May 7, 2009
RALEIGH, N.C. – Georgia Tech shortstop Kelsi Weseman has been named the ACC Freshman of the Year, while head coach Sharon Perkins is the Coach of the Year, it was announced tonight at the annual ACC Softball Awards Banquet. Awards were voted on by the league’s eight coaches.
Joining Weseman on the All-ACC first team are senior first baseman Whitney Haller and redshirt junior second baseman Jen Yee. Sophomore pitcher/third baseman Kristen Adkins, senior pitcher/third baseman Tiffany Johnson and senior outfielder Blair Shimandle were each second-team All-ACC selections giving the Yellow Jackets a league-high six all-conference members, the maximum allowed per school. North Carolina had five All-ACC picks, while Florida State had four.
In her third season, Perkins is Tech’s first Coach of the Year since 2005 (Ehren Earleywine) and just the fourth all-time in program history. Perkins has led the 2009 Yellow Jackets to just the second ACC regular season title in school history and in position to make their eighth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Weseman is Tech’s first Freshman of the Year since Haller took home that honor in 2006. The Hutto, Texas, native ranks second in the ACC in batting (.411), tied for third in hits (60), second in runs (41), tied for 10th in home runs (7), first in doubles (15), tied for seventh in triples (2), third in RBI (43), third in total bases (100), second in on-base percentage (.511) and fourth in slugging percentage (.685).
Haller joins Laura Williams as the only Yellow Jackets to earn All-ACC honors in four straight years. Already the Georgia Tech and ACC career home run and RBI leader, Haller is capping off her Tech career in style as a senior. The Marietta, Ga., native ranks fourth in the league in batting (.390), tied for third in hits (60), 10th in runs (34), tied for third in home runs (11), tied for seventh in doubles (9), first in RBI (51), second in total bases (104), sixth in on-base percentage (.463) and fifth in slugging percentage (.675).
Yee earns her first All-ACC nod after returning to Atlanta following a year off to be with the Canadian National Team and participate in the Olympics. A native of North Delta, British Columbia, Yee is currently third in the league in batting (.409), second in hits (61), first in runs scored (56), tied for first in home runs (12), second in doubles (14), tied for seventh in triples (2), tied for ninth in RBI (34), first in total bases (115), first in walks (38), first in on-base percentage (.539) and first in slugging percentage (.772).
Adkins earns a second-team All-ACC nod in her first year as a Yellow Jacket after transferring from the University of Florida. The McKinney, Texas, native is 21-7 in the circle with a 1.60 ERA. She is tied for third in the league in wins and fifth in ERA despite ranking just eighth in appearances and innings pitched. In ACC games, she led the way with an 11-3 record and two of those losses came in relief. Her five shutouts are tied for fifth in the league and she is a threat at the plate as well. Adkins ranks tied for eighth in the ACC with eight home runs and is 11th with 33 RBI. In addition, her .552 slugging percentage is 10th-best in the ACC and half of her home runs in the regular season ended up being game-winners.
Johnson and Shimandle each cap off successful careers with second-team All-ACC citations. Like Adkins, Johnson is a dual threat player. In the circle, she is 14-3 with a 1.76 ERA. The wins are good for ninth-best in the ACC, while her ERA is sixth-lowest. Johnson, who just had a perfect game May 2 at Maryland, also ranks third in the league with a .169 opponent’s batting average and her five shutouts are tied for the fifth-most. The Atlanta, Ga., native has the ninth-most strikeouts (138) this season despite not ranking among the league leaders in appearances or innings pitched.
A career .147 hitter heading into this season, Johnson is currently batting .299 with 37 runs scored (tied for seventh in ACC), 13 doubles (third), 11 home runs (tied for third) and 47 RBI (second).
Shimandle also earned her first career All-ACC award. She has batted over .300 in each of her first three seasons at Tech and heads into postseason with a .311 average this year. She is 10th in the league in hits (51), sixth in runs scored (38), tied for fourth in stolen bases (21) and has not made an error in over two years now. Her streak of 141 straight errorless games is a school record and she has made highlight reel grabs in the outfield throughout her career. This year, she also has a couple of doubles and 20 RBI. The LaGrange, Ga., native was named ACC Player of the Week last month after batting 10-for-11 in a weekend series at Virginia.
The Yellow Jackets will be the No. 1 seed in the single-elimination ACC Tournament which begins Friday, May 8, in Raleigh, N.C. on the campus of NC State University. Georgia Tech will play eighth-seeded Virginia in the first round at 5 p.m. and the winner of that game advances to the second semifinal game on Saturday, May 9, at 3:30 p.m. Tech swept the Cavaliers a couple of weeks ago in Charlottesville, Va.
The 2009 ACC Championship game is set for Sunday, May 10, at 1 p.m. and will be televised live on the Regional Sports Networks. ACC Select will provide free streaming video for every game the first two days of the tournament, while live audio and stats for all Georgia Tech games are available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
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