May 12, 2007
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Senior Caitlin Lever blasted her 11th home run of the season, a three-run shot, and senior Sarah Wood (12-1) worked 3.2 strong innings in relief, to lead No. 17 Georgia Tech (53-13) past Florida State, 7-3, on Saturday in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament at JoAnne Graf Field.
“We did a great job answering back in the bottom of the first inning with three runs, after they jumped on top,” said Tech coach Sharon Perkins. “We had great at bats all the way through the game.”
The Yellow Jackets broke the school record with their 53rd win of the season, and advance to the ACC Championship game for the third time in four years. The game will be televised on FSN South on Sunday at Noon.
“We’re excited to make the ACC Championship game and look forward to trying to accomplish one of our season goals, winning a conference title,” said Perkins.
Sophomore Jennifer Yee extended her hitting streak to 19 games, while Wood recorded her eighth straight win in the circle. Yee also set a new ACC single-season record with her 72nd run scored.
Sophomore Tiffany Johnson earned her fifth save of the season, second of the tournament, tossing 1.1 scoreless innings, striking out one. Junior Whitney Humphreys (23-5) started the game for the Jackets, working 2.0 innings, allowing three hits and one earned run.
Senior Kristina Hull finished the game 1-for-1, with one RBI and one walk, while senior Daisy Paez had a pinch-hit RBI single to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning. Junior Savannah Brown went 1-for-2, with two runs scored.
The Seminoles took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Yuruby Alicart doubled to left-center field to score ACC Freshman of the Year Monica Montez who reached on a walk.
The Yellow Jackets responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning, courtesy of a three-run blast by Lever, her 11th of the season, to take a 3-1 lead.
Paez had a pinch-hit single in the bottom of the fourth inning and junior Aileen Morales drove in another run to give the Jackets a 5-1 lead.
The Seminoles cut into Tech’s lead in the top of the fifth inning on a wild pitch by Wood with runners on second and third as the score moved to 5-2.
Tech took its largest lead of the game at five, 7-2, after scoring two runs on a ground out by sophomore Blair Shimandle and a RBI walk by Hull.
FSU scored a second run on a wild pitch, this time in the top of the sixth inning as the Jackets’ lead was cut to four, 7-3. With runners at the corners, Tech brought in right-handed reliever Johnson and she recorded the final out of the inning with a pop out to second base.
Johnson retired the side in order in the top of the seventh inning to advance Tech to the ACC Championship game.
Tech scored seven runs, on eight hits and had no errors, while FSU scored three runs, on five hits and committed one error.
The third-seeded Yellow Jackets advance to the ACC title game and will face the winner of top-seed Virginia Tech (46-14) and No. 5 seed North Carolina (45-18).
NOTES: GT making third appearance in last four years in the ACC Title Game…Lever extends hitting streak to 9 games, while Yee moves to 19-game hitting streak.
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