May 1, 2010
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score | Updated Stats
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RALEIGH, N.C. – Redshirt senior Jen Yee reached base in all 10 of her plate appearances as the No. 9/7 Georgia Tech Softball team (45-9, 18-2 ACC) swept NC State (28-25, 9-11) Saturday afternoon at Dail Stadium. Yee was 3-for-3 with a grand slam and seven walks as the Yellow Jackets won by scores of 11-4 and 9-2.
The wins secured the Yellow Jackets’ 17th straight ACC series win and the 18 conference wins also set a new school record. Yee took down two more records as well as she broke Aileen Morales’ Tech career runs scored record (217) and the ACC single-season runs scored record (82). Michelle Semmes of North Carolina held the previous record with 81 runs scored in 2000.
Freshman Hope Rush picked up a complete game win in Game One as she allowed four earned runs on seven hits while running her record to 25-6 on the season. Rush walked four and struck out seven. In Game Two, Rush hit a pair of three-run home runs for her third multi-home run game of the season. Rush now has 17 round-trippers on the season.
Junior Kristen Adkins (7-2) got the win in Game Two as she limited the Wolfpack to two runs on seven hits. Adkins walked one and fanned six. Sophomore Kelsi Weseman was 3-for-6 at the plate with a home run, two RBI and four runs scored. She was also hit by two pitches and walked. Junior Kristine Priebe, who went back-to-back wit Weseman in Game One, reached base six times as well. She worked four walks and was also hit by a pitch.
In the two games, the Yellow Jackets walked 17 times, were hit by a pitch four times and forced NC State to throw 332 pitches on the day.
Game One was scoreless until the fourth inning when Weseman and Priebe hit back-to-back home runs. For Weseman it was her 10th of the season while Priebe tallied her 15th.
NC State didn’t have a hit against Rush until the fourth inning, but came through to tie the game in the top of the fifth. A two-run home run by Kristine Bechtholdt tied the game for the Wolfpack.
The Yellow Jackets had two on with nobody out in the sixth inning, but NC State ace pitcher Lindsay Campana was able to get out of the jam. NC State took that momentum into the bottom half of the frame and took a 3-2 lead. After Rush got two quick pop-ups, a single and a walk put two on with two outs. Stephanie Call singled into left field driving in the go-ahead run but Rush worked out of a bases loaded jam to keep it just a one run deficit for Georgia Tech.
The Yellow Jackets responded in a big way with nine runs in the top of the seventh inning. Yee got it going with a one-out walk, stole second base and went to third on a wild pitch. After sophomore Kate Kuzma walked, a RBI single by Weseman tied the game at three. Later in the inning, Rush was up with the bases loaded and two outs when a passed ball allowed Kuzma to score the go-ahead run. That opened the flood gates for the Yellow Jackets as two errors, a couple of walks and a hit batsman made it a 7-3 game. Later in the inning, Yee busted it open with a grand slam to dead center field making it 11-3. For Yee, it was her 26th home run of the season which leads the nation.
NC State got another run off Yee in the bottom of the seventh accounting for the final run.
Georgia Tech scored the first run of Game Two in the second inning. With senior Kelly Eppinger at third and Yee at first base, Yee took off for second. When the throw went through, Yee got in a run-down. As she was heading back to first, Eppinger took off for home and a perfect slide avoided the tag as the Yellow Jackets took a 1-0 lead.
In the third inning, Tech went up 4-0. With Weseman and Priebe aboard, Rush hit a moon shot to dead center field for her 16th home run of the season. Rush hit another three-run shot in the fourth inning, also to dead center field, as the Jackets built a 7-0 lead. Weseman and Priebe also scored ahead of Rush’s 17th home run of the season.
NC State scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on another two-run homer by Bechtholdt, but that was all the offense against Adkins.
Tech added two more runs in the fifth inning on a pair of bases loaded walks by relief pitcher Morgan Peeler. Priebe and sophomore Danielle Dike earned the RBI walks.
Georgia Tech and NC State close out the 2010 regular season tomorrow with a single game at 1 p.m. Live audio and stats will be available at www.RamblinWreck.com beginning at 12:50 p.m.
