CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A five-run sixth inning ruined the comeback hopes as Georgia Tech softball (21-11, 7-3 ACC) fell to North Carolina (21-7, 3-4 ACC) on Friday afternoon at Anderson Stadium. Sara Beth Allen delivered her 10th HR of the season to make it a 4-3 game in the top of the third but the Yellow Jackets couldn’t manage any more from there and the game would end, 9-3.
QUICK HITS
- Allen hit a two-run home run in the third inning, bringing the team total to 59, already the second-most in the Morales era and just two away from matching the 2019 season (current Morales era high).
- It was Allen’s 10th HR of the season, becoming the first Yellow Jacket in the Morales era to record back-to-back seasons with double digit home runs – first since Hope Rush in 2012 and 2013.
- Allen joins Madison Dobbins (12) and Mallorie Black (11) as the third Jacket to reach double-digit dingers. The first time Tech has had three 10+ HR players since 2019.
- The two RBI homer for Allen gives her 26 for the season and 80 over her career.
- Tiffany Domingue recorded a pair of hits today, her ninth multi-hit game of the season. That ties her with Paige Vukadinovich for the third most multi-hit games this year, three behind Black and Ella Edgmon for the most on the team.
- Jin Sileo recorded the other RBI on a SAC fly to bring in Reese Hunter in the second. It’s Sileo’s 10th RBI of the year and 54th of her career.
- Sileo has now driven in double digits for all four seasons at Georgia Tech.
- Hunter has now scored in back-to-back games for the third time this season.
- Chandler Dennis made her sixth start of the year, pitching all six innings. She held the Tar Heels scoreless for four innings, only surrendering runs in the first and sixth innings.
- Dennis was saddled with her first loss of the 2024 season in her 15th appearance, the most appearances before a first loss in her career, shattering her previous career-best, eight, set back in 2022.
- Tech falls to 5-2 in true-road games this year, still the best seven-game road start in the Morales era.
- The Jackets drew three walks today, bringing their season total to 125, the most in the ACC.
HOW IT HAPPENED
North Carolina got hits from its first four batters in the bottom of the first with only one ball reaching the outfield grass. The Tar Heels finished the inning with five hits, all singles, scoring four runs off two singles, a fielders’ choice and a dropped third strike to go in front, 4-0. The Jackets got one run back in the top of the second, loading the bases with a single, a walk and an error, before Sileo brought Hunter home with a SAC fly. Dennis responded in the bottom of the inning, working a 1-2-3 second to keep momentum on the Jackets’ side.
Tech struck with some two-out offense in the top of the third. Domingue got on base with a single before Allen drove her 10th home run of the season off the scoreboard in left field to cut the lead to just 4-3. Both offenses didn’t threaten much over the next three innings, with Dennis adding another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fifth. That changed in the bottom of the sixth, when UNC got its first two batters on with singles, bringing one home off an error and another home with a third single to make it 6-3. The Heels blew the game open with a two-out three-run home run to right center, giving them a 9-3 lead headed into the seventh. Jayden Gailey led off the seventh with a single, her second pinch-hit base knock in as many games, but the offense couldn’t bring her around to score and the game would end, 9-3.
UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets are scheduled to continue the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. The game will be live streamed on ACC Network Extra. With inclement weather in the forecast, please look to ramblinwreck.com and @GaTechSoftball on X for any potential schedule changes.
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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