Feb. 20, 2010
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Post-Game Interview With Kate Kuzma (2/20/10)
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Seven of the nine starters hit a home run as the No. 10/9 Georgia Tech Softball Team (8-0) cruised to a 11-2 win over Hawai’i (5-3) and 12-3 win against Long Beach State (3-4) Saturday at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic. Freshman Hope Rush hit two home runs for the Yellow Jackets while junior Kristine Priebe went 3-for-4 with a double, home run, three RBI and two walks.
Rush as well as redshirt senior Jen Yee extended their hitting streaks to eight games to begin the season. Those same seven Tech starters all had at least two hits and two runs scored as the Yellow Jackets pounded out 22 hits for the day. Yee was on base five more times today as she went 4-for-6 with four runs scored, a double, home run and two RBI. Sophomore Jessica Sinclair had four RBI on the day, while freshman Caitlin Jordan added her first career home run and three RBI.
Rush improved to 5-0 on the season with the win over Hawai’i, while sophomore Jessica Coan (2-0) was in the circle for the game two win against Long Beach State. The Jackets have now scored 52 runs in their last five games and have hit 21 home runs in eight games this season.
In game one against Hawai’i, Georgia Tech hit five home runs en route to the 11-2 win in six innings. Hawai’i scored first in the top of the second inning when Amanda Tauali’i hit a solo home run off Rush, but it was all Yellow Jackets after that. In the bottom of the inning, a two-run home run by sophomore Kate Kuzma was followed by solo shots off the bats of junior Kristine Priebe and freshman Caitlin Jordan. After the back-to-back-to-back home runs, Tech was up 4-1.
A solo home run by Weseman in the third inning, her third consecutive game with a round-tripper, put the Jackets up 5-1. Hawai’i got a run back in the fourth, but three more runs by the Yellow Jackets in the bottom of the fourth inning gave them insurance at 8-2. Jordan had a two-run double in the frame, while Yee added a RBI single. The hit by Yee and a single by Rush in that inning each extended their hitting streaks to seven games.
Sinclair then ended the game with a three-run home run in the sixth which enforced the run-rule at 11-2. Rush improved to 5-0 on the season as she scattered five hits and needed just 70 pitches for the complete-game effort. She struck out four and did not walk a batter.
In game two, the Yellow Jackets wasted no time in jumping on Long Beach State starter Brooke Turner, a member of the USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List. The Yellow Jackets scored four runs in the first inning. Sinclair had a RBI double, Kuzma had a RBI single and sophomore Jessica Weaver added two-run single.
After Coan got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the first inning, Tech scored three more times in the second to knock Turner out of the game. Yee led off the frame with a solo home run while Priebe added a two-run double later in the inning off relief pitcher Bridgette Pagano.
Rush added a two-run homer in the third to make it a 9-0 game. Long Beach State added a couple runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to get on the scoreboard but the Jackets enforced the run-rule for the second straight game with a three-run fifth. Weaver took the first pitch of the inning over the fence in left field and Rush tallied her second two-run homer of the game later on.
The Louisville Slugger Desert Classic concludes tomorrow when the Yellow Jackets will take on No. 11/10 California at Noon (ET). Live audio and stats for every game can be found at www.RamblinWreck.com.
