May 14, 2010
BLACKSBURG, Va. – Junior Kristen Adkins pitched a three-hit shutout and was 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI as the No. 7/7 Georgia Tech Softball team (47-9) beat Boston College (16-33), 8-0, in five innings Friday evening in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. Adkins (8-2) scattered three singles, did not walk a batter and struck out three. She threw just 57 pitches in the five innings.
Georgia Tech pounded out 11 hits as five different players had two. Redshirt senior Jen Yee walked three times, including once intentionally, breaking former Arizona State All-American Kaitlin Cochran’s NCAA single-season record of 29 she had in the Sun Devils’ national championship season of 2008.
Freshman Hope Rush blasted her 19th home run of the season, a two-run shot, which was part of her two hit day. Junior Kristine Priebe, sophomore Shannon Bear and junior Christy Jones also had two hits for the Yellow Jackets in addition to Rush and Adkins.
After a scoreless first inning, Tech got on the board against BC starting pitcher Nicole D’Argento with four runs in the second inning. Priebe led off with a single. Rush then followed with a sacrifice bunt, but D’Argento’s throw went into right field allowing Rush to reach as Priebe took third. Sophomore Danielle Dike made it 1-0 with a sac fly to left field and then a three-run home run off the bat of Adkins just to the right of dead center field gave Tech a 4-0 edge. It was her fifth homer of the season.
Tech added another run in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to enforce the run rule. A RBI ground out by sophomore Kate Kuzma made it a 5-0 game after four. Rush’s two-run home run over the scoreboard in right field made it a 7-0 game and then Yee ended it when she walked with the bases loaded.
Georgia Tech will now face No. 4 North Carolina in the second ACC semifinal game tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. Live video through ACC All-Access is available at www.RamblinWreck.com. If the Yellow Jackets win, they would advance to Sunday’s championship game at 1 p.m. That game will be televised live on the ACC’s Regional Sports Networks, including SportSouth in the state of Georgia. Live audio and stats for all Georgia Tech games is available at www.RamblinWreck.com.
