#BestOfGT: On this day in 2011, Caitlin Jordan tied a program record with three home runs in a game against Virginia. She earned ACC Player of the Week, batting .625 (5-for-8) with four RBI while scoring four runs and slugging 1.750. Savannah Brown is the only other Yellow Jacket to hit three home runs in a game and she did that twice in 2007.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 22/22 Georgia Tech softball team (39-8, 13-1 ACC) hit seven home runs en route to a doubleheader sweep of Virginia (21-25, 4-12) Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Caitlin Jordan hit three home runs in game two to tie a school record as the Yellow Jackets won 9-2. In game one, senior Kristine Priebe went deep twice in an 8-0 win. The wins extend Georgia Tech’s ACC record winning streak in conference series’ to 22.
Junior Kelsi Weseman hit a double in each game for Tech to break Jen Yee’s school record of 46. Jordan tied the Tech single game record for home runs as former Yellow Jacket Savannah Brown did it twice in 2007 (vs. 4/7 vs. Florida State and 4/27 vs. Virginia). She came up with a chance to tie the NCAA record but lined out to shortstop in the seventh inning.
In game one, senior Kristen Adkins threw a complete-game shutout with a career-high 11 strikeouts while senior Kristine Priebe went 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI in the 8-0 win. Adkins improved to 18-5 with the win as she scattered three singles, two of which were infield ones, and walked two. Jordan added two hits while junior Kate Kuzma broke the game open in the third inning with a three-run triple.
Game two saw Jordan hit three round-trippers while junior Kate Kuzma and freshman Alysha Rudnik also went deep in the 9-2 win. Freshman Lindsey Anderson went the distance as she improved to 10-0 on the season. She allowed one earned run on four hits while walking two and striking out seven.
Game one began on Friday and Georgia Tech struck first in the top of the second inning. With junior Kate Kuzma at third base and one out, senior Kristine Priebe ripped a RBI single into center field putting the Yellow Jackets up 1-0. With a full count on junior Jessica Sinclair, the next batter, the umpires called for the tarp with heavy rain falling down.
One hour and forty minutes later, play resumed and Sinclair drew a walk. Tech had runners at second and third with one out but could not score any more as it took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the second.
Following a 1-2-3 bottom of the second inning by senior Kristen Adkins, the sky opened up again and play was called for the second time. With the forecast for more rain throughout the night, officials decided to suspend the game until Saturday at Noon.
When play resumed on Saturday, the Yellow Jackets jumped all over Virginia pitcher Melanie Mitchell for six runs to open up a 7-0 lead. Tech loaded the bases with nobody out and then Kuzma promptly cleared them with a three-run triple down the right-field line. Later in the inning, freshman Alysha Rudnik had a RBI single and Priebe added a two-run home run, her 11th of the year.
Priebe capped the scoring in the seventh inning when she launched one over the fence just to the left of dead center field making it 8-0 Yellow Jackets. It was her second homer of the game and 12th of the season.
Sophomore Caitlin Jordan got the Yellow Jackets on the board in the second inning of game two as she hit her fourth home run of the season (all in the last 10 days), a line drive over the fence in center field to put Tech up 1-0.
Mitchell held the Jackets scoreless until the fourth inning. After Priebe singled to open the frame, Jordan launched another ball over the fence in dead center field for her second home run of the day and fifth in the last six games putting Tech up 3-0.
Rachel Harvey recorded a stand up triple with two outs in the fourth inning and was the first Virginia base runner of the game but Anderson stranded runners at the corners to keep it a 3-0 game after four innings.
The Yellow Jackets blew the game open in the fifth inning against Mitchell. After Weseman’s record-breaking double put runners on second and third, Priebe dropped down a successful squeeze for the fourth Tech run. The ball got away from the catcher and Weseman tried to score but was thrown out at the plate. Kuzma and Jordan followed, however, with back-to-back home runs putting Georgia Tech up 7-0. For Kuzma it was her fourth home run of the season, while Jordan became the second ever Jacket to hit three home runs in a game as Savannah Brown did it twice.
Rudnik hit a two-run home run in the seventh, her 15th of the season, to round out the scoring for the Yellow Jackets.
