March 26, 2010
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ATLANTA – After a successful 4-2 road trip through North Carolina and Texas, the No. 11/8 Georgia Tech Softball team (26-5, 2-1 ACC) opens up a 10-game homestand this weekend against Maryland (19-9, 0-2). The two teams will play a doubleheader Saturday and single game Sunday with both days beginning at 1 p.m. Admission to Mewborn Field is free. Both of Saturday’s games will be available on WREK, 91.1 FM in Atlanta. Live video, audio and stats are available for all three games.
The Yellow Jackets opened conference play last weekend by winning their 11th straight ACC series dating back to 2008. Tech beat No. 20/16 North Carolina in two out of three games, including the first career no-hitter by freshman Hope Rush in Sunday’s contest. The Yellow Jackets then went to Texas for spring break and came away with a 2-1 record. After splitting a doubleheader at Houston on Tuesday, Tech went up to College Station on Wednesday and knocked off No. 19/17 Texas A&M, 4-0, behind another Rush shutout. It ended the Aggies’ 11-game winning streak and was the first time they had been shut out at home since April of last season.
Jen Yee continues her torrid hitting as she ranks first in the nation in batting (.573), slugging percentage (1.281), runs scored (46) and home runs (18). In addition, she is second nationally in on-base percentage (.681), fourth nationally in RBI (43) and 11th in walks (30). Yee has hit more home runs than the entire Maryland team (15) as well as three other league schools heading into play this week: Boston College (15), Virginia (14) and Virginia Tech (11). UNC has 18, while Florida State has 19. As a team, the Yellow Jackets lead the nation in home runs (2.21 per game) and have more than doubled NC State (30), who is second in the ACC.
Yee has reached base safely in every game this season and there have been only two games all year in which she has not recorded at least one hit. Yee had a 19-game hitting streak top begin the season and is currently riding a seven-game streak. Of Tech’s 31 games this season, Yee has 14 multi-hit games including seven with at least three hits. She also has 12 multi-RBI games.
Hope Rush has now pitched 21.2 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run as she is 14-3 with a 1.12 ERA on the season. Since suffering a 2-0 loss to Nebraska on Feb. 26, 2010 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic, Rush is 9-1 with a 0.72 ERA. She has only allowed seven earned runs in 68.0 innings.
Georgia Tech is 7-2 against ranked teams this year and Rush has started eight of those contests. She is 7-1 with a 1.56 ERA and three shutouts against ranked competition and has gone the distance each time.
Junior Kristine Priebe has also been a big reason why the Yellow Jackets have enjoyed success thus far. Priebe is second on the team with a .337 batting average and has a .473 on-base percentage. In the last two weeks, Priebe has been on a power surge from the No. 3 spot in the batting order. The Moorpark, Calif., native has five home runs and 12 RBI in the last eight games. That includes two grand slams and her first career multi-home run game Tuesday night against Houston.
Also heating up is sophomore Kelsi Weseman, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year. Weseman has her average up to .300 on the season now as she has four multi-hit games in the last two weeks. In the last 10 games, Weseman is hitting .394 with 11 runs scored, four doubles, three home runs and eight RBI.
