No. 8 Seed Jackets Rampage Past No. 9 Cal to Advance in ACC Tournament

THE FLATS – No. 8 seed Georgia Tech softball (27-21, 10-11 ACC) earned its spot in the Quarterfinal round of the ACC Softball Tournament with an impressive 8-0 shutout victory against No. 9 seed Cal (35-19, 11-13 ACC) on Wednesday afternoon. The Jackets were highlighted by senior pitcher Sophia Voyles who surrendered no runs and junior Addison Leschber whose solo home run secured the five-inning victory.

QUICK HITS

• The five inning, 8-0 victory goes down as the program’s first ever win as the No. 8 seed in the ACC Tournament.
• Voyles made her 23^rd start of the season, 30^th appearance overall, this season in round one of the ACC Tournament against Cal
• The senior faced 21 batters and recorded four strikeouts to earn her fifth solo shutout of the season as well as her sixth complete game. Voyles nears the end of her collegiate career with six shutouts and eight complete games thrown.
• Leschber slammed her seventh home run of the season in the fourth inning which ties her with Alyssa Willer for the second most home runs this season, just behind Gracyn Tucker who has 12.
• Her two hits on Wednesday bring her to eight multi-hit games this season, which is the fourth most for the Yellow Jackets this season. The first baseman’s two hits also extend her active reached base streak to a season-high 12 games, which is the second longest behind Jayden Gailey (13 games).
• Freshman short stop Emma Simon tied her career high for hits for the third time this season after recording two hits against the No. 9 seed Bears.
• Wednesday contest against Cal saw not a single Yellow Jacket get out via strikeout. This marks the fourth time the Jackets have avoided being struck out, with the most recent time being back in February against Dayton.
• Wednesday’s 8-0 win is Tech’s second win in the overall series against Cal and is both the first run-rule victory and shutout victory over the Bears.
• Tech’s most recent ACC Tournament shutout victory was back in 2021 when the No. 9 seeded Jackets defeated the No. 8 seeded Syracuse Orange (6-0).
• The last time Tech recorded a run-rule victory during an ACC Tournament run was during the 2010 season when the No. 1 seeded Jackets not only beat No. 8 seed Boston College (8-0), but also No. 4 seed North Carolina (8-0) before they went on the beat No. 3 seed Florida State.
• In Thursday’s Quarterfinal round No. 8 seed Georgia Tech will take on No. 1 seed Florida State. This will be the first meeting of the season between the two teams after the three-game series was cancelled earlier this season.
• Against Florida State in the ACC Tournament, Tech trails 15-6 with its last conference tournament victory over the Seminoles being a 9-2 victory in the Final round in 2012.
• The most recent meeting between Tech and Florida State was at the 2024 ACC Softball Tournament where the Jackets fell short in the Semifinal round.

How it Happened

• Voyles started in the circle for Tech and caught one Bear swinging before the Yellow Jackets’ defense pulled off an early double play to quickly end the inning.
• The Jackets wasted little time getting on the board as they stacked five runs on four hits with one Bear error in the first inning. Leschber provided Tech’s first runs as Willer and Gottlieb came home after the first baseman’s sacrificed bunt was topped with a Cal error. The junior came home shortly after off a single from Tucker.
• A fielder’s choice for Grace Connelly and a walk for Vukadinovich put Tech on base before a single from Reese Hunter pushed the Jackets’ lead to four runs. Vukadinovich capped Tech’s scoring in the opening inning as she advanced home from third off a sacrificed fly to right field from Ella Edgmon.
• Voyles faced four batters in the top of the second, only one of which got on base, and surrendered no runs as the lone Bear on second was left out there. In the bottom half of the second, Vukadinovich was not only called safe at first due to a Cal error, but advanced all the way to third as Tucker and Leschber both came home.
• After a scoreless third inning for both Tech and Cal, a solo home run off the first pitch to Leschber gave the Jackets’ their eighth unanswered run of the game. Leschber’s solo shot pair with solid defensive execution in the top of the fifth not only gave Tech the run rule victory but secured its spot in the ACC Tournament Quarter Finals on Thursday.

Tournament Information

2025 ACC Softball Championship Schedule (All Times Eastern)
Wednesday, May 7- First Round
Game 1: #8 Georgia Tech vs. #9 California | 11 a.m. | ACCN
Game 2: #5 Stanford vs. #12 Pitt | 1:30 p.m. | ACCN
Game 3: #7 Virginia vs. #10 Louisville | 5 p.m. | ACCN
Game 4: #6 North Carolina vs. #11 Notre Dame | 7:30 p.m. | ACCN

Thursday, May 8 – Quarterfinal
Game 5: #1 Florida State vs. #8 Georgia Tech | 11 a.m. | ACCN
Game 6: #4 Duke vs. Game 2 Winner | 1:30 p.m. | ACCN
Game 7: #2 Clemson vs. Game 3 Winner | 5 p.m. | ACCN
Game 8: #3 Virginia Tech vs. Game 4 Winner | 7:30 p.m. | ACCN

Friday, May 9 – Semifinal
Game 9: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner | 1 p.m. | ACCN
Game 10: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner | 3:30 p.m. | ACCN

Saturday, May 10 – Final
Championship: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN

UP NEXT
Georgia Tech softball continues its ACC Tournament run with a Quarterfinal round game against No. 1 seed Florida State at 11 a.m. on Thursday at the Harrington Athletics Village in Brighton, Mass. The game is set to be streamed on ACC Network.

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

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