April 2, 2004
The No. 23 Georgia Tech softball team opens its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule with No. 4 Florida State in Tallahassee this Saturday at 1p.m. The doubleheader will be the first ACC games for both Florida State and Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets dropped a pair of games to FSU in their last trip to Tallahassee, Fla., 7-2 and 6-3, and were swept in Atlanta last season, 4-0 and 6-0.
FSU downed the Jackets in the semifinals of the 2003 ACC Tournament, 5-3, as the fourth-ranked Seminoles have won five straight in the series and lead 31-6 overall.
Both teams will unveil the ACC’s top pitching aresenals as neither team carries a staff ERA of over 1.0. Florida State leads the conference with a team ERA of 0.46, while the Jackets stand second with a team ERA of 0.85.
Tech is led by Jessica Sallinger and Erin Voeltz on the mound. Sallinger is the league’s strikeout leader with 11.98 per game and ranks second with 19 wins. Voeltz stands fourth in the league with a 1.11 ERA and is fifth with 12 wins.
The Seminoles’ are led by Jessica van der Linden and Casey Hunter in the circle. Van der Linden leads the ACC with an ERA of 0.28, while teammate Hunter leads the conference in wins with 20.
Not to be outdone by their counterparts, the Florida State and Georgia Tech offenses rank one and two in the ACC. FSU is hitting a league-leading .311, while Tech is currently batting .295 as a team. The Yellow Jackets and Seminoles are also one and two in home runs, with FSU holding a slight advantage, 28-27.
Florida State and Georgia Tech are the only two teams in the ACC that are nationally ranked. FSU is No. 4 in both the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate and USA Today/NFCA Polls. Tech is No. 23/25 in the respective polls.
