THE FLATS – No. 25 Georgia Tech softball (19-10, 7-2 ACC) came up one run short against Notre Dame (16-10, 2-4 ACC), falling 6-5 on Sunday afternoon at Mewborn Field. Mallorie Black hit two home runs, driving in all five runs, as the Yellow Jackets lost their first ACC series of the season. Tech had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t get the tying run across, falling to 7-2 in conference play.
QUICK HITS
- Tech has now hit 55 home runs this season, already the third most in a single season throughout the Morales era (since 2018).
- At 7-2 now in ACC play, the Jackets are off to their best start to conference play since 2011.
- Mallorie Black connected for a pair of home runs, her second multi-HR game of the season and third of her career.
- Black ties her teammate Madison Dobbins for the ACC lead in home runs with 11.
- It’s the first time a pair of Yellow Jackets have had 11 or more homers through the first 29 games since 2010 (Jen Yee – 17 & Hope Rush – 11).
- Black’s 5 RBI day ties her season and career high, set last weekend at NC State. Black now leads the ACC with 39 RBI, taking the mantle from Dobbins, who sits in second at 38.
- Black leads the team with 11 multi-RBI games this year.
- Ella Edgmon reached base with a single and came around to score a run in the fifth inning. She extends her career-best on-base streak to 20 games while scoring her ACC leading 17th run of conference play.
- Edgmon is now averaging 2.125 runs scored per game in ACC play.
- Blake Neleman made her 92nd career start in the circle, giving her sole possession of the 5th most starts in program history. It was her 136th appearance, putting her three games shy of tying Hope Rush and Whitney Humphreys for the 2nd most all-time.
- Neleman struck out six batters over 5.1 innings today, giving her 607 career Ks, the 2nd most in program history.
- Kinsey Norton came out of the bullpen in the sixth inning, pitching 1.2 scoreless innings for the Jackets.
- Norton brings her ERA down to a team-best 1.75 over 28.0 innings of work at home.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Neleman delivered a scoreless top of the inning, allowing the Jackets to get on the board first in the bottom of the inning. Dobbins legged out a single before Black torched a 1-0 pitch deep to center field for her first home run of the game, giving GT the early, 2-0 lead. Neleman kept the Irish bats at bay for the next two innings, striking out three in a row at one point and working a 1-2-3 top of the third. The Irish bats came alive in the fourth, connecting for two singles and two doubles to hang four runs on the board.
Tech would respond in the bottom of the fifth with Edgmon singling and Dobbins drawing a walk to set up Black who delivered another homer, this time a three-run shot over the wall in left, putting the Jackets back in front, 5-4. Notre Dame wasted no time getting the lead back, with a leadoff double and an error putting runners at second and third with nobody out. A single from the next batter scored both runs, 6-5.
The Jackets worked the bases loaded in the seventh inning thanks to a single from Gracie Hillman and back to back walks from Dobbins and Black. With the tying run just 60 feet from scoring, Tiffany Domingue laced the first pitch she saw down the third base line but the Irish defender was in perfect position, fielding it on a short hop and stepping on third to dash the comeback hopes.
UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets hit the road for a nine-game road trip through the remainder of the month. The trip begins with a midweek game against Charleston Southern, scheduled for Tuesday, March 19, at 5 p.m. from Charleston, S.C. From there, Tech will play a Wednesday evening game at Coastal Carolina before getting back into conference play with a weekend series at North Carolina.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of the development of Yellow Jackets that thrive academically at the Institute and compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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