May 13, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Florida State’s Brittany Osmon hit a three-run home run in the first inning and Tiffany McDonald (28-16) tossed a complete game to lead No. 5 seed Florida State (41-26) past No. 4 seed Georgia Tech (46-20), 7-4, in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Tournament on Saturday night.
With the win, FSU advances to the ACC Championship game, while the Yellow Jackets will wait and see if they receive an at-large bid from the NCAA Softball Committee for the fifth consecutive season. The Softball Selection Show will air on ESPNews at 3:30 p.m. ET. The tournament field consists of 64 teams, with 36 at-large bids and 28 automatic bids handed out. The four-team NCAA Regional will be on campus sites, to be announced.
Tech ended the tournament with ACC records in RBI (25), home runs (10) and most runs in one inning, seven against Virginia on Friday.
Sophomore Savannah Brown went 1-for-4, with a home run (11) and two runs batted in, while sophomore Kristina Hull went 2-for-3. Senior Christine Sheridan and junior Caitlin Lever finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate to lead the Jackets offensively.
Freshman Lacey Richardson (7-5) started for the Jackets, working 1.0 inning and allowing four hits and four runs. Sophomore Sarah Wood tossed 5.2 innings, allowing six hits, three runs and struck out three.
The Seminoles took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Yuruby Alicart grounded out to shortstop which allowed Whitney Buckmon to score as she hit a double and advanced to third base on a passed ball to give FSU a 1-0 lead. Osmon then connected on a three-run home run to right-center field with two outs to increase the Seminoles lead to four.
The Jackets responded with two runs in the bottom half of the first inning as Lever drove in senior Amy Hosier who doubled and sophomore Aileen Morales drove in Lever to cut FSU’s lead down to two, 4-2.
In the bottom of the second inning, Hull and Sheridan singled and Hosier walked to load the bases with one out. Tech was unable to plate a run as freshman Whitney Haller grounded to the pitcher for an out at the plate and Lever grounded out to first base as the Jackets trailed 4-2.
Alicart led off the top of the third inning for the Seminoles with a base hit, advanced to second on a ground out and third on a wild pitch. Melissa Wood then hit a soft ground ball towards first base that Tech did not make a play on and allowed Alicart to score as the Jackets went down by three, 5-2.
FSU’s Alicart reached on a leadoff base hit in the top of the fifth inning, advanced to second on a bunt single, headed to third on a double play and scored on a wild pitch to advance the Seminoles’ lead to four, 6-2.
Brown smashed a solo home run to center field, her 11th of the season, with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning to bring the deficit to three, 6-3.
The Jackets managed a run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a RBI by Brown as Tech fell by a final score of 7-4.
Tech scored four runs, on nine hits and committed two errors, while FSU scored seven runs, on 10 hits and had three errors.
-30-
