.
- The hit extended Black’s in-base streak to 23 games, tied for the longest streak since 2014.
- Abby Hughes drove in Black with a single in the 7th, her 4th RBI of the season and 28th as a Jacket.
- Sophia Voyles came in to get the final two outs of the sixth inning. She got the last out via punch out, her 33rd strikeout of the year.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a scoreless top of the first, the Bulldogs got each of their first three batters home thanks to a walk and a pair of home runs. Neleman stayed in the fight, getting the next two batters before Hunter fired a dart across the diamond to catch an attempted UGA steal with plenty of room to spare. Neleman returned for the second, retiring the Bulldogs in order while striking out the final two batters of the inning for her 600th and 601st career punch outs.
Kinsey Norton took over pitching duties in the bottom of the third, working herself out of a bases loaded, no out jam by inducing a pair of ground balls, the first was smothered by Black in front of third base, allowing her to toss to Hunter to nab the lead runner, before forcing a picture perfect double-play ball to Jin Sileo at short, who started off an inning ending 6-4-3 double play to get out of the inning unscathed.
The Tech offense wasn’t able to capitalize on that momentum, being held hitless for the first five innings of the game. UGA added a pair of runs in the fifth off a leadoff walk and a home run before the Jackets got into the H column with a leadoff single from Hunter. After UGA added another run in the bottom of the sixth, Norton was relieved by Voyles, who took care of both batters she faced to take the game into the 7th inning and the Jackets trailing, 0-6.
In the 7th, Edgmon and Allen both reached base to lead things off. With runners on, Black ripped a double down the left field line, driving in Edgmon and allowing Allen to score all the way from first, cutting the UGA lead to 2-6, with still nobody out. After a UGA pitching change and the first out of the inning, Tiffany Domingue battled through a 13-pitch at bat, fouling off nine pitches, before ultimately being retired for the second out. Hughes kept the line moving, dropping a fly ball into shallow right center to bring in Black. The Jackets had the tying run on deck but ran out of outs, falling to No. 5 Georgia, 6-3.
UP NEXT
The Jackets will return home this weekend for an ACC series against Notre Dame (12-9, 0-3 ACC) beginning this Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets for the Notre Dame series are available at ramblinwreck.com
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of the development of Yellow Jackets that thrive academically at the Institute and compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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