March 8, 2013
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THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech softball team continues its 14-game road swing and opens ACC action at Virginia Saturday. The Jackets (11-11) and Cavaliers (8-8) play a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. Saturday at The Park and a 12 p.m. contest Sunday wraps up the series.
Live Coverage
The game will be available via GameTracker and a free audio stream on www.RamblinWreck.com.
Georgia Tech
With injuries to key players, the Yellow Jackets have been forced to shuffle their lineup card over the last nine games. Tech is 3-7 in their last 10 games and hope to right the ship against Virginia this weekend as ACC play kicks off.
Junior Ashley Thomas leads the squad with a .400 batting average, 23 runs, 30 hits, two triples and 16 stolen bases. Sophomore Katie Johnsky led the team last weekend after she posted a team-high batting average of .409 over six games. She leads the team with nine doubles and is second on the squad with 24 hits.
Hope Rush leads the pitching staff with a 3.66 ERA and eight complete games. Freshman Ashley Clifton saw her first significant action of the season over the weekend at the Citrus Classic. The Sharpsburg, Ga. native, went 20.0 innings with a 1-1 record and a 4.20 ERA.
Virginia
The Cavaliers are 5-5 in their last 10 games and 8-8 overall. In their most recent action, the Cavaliers defeated Rhode Island and Winthrop at the Winthrop Tournament, before falling at UNC Greensboro.
Junior Marcy Bowdren leads the squad with a .289 batting average and 13 hits. Only four athletes are hitting above .200 and only three have double-digit hits.
What Virginia lacks in offensive output, it makes up for with pitching. Senior Melanie Mitchell owns a 1.46 ERA in 12 appearances and nine complete games. She has allowed just 15 earned runs with 90 strikeouts in 70.2 innings of work.
Series History
Virginia leads the series 37-33 and swept the Yellow Jackets in last season’s ACC opener in Atlanta. Tech defeated Virginia, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the 2012 ACC Championship in Chapel Hill, N.C. en route to its third ACC title in the last four years.
The two teams first met in 1989 and have opened ACC action against each other seven times. The Cavaliers hold the advantage in that regard 4-12.
