GAINESVILLE, FLA. – No. 3 seed Georgia Tech softball (27-24, 10-11 ACC) saw its season come to a close on Saturday afternoon with a 7-3 loss to No. 4 seed Mercer (39-25, 11-9 SoCon) in Gainesville, Fla. The game ends Tech’s 13th NCAA Tournament run as a program and the second run under head coach Aileen Morales.
QUICK HITS
- Kinsey Norton made her 29th overall appearance of the season in the form of her fifth start on Saturday against Mercer.
- Sophia Voyles made her 33rd overall appearance and ninth relief appearance of the season as she entered the circle in the first inning to relieve Norton.
- Voyles finished the game with six strikeouts, bring her to 142 strikeouts this season and 271 total career strikeouts in 289.2 total innings pitched.
- Red-shirt freshman Gracyn Tucker led Techs offense against the Bears, with two hits and two RBI.
- Tucker’s two hits brought her to eight multi-hit games of the season.
- The first baseman finishes the season leading Tech in both hits (47) and RBI (43).
- The Jackets turned their 15th double play of the season following Voyles entry into the circle.
- Addison Leschber finishes the season holding the longest reached base streak of the season after getting on base in each of the last 15 games. Her streak is just ahead of Jayden Gailey’s 13-game streak.
- Leschber finishes the season leading Tech in batting average (.350) and slugging percentage (.607) while freshman Alyssa Willer finishes leading the team in on base percentage (.483).
How it Happened
- With three runners on base for the Bears, a wild pitch gave Mercer its first run of the game before back-to-back singles stacked two more runs in the first.
- Voyles took over in the circle for Norton in the first with the bases loaded. One final run came across for the Bears before a double play and a fly out to right closed the top half of the first inning.
- Voyles kept the Bears’ offense at bay in the second and collected two strikeouts, one looking and one swinging, along the way.
- Mercer posted one run in the third after a sacrificed bunt advanced the runner home from third. Singles from Emma Simon and Ella Edgmon put the Jackets on base before a single from Willer sent Simon running home from second to give Tech its first run of the game.
- The senior right-handed pitcher remained in the circle through the fourth and fifth and recorded another two strikeouts, both of which went down swinging.
- After starting the fifth inning with two outs, the Jackets were able to load the bases just before a Tucker single down the left field line was accompanied by a Mercer throwing error that brought in two runs for Tech.
- Voyles collected two more strikeouts across the final 2.0 innings she pitched while the Jackets’ defense kept the Bears’ offense at bay through the remainder of the game. Tech saw one final batter reach first in the form of Emma Minghini who reached off a fielder’s choice.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech softball team, follow us on Twitter (@GaTechSoftball), Facebook, Instagram (@GaTechsoftball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
