No. 3 Seed Tech Falls to No. 2 seed Florida Atlantic in Game One of the NCAA Regionals

GAINESVILLE, FLA. – No. 3 seed Georgia Tech softball (27-23, 10-11 ACC) came up short in the first game of the 2025 NCAA Gainesville, Fla. Regional after falling 5-4 in eight innings to No. 2 seed Florida Atlantic (45-10, 23-4 AAC). Sophia Voyles and Makayla Coffield split time in the circle while Tech’s offense was led by NFCA All-Region Third Team first baseman Addison Leschber with two runs, three hits, one RBI, one home run, and seven putouts.

QUICK HITS

• Voyles made her 24^th start of the season on Thursday and struck out two batters across 5.0 innings pitched.
• Coffield relieved Voyles in the sixth inning, making her 23^rd overall appearance, her 21^st of the season as a relief pitcher.
• Leschber went 3 for 3 with two runs scored and a solo home run to lead the Yellow Jacket offense in game one of Regionals. Her seventh inning, game tying home run marked her eighth home run of the season, making her second on the team in that category behind Gracyn Tucker (12).
• The first baseman now leads the team with a .360 batting average and .623 slugging percentage while her .479 on base percentage is bested only by freshman Alyssa Willer (.482).
• Grace Connelly recorded her 10^th double of the season in the fourth inning, giving her the second most doubles on the team behind Eliana Gottlieb and Paige Vukadinovich who have 11 respectively.
• Leschber’s multiple hits against Florida Atlantic put her at third most on the team for multi-hit games (9) behind Eliana Gottlieb (10), and Vukadinovich (11). Her multi-hit performance extended her reached base streak to a team high of 14 games, surpassing Jayden Gailey’s previous team high reached base streak of 13 games.
• Emma Simon recorded her third double of the season in the sixth inning to provide Tech a one-run lead over Florida Atlantic. Her two RBI mark her second multi-RBI performance of the season.
• This was Tech’s first game of the season that extended into extra innings. The last game the Jackets saw go to extra innings was against Louisville in 2024, when Tech went on to win 5-3 in nine innings.
• Friday’s eight inning game was the sixth time Tech has seen an NCAA game go to extra innings, with the most recent game being against No. 2 seed Oregon in the 2010 season.
• Tech shifts to 5-4 in regional play when facing the No. 2 seeded team.
• The Jackets continue their regional run against No. 4 seed Mercer on Saturday. Tech saw Mercer once in the regular season, when it came up just short of a comeback with an 8-5 loss at Mewborn Field.

How it Happened

• After a scoreless first inning for both teams, the Owls struck first with a solo home run over left center to take to a small lead in the second.
• Voyles and the Yellow Jacket defense held Florida Atlantic to one run through the third and fourth before a solo home run over right center forced Tech to trail by two in the fifth.
• A single to second put Leschber on base before a throwing error from the Owls advanced her to second. Back-to-back singles from Tucker and Connelly put Tech on the board. With two runners on and a 0-1 count, Simon stepped up and sent a double back to the center field wall, advancing both Connelly and Paige Vukadinovich running home for the 3-2 lead.
• Coffield relieved starting pitcher Voyles to start the sixth inning and helped the Jackets sit down to Owls right off the bat. Florida Atlantic was able to get one runner on base via walk before back-to-back doubles down the left field line brought two runs in to return the lead to the Owls.
• With two outs in the top of the seventh, Leschber hit a solo home run over right field off a full count to tie the game 4-4 and keep the Jackets alive. In the bottom of the seventh, Tech went on to leave Owl runner stranded at first as they finished the seventh inning with a double play.
• Despite having two outs to start the eighth, Simon got on base with a single before Ella Edgmon advanced the freshman and got on base herself with a single to the shortstop. Both Jackets were left on base as a line out returned the Owls to bat.
• A walk and a pair of singles proved to be enough as one final Florida Atlantic run came in and brought the game to a close.

UP NEXT

No. 3 seed Georgia Tech softball will take on No. 4 Mercer on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. with hopes of advancing to the 5:00 p.m. game. The late game would see the Jackets take on the loser between the No. 1 seed Gators of Florida or a rematch with the No. 2 seed Owls of Florida Atlantic.

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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