March 18, 2011
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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Junior Kelsi Weseman went 4-for-5 with a home run and sophomore Hope Rush added two home runs as the Georgia Tech softball team (21-4) beat Lipscomb (10-10) 5-1 and Coastal Carolina (14-8) 12-0 on the first day of the Chanticleer Challenge. The Yellow Jackets have now won 14 games in a row and eight of the last 10 have come via a shut out.
Sophomore Hope Rush went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI and pitched a three-hitter as Georgia Tech opened the day with a 5-1 win over Lipscomb. Rush improved to 8-2 on the year as she allowed one run on three hits. She walked four and struck out eight. The one run she allowed came with two outs in the seventh inning and snapped a string of 28.1 consecutive innings without allowing a run. Junior Kelsi Weseman added two hits and two runs for the Yellow Jackets as they out-hit the Lady Bisons 10-3.
In the night cap, neither team had a base runner advance to second base until the fourth inning and it was still 0-0 with two outs in the fifth but the Jackets broke out for 12 runs in the final two frames en route to the 12-0 win in six innings. Junior Shannon Bear had a two-out, three-run triple to break the scoreless tie in the fifth and Rush, Weseman and senior Kristine Priebe all hit home runs.
Senior Kristen Adkins (10-2) ran her scoreless innings pitched streak to 28.1 as she tossed the four-hit shutout against the Lady Chanticleers. She walked three and struck out one.
In the top of the fifth, the Yellow Jackets broke through for five runs. Juniors Kelsi Weseman and Jessica Sinclair led off with singles and then with one out senior Jessica Weaver drew a walk to load the bases. Evans came back to strike out junior Kate Kuzma for the inning’s second out, but on the very next pitch junior Shannon Bear cleared the bases with a triple off the base of the wall in right field putting Tech up 3-0. Rush followed a couple of pitches later with her team-high 10th home run of the season as the Yellow Jackets opened up a 5-0 advantage.
Rush didn’t hold the team lead in homers for long as in the top of the sixth inning Weseman lined her 10th round-tripper of the season over the fence in left field giving Tech a 6-0 lead. Later in the inning, Tech busted the game open with six more runs to take a commanding 12-0 lead. The big blow was a three-run home run by senior Kristine Priebe. Kuzma and Rush had RBI singles and senior Christy Jones also scored a run on a wild pitch.
In game one against Lipscomb, the Yellow Jackets scored single runs in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead. Senior Christy Jones led off the bottom of the first with a single and then stole second base, her 17th in 18 chances this year. Jones was sacrificed over to third base by junior Kate Kuzma and then scored later in the inning on a two-out single by sophomore Hope Rush.
In the bottom of the second, the Jackets added another run as freshman Alysha Rudnik and junior Kelsi Weseman led off with singles. With two outs in the inning, the Jackets had runners at the corners and executed a double steal to take a 2-0 lead. Freshman Ashley Thomas took off for second base and when the throw went through, Weseman dashed home from third base. She eluded the tag of Lipscomb catcher Mollie Mitchell and scored the second Tech run.
Rush helped herself out in the bottom of the fifth inning as she lined a solo home run over the fence in left-center field for her ninth home run of the season to put Tech up 3-0.
Tech added a couple of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. After loading the bases with no outs, junior pinch hitter Danielle Dike drew a bases loaded walk making it 4-0. Kuzma then added a sac fly giving Rush a 5-0 lead heading to the seventh inning.
Rush allowed a seventh inning run to snap her streak of 28.1 consecutive innings without allowing a run but got out of a second and third jam with two outs to preserve the win.
The Chanticleer Challenge continues all weekend as the Yellow Jackets will still play Kansas (Noon) and Lipscomb (2:30 p.m.) on Saturday and then Providence at 10 a.m. on Sunday. The spring break trip concludes on Tuesday, March 22 with a doubleheader at Winthrop.
Live audio and stats for every Georgia Tech Softball game is available at www.RamblinWreck.com. Follow Georgia Tech Softball all season at www.Twitter.com/GaTechSoftball and on Facebook.
