April 21, 2004
STATESBORO, Ga. – Junior Jessica Sallinger (25-6) broke the school record with her 13th shutout of the season in the opener of a doubleheader as No. 23 Georgia Tech (39-13) defeated Georgia Southern (24-23) in game one, 1-0. Sallinger tallied 12 strikeouts in the game, surpassing the 10-strikeout plateau for the 17th time this season. Senior Erin Voeltz (14-7) fired her fifth complete-game shutout in the nightcap and senior first baseman Tasha Waugh smashed the game-winning home run with two outs in the seventh inning to push Tech past the Eagles, 1-0.
In the first game, Tech’s Sallinger and the Eagles’ Cary Moone put on a pitching display as neither team mounted any type of offensive attack through the first five innings. Moone had a no-hitter broken up in the top of the fifth inning as senior shortstop Tara Knudsen singled down the left field line. Sallinger surrendered a hit in the second inning and held the Eagles hitless from that moment on.
The Yellow Jackets broke a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth inning with an unearned run. Junior third baseman Kirin Kumar led off with a bunt single to third base. Kumar moved over to second base on a sacrifice bunt. Junior second baseman Katie Donovan then singled up the middle and advanced to second base on the throw to the plate as Tech had runners on second and third with one out. GSU’s Moone picked up a big strikeout for the second out of the inning. Kumar then scored on a throwing error by the Eagles’ catcher trying to pick her off of third base to give the Jackets a 1-0 lead.
Sallinger made the lead stick retiring the next six batters in order. The Kennesaw, Ga., native finished with a two-hitter and walked two in the game.
Tech scored one run, on four hits and had two errors, while GSU had two hits and one error.
In game two, GSU’s Kim Griffin broke up Voeltz’s perfect game in the bottom of the fourth inning with a hard shot that Kumar could not handle with two outs. Voeltz retired the next batter with a pop out, as the game remained scoreless heading to the fifth inning.
The Eagles’ Shanita Black tallied the second hit of the game for GSU with a single to the shortstop with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Jackets’ Lauren Schlechte then threw Black out at second base on an attempted steal to end the inning and send the game to the seventh inning scoreless.
Waugh broke up GSU’s Logan Free’s no-hitter with two outs in the seventh inning with her second home run of the season to left field as Tech jumped out in front, 1-0.
Voeltz retired the side in order to cap off the shutout. She fanned five in the game and walked none.
Tech scored one run, on two hits and had no errors, while GSU had two hits and one error.
The Yellow Jackets will have a 10-day layoff before hosting Maryland in an ACC doubleheader on Sunday, May 2. Game time is set for Noon.
