THE FLATS – No. 25 Georgia Tech softball (19-9, 7-1 ACC) lost its first game in conference play, falling to Notre Dame (15-10, 1-4 ACC) 6-3, on Saturday evening at Mewborn Field. The Yellow Jackets took the lead off a sixth inning home run from Reese Hunter but couldn’t close out the game, bringing an end to the 15-game home winning streak.
QUICK HITS
- Tech’s 7-game ACC winning streak has come to an end, going down and the longest conference winning streak since 2012.
- The White & Gold have now hit 53 home runs this season, the most among Power 5 teams and more home runs than either of the past two full seasons.
- Reese Hunter connected for a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth, her fifth of the season.
- Her 3 RBI sets a new career-high as she entered double-digit RBI this season for the first time in her career (11 RBI).
- Gracie Hillman enjoyed a perfect day at the plate in her first collegiate start, going 3 for 3, including a bunt single and a leadoff single in the seventh inning.
- It was her second multi-hit performance of the season. Hillman has recorded multiple hits in every game she’s played in when getting multiple at bats.
- Chandler Dennis delivered one of her best outings of the season, pitching a season-best 6.1 innings and holding Notre Dame to just one run scored through the initial six innings.
- Dennis recorded a nine-pitch, two strikeout inning in the second, with the only batter who put the ball in play getting out on a weak grounder to third.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Notre Dame scored a run with four singles in the opening inning as Dennis got out of the jam with a grounder to third to limit the damage to just one run. That one run would stand for the next five innings as Dennis settled into the game. She responded incredibly well in the second inning, striking out the Irish leadoff batter in three pitches before working a three-pitch groundout and polishing off the near-immaculate inning with a three-pitch punchout on the next batter. The Tech bats were held in check until the sixth inning when Sara Beth Allen secured her second walk of the game getting to second on a wild pitch and advancing to third on a single from Abby Hughes. Hunter came up next, working the count full before exploding for a go-ahead three-run home run off the scoreboard in left to give the Jackets their first lead of the game, 3-1.
Kinsey Norton took over in the top of the seventh, getting the first out on a flyout before Notre Dame found three singles in a row, cutting the lead to 3-2. Dennis reentered the game with two outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd but the Irish found a double and a home run to hang five runs in the top of the 7th. Hillman and Jin Sileo hit back-to-back singles to leadoff the bottom of the inning, bringing the tying run and the top of the lineup to the plate, but Tech couldn’t find the big hit it needed and the game ended, 6-3.
UP NEXT
Tech will play a rubber game against Notre Dame tomorrow, at 3 p.m. from Mewborn Field. The game will be broadcast live on ACCN.
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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