May 12, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Junior Caitlin Lever tied an Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament record with five runs batted in, hitting a grand slam and a solo home run (9), while senior Christine Sheridan went 3-for-4, with a home run and three RBIs, to lead No. 4 seed Georgia Tech (45-19) past No. 6 seed Virginia, 11-2 in five innings, in an elimination game on Friday.
The fourth-seeded Yellow Jackets will face No. 5 seed Florida State (40-25) in the semifinals of the bottom half of the bracket for the right to advance to the ACC Championship game on Sunday. Tech will have to defeat the Seminoles twice on Saturday, with game one beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Sophomore Whitney Humphreys (18-7) worked all 5.0 innings for Tech in the circle, scattering five hits, two runs and struck out two. Freshman Blair Shimandle drove in two runs for the Jackets, while junior Kristina Hull drove in the final run for Tech.
After trailing most of the game against Boston College this morning, the Yellow Jackets decided to jump out in front on the Cavaliers with a bang as Lever smacked a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning to plate four runs and give Tech a 4-0 lead with no outs. Hull drove in the fifth run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to right field and Shimandle doubled to left field to plate two more runs as the Jackets scored seven runs in the first, tying an ACC tourney record, on seven hits.
Virginia scored a run in the top of the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Erin Horn to cut into the Jacket lead, 7-1.
Lever smashed her second home run in as many at bats, tying a Tech single-game school record, to increase the Jackets lead to seven, 8-1.
UVa’s Sara Larquier hit a solo home run to left field in the top of the fourth inning to bring the Cavaliers within six, 8-2.
Sheridan ended the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with a three-run shot to left-center field to give the Jackets an 11-2, five inning victory, over the Wahoos.
Tech scored 11 runs, on 12 hits and had no errors, UVa scored two runs, on five hits and committed one error.
The semifinal game between FSU and Tech can be followed via live webcast at http://www.rjpsports.com/login/login.el.
NOTES: Lever ties ACC Tournament record with five RBIs in one game … Tech set a new tournament record with eight home runs as a team … Lever also ties tournament record with two home runs in a game.
-30-
