May 10, 2007
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Senior Sarah Wood (11-1) tossed 6.0 innings, allowing just four hits, one run and struck out four, while sophomore Whitney Haller went 2-for-3, with a home run (15) and two runs batted in, to lead No. 17 Georgia Tech (51-13) to a 5-1 win over Maryland (32-25) in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday at JoAnne Graf Field.
“We did all three phases of the game well today, offense, defense and pitching,” said Tech coach Sharon Perkins. “We set the tone early with our offense, and rode that momentum to the end of the game.”
Win the win, the Yellow Jackets extend their school record winning streak to 17 games. Sophomore Jennifer Yee increased her career-best hitting streak to 16 games, finishing 2-for-4, with a double and one RBI.
Sophomore Tiffany Johnson earned her fourth save of the season in the circle, entering the game in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and recording three consecutive outs.
Senior Kristina Hull went 1-for-1 at the plate, with a double and two walks, while junior Savannah Brown finished 1-for-3, with one RBI. Senior Caitlin Lever and junior Stephanie Butler each added a hit for the Jackets.
The Jackets took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, courtesy of a two-out home run by Haller to right-center field.
Tech added two more runs in the bottom of the third inning with two outs, as Haller drove in a run and Brown drove in a run as the lead went to 3-0.
The Jackets flashed some unbelievable leather in the top of the fifth inning as junior shortstop Aileen Morales snagged one up the middle and made a great throw to first, followed by a snag by junior third baseman Brittany Barnes down the line which took away a sure double for the Terps as the game moved to the bottom half of the fifth with Tech leading 3-0.
Tech added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, thanks to a wild pitch and a double by Yee down the right field line as the lead grew to 5-0.
The Terps did not go down without a fight, loading the bases with no outs, on two walks and a single to remove Wood from the game. Johnson entered for the Jackets and recorded three straight outs, two ground outs to the circle and a pop out to center field to end the game, 5-1.
Tech scored five runs, on eight hits and had no errors, while UMD scored one run, on four hits and committed one error.
The third-seeded Yellow Jackets will face the winner of No. 2 seed NC State (41-17, 15-6 ACC) and No. 7 seed Boston College (14-29, 4-16 ACC) on Friday at 12:30 p.m. The game can be followed on www.ACCSelect.com, or via live stats on www.ramblinwreck.com.
NOTES: GT’s Haller moves into a tie for third all-time in ACC history with 39 career home runs, 10 shy of record…Yee’s hitting streak is the longest of the season for any Yellow Jacket…Tech now has an NCAA leading 92 home runs…Tech is one win shy of tying the school record of 52 wins in a season.
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