March 18, 2018
THE FLATS — A two home run day from senior Draven Sonnon powered Georgia Tech softball (16-9, 5-1 ACC) to a 5-0 victory over North Carolina State (15-11, 3-5 ACC) in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Mewborn Field. With the win, the Jackets took the series two games to one. It is the Jackets’ second-straight Atlantic Coast Conference series win.
Head coach Aileen Morales says:
“It’s great to take another ACC series this weekend. Our offense made a great adjustment from the last two games, and what else can you say about how Sonnon swung the bat. She had two clutch home runs for us, one of which came in a 10 pitch at bat. Lastly, Anderson was solid in the circle , throwing another shutout.”
How it happened:
Leading off for the Jackets, freshman Cameron Stanford drew a walk to start off the bottom of the first. Junior Katie Krzus followed suit, advancing Stanford to second. With two outs and runners on first and second, sophomore Crosby Huckabay took the first pitch she saw and sent an RBI single to right field, plating Stanford to give Tech the 1-0 lead.
Taking the 1-0 lead into the bottom of the third, Sonnon hit a solo shot over center field for her second home run of the series, fifth of the season, to bring the score to 2-0 in favor of the Jackets.
Tech added another in the bottom of the fourth. Freshman Breanna Roper singled down the left field line to reach base. Sophomore Rebecca Prairie reached on a fielder’s choice with Roper out at second on the play. Once again the Jackets were able to make something happen with two outs recorded. Senior Malea Bell sent a double deep to right center, bringing Prairie home from first to move the score to 3-0.
Sonnon came up big again in the bottom of the fifth. Again with two outs, Sonnon sent out her second home run of the day out over left center. The one-run homer brought Tech’s tally to 4-0. She finished the weekend with three home runs on four hits in nine at bats. She slugged 1.444 on the weekend.
Tech tallied another run in the bottom of the sixth. Roper singled to left center, advancing to second on a single from Prairie to right field. NC State made a pitching change and Bell reached on a fielder’s choice with Prairie out at second on the play and Roper. Stanford drew a walk to load the bases and freshman Lilly Hooper singled, allowing Roper to cross the plate for the final score for Tech at 5-0.
Senior Emily Anderson pitched her 14th complete game for the Jackets and fifth shutout of the season.
Up next:
Tech takes a break from conference play, heading to the west coast to compete in the Matador Classic hosted by CSUN, March 23-25 in Northridge, Calif. The Jackets will face Pacific, CSUN, Cal Poly and Santa Clara as part of the tournament.
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