April 13, 2007
ATLANTA – The 24th-ranked Georgia Tech softball team (37-13, 6-6 ACC) will begin a nine-game Atlantic Coast Conference road swing this weekend, April 14-15, in College Park, Md., against the Terrapins (24-15, 4-5 ACC). The Yellow Jackets and Terps will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 11 a.m. and a single game on Sunday at Noon.
The doubleheader on Saturday between Tech and UMD will air via webcast on www.ACCSelect.com. All three games between the Jackets and Terps can also be followed via live stats on www.ramblinwreck.com.
The Jackets lead Maryland in the overall series, 19-16. Tech has won 15 of the last 16 contests, including three straight, between these two schools, dropping only a 2-1 decision in 2005 when the Jackets claimed the ACC regular season title.
The Yellow Jackets boast one of the top offensive teams in the country. Tech is tied for second in the nation with 60 home runs, eighth in scoring (6.58), ninth in slugging percentage (.517), 11th in doubles per game (1.32) and 14th in batting average (.323).
Leading Tech at the plate continues to be senior Caitlin Lever. She is sixth in the nation with a .503 batting average and leads the ACC with an impressive .567 on base percentage.
In the circle, junior Whitney Humphreys (16-5) picked up a pair of wins last weekend against Florida State and has a career-high 98 strikeouts this season. She ranks second on the team with a 2.62 earned run average.
For the Terps, Amber Jackson leads the way with a .381 batting average and leads the ACC in home runs with 16, tied for third best in the nation.
The Rambling Wreck is No. 17 in the latest RPI rankings and has strength of schedule of 21. Only Virginia Tech stands ahead of the Jackets in the rankings, No. 14. Both schools are followed by No. 19 North Carolina, No. 24 NC State, No. 36 Florida State, No. 72 Maryland, No. 119 Virginia and No. 148 Boston College.
The Jackets will continue on the road in the ACC, heading to Boston College next weekend and wrapping up league play against Virginia the following weekend in Charlottesville, Va.
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