April 4, 2009
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score | Updated Stats
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The No. 24 Georgia Tech (27-10, 5-3 ACC) softball team split a doubleheader at Boston College (12-19, 1-4) Saturday afternoon at Shea Field. The Yellow Jackets left 13 runners on base and lost game one on a walk-off single 1-0. In game two, the bats exploded for 12 runs on 15 hits en route to a 12-1, five-inning win.
Kelsi Weseman was 3-for-4 for the Yellow Jackets and had a home run and two RBI. Kate Kuzma also hit a home run for the Yellow Jackets. Tiffany Johnson allowed a leadoff home run in the second game and then held the Eagles hitless for the rest of the game as she improved to 11-1.
In game one, the Eagles scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Amy Tunstall doubled with one out and then pinch runner Allie Thunstrom scored on a RBI single by Allison Kooistra.
Kristen Adkins (13-6) took the tough loss for the Yellow Jackets as she gave up the one earned run on five hits in 6.1 innings. She walked one and struck out five batters.
It was a frustrating game for the Tech offense. The Yellow Jackets had just two hits in the game, but seven walks, two hits batters and two Boston College errors led to 13 runners left on base.
BC used two different pitchers in the game, but it was reliever Taylor Peyton (7-8) who picked up the win. She pitched four scoreless innings and gave up one hit. She walked two and struck out two.
The Yellow Jackets had at least one base runner in every inning and left at least two on in five different innings. The best chance came in the sixth as Adkins, Kate Kuzma and Jessica Weaver all walked to lead off the inning, but. Peyton was able to get out of the inning without any damage. Both Christy Jones and Blair Shimandle reached on fielder’s choices where the Eagles recorded an out at the plate. Peyton then got Jen Yee to end the inning on a ground out.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Jackets had two on with two outs when Kuzma hit a deep drive to dead center field. On most days it would have been a three-run home run, but not with 30-plus mile-per-hour winds blowing straight in. BC center fielder Carolyn Jones settled under it and made the catch on the warning track to end the threat and set up the Eagles win in the bottom of the frame.
In game two, Britney Wilkins led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run to left field off Tiffany Johnson, but it was all Yellow Jackets after that. That would be the only hit of the for the Eagles as Tech exploded for 12 runs on 15 hits to earn the split.
The Jackets broke through in the scoring column for the first time of the day with three runs in the top of the second inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Shimandle dumped a single into shallow left field. Johnson, who tripled off the top of the fight-field fence leading off the inning, came around to score. Yee followed with a ground ball to shortstop. Irene Delagrammatica fielded it cleanly, but her throw was wild allowing two runs to score. Kelsi Weseman walked re-loading the bases, but Whitney Haller grounded out to end the inning.
Georgia Tech scored single runs in the third and fourth innings to spot Johnson a 5-1 lead. Weaver had a RBI single in the third and then Kelsi Weseman hit her fourth home run of the season in the fourth making it a 5-1 game.
The Jackets broke the game wide open with seven more runs in the fifth inning as they used six hits and a big BC error. Yee and Adkins had RBI doubles, while Johnson drove in two runs with a single. Weseman also drove in a run with a single, but the big blast in the inning was a two-run home run to dead center field by Kuzma.
No. 24 Georgia Tech and Boston College wrap up the three-game series tomorrow at Noon. Live audio and stats will be available free of charge at www.ramblinwreck.com.
