March 8, 2009
WOODSTOCK, Ga. – Junior Jen Yee was 3-for-3 with three RBI, while senior Tiffany Johnson and freshman Jessica Coan combined to throw a one-hit shutout as the Georgia Tech softball team (13-6) defeated Western Kentucky (13-4), 5-0, in the championship game of the Buzz Classic Sunday afternoon. The win by the Yellow Jackets, which snapped Western Kentucky’s seven-game winning streak, and was just the second time in the 17-year history of the Buzz Classic that the host team has come out victorious.
Johnson (6-1) gave up just one hit over six shutout innings. She walked two and struck out four. Johnson retired the last 11 batters she faced before freshman Jessica Coan came in for the seventh inning to get some work. Christy Jones had two hits for the Yellow Jackets, while Whitney Haller crushed her fourth home run of the season.
With the win today, Georgia Tech head coach Sharon Perkins now has 99 in her career and will go for number 100 when the Yellow Jackets open up the brand-new Shirley Clements Mewborn Field Tuesday against Tennessee-Martin. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 12:30 p.m. and then game one of the doubleheader begins at 2 p.m.
It was a scoreless game until the top of the fourth inning when Yee led off with her second home run of the season. There was a strong wind blowing out to right field all day and the Yellow Jackets had at least four balls that would have potentially been home runs get knocked down by the wind, but Yee’s fly ball to right got caught up and carried out of the park.
The Jackets added another run later in the inning against Western Kentucky starter Ryan Rogge, who entered the game with a 10-1 record and an ERA under one. Haller, who had a home run taken away from her in the first inning when WKU left fielder Sam Cronk went over the fence to bring the ball back, went deep for the fourth time this season two batters after Yee went yard giving the Jackets a 2-0 lead.
The two runs were more than enough for Johnson. She gave up a one-out single to Kelsey McCauley in the third inning and would retire the next 11 batters before coming out after the sixth inning to get freshman Jessica Coan some work. That was the only hit of the game for the Hilltoppers.
Tech added two insurance runs in the fifth inning. Jones hit a line drive to centerfield that was dropped by Brittney Perry allowing pinch runner Kelly Eppinger to score. Jones came around to score the fourth Jacket run of the game on a double by Yee. Yee also added a RBI single in the seventh inning to complete her three-hit day.
Don’t forget, prior to Georgia Tech’s home opener on Tuesday, March 10, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open Shirley Clements Mewborn Field. The ceremony begins at 12:30 p.m. and then the Yellow Jackets will take on UT Martin in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. Shirley Clements Mewborn Field is the new on-campus home of the Georgia Tech softball team. It is located at the corner of Eighth and Fowler Streets. Free parking for Tech softball games is available across Eighth Street in the big lot adjacent to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
If you can’t make it out to Shirley Clements Mewborn Field on Tuesday, free live audio and stats will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
