March 2, 2011
ATLANTA – Senior Kristine Priebe went 3-for-4 with five RBI and had a walk-off grand slam as the Georgia Tech softball team (9-4) defeated Niagara (0-1), 12-3 in five innings, Wednesday evening in the home opener at Mewborn Field.
Sophomore Hope Rush and junior Jessica Sinclair also had home runs for the Yellow Jackets as they recorded season-highs in runs and hits (13). Junior Kate Kuzma was on base all four times with two hits and two walks while scoring three runs and junior Kelsi Weseman added two hits as well for Tech.
Freshman Lindsey Anderson (2-0) got the win as she allowed three runs (all earned) on five hits and three walks. She struck out three.
Georgia Tech sent 10 batters to the plate in the first inning as it scored four runs but did leave the bases loaded. Freshman Alysha Rudnik had a RBI single for the first run of the game and then after sophomore Hope Rush drew a walk with the bases loaded to make it 2-0, junior Shannon Bear drove in a pair of runs with a double to left-center field. Julie DeMatteo came back to get out of the jam without any further damage as Tech took a 4-0 lead into the second.
Niagara came back to take advantage of an infield single and couple walks by Anderson to cut its deficit in half. The Purple Eagles loaded the bases with nobody out as Anderson got out of the inning on a couple of RBI singles.
Teresa Healy made it a 4-3 game with a solo home run in the top of the third inning, but Rush answered for Tech as she led off the bottom half of the frame with her second home run of the season, a towering blast to center field.
Tech added two more runs in the fourth inning to make it 7-3. Priebe had a RBI triple down the right-field line and then came around to score when Niagara had an error throwing the ball back in.
The Yellow Jackets then put the game away with five runs in the fifth inning to enforce the run rule. The highlight of the inning was Priebe’s walk-off grand slam.
The Yellow Jackets will now host the 19th annual Buzz Classic, March 4-6 at the Twin Creeks Complex in Woodstock, Ga. Georgia Tech will play Jacksonville State on Friday (6 p.m.), Boston University (1 p.m.) and Penn State (4 p.m.) on Saturday and then Western Kentucky (11 a.m.) and Massachusetts (1 p.m.) on Sunday. Live stats for all of the games will be available at www.RamblinWreck.com. For complete information on the Buzz Classic, visit the tournament central page at http://ramblinwreck.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/2011-buzz-classic.html.
Follow Georgia Tech Softball all season at www.Twitter.com/GaTechSoftball and on Facebook.
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