THE FLATS – Georgia Tech softball (31-22, 12-12 ACC) has been rewarded the No. 6 seed at the 2024 ACC Championships in Durham, N.C. The Yellow Jackets will face No. 3-seed Virginia Tech (39-11-1, 18-6 ACC) in the quarterfinals on Thursday, May 9 at approximately 7:30 p.m. on ACC Network.
This is the highest seed the Jackets have earned since 2013 and tied with 2018 for the highest seed achieved under head coach Aileen Morales. This is the latest in a string of achievements by the 2024 Yellow Jackets as they look to return to the ACC semifinals for the first time since 2012.
QUICK HITS: THE TEAM
- The Jackets earned the No. 6 seed after a 12-win campaign in ACC play, the most conference wins since 2018.
- Tech won five ACC games via mercy-rule (three vs. Pitt, at NC State and vs. Louisville). It’s the most ACC run-rule victories since setting the program record (6) back in 2010.
- The three wins over Pitt (14-5 (5), 10-1 (6) and 8-0 (5)) marked the first run-rule sweep of an ACC opponent in program history with the Jackets sweeping the series by a combined score of 32-6 over 16 innings.
- That sweep over Pitt helped cap a program record 12-0 homestand for the Jackets spanning from February 21 to March 15. It was the longest undefeated homestand in program history.
- That homestand extended into a 15-game winning streak after the Jackets swept NC State on the road the following weekend.
- The Jackets set a program record for the greatest start to the ACC season, winning their first 7 games in conference play by sweeping Pitt and NC State before winning the series opener vs. Notre Dame.
- Tech boasts the best double-play defense in the conference, turning 25 twin killings this year.
- GT has done very well limiting opposing baserunners, only allowing 21 stolen bases against this season, seven below the program record for fewest in a season.
QUICK HITS: THE BATS
- The team finished the regular season with a .411 on-base percentage, tied with the 2010 season for the highest OBP in program history.
- The offense has found its identity in the longball. Tech has hit 86 home runs this season, more than each of the last two seasons combined (48 in 2023 and 35 in 2022).
- Those 86 home runs are the fourth most in program history and the most since 2011.
- The Yellow Jackets have hit 38 more home runs compared to last season, the largest home run increase in the Power 5.
- 11 different players contributed multiple home runs this year, tied for the most in program history: Mallorie Black (19), Sara Beth Allen (16), Madison Dobbins (13), Tiffany Domingue (11), Reese Hunter (9), Jin Sileo (5), Jayden Gailey (4), Emma Minghini (3), Ella Edgmon (2), Abby Hughes (2) and Gracyn Tucker (2).
- The Jackets set a program record by hitting multiple home runs in 11 consecutive games from Feb. 11-Feb. 24. The team hit 31 homers over those games – the most home runs over any 11-game stretch in program history.
- Mallorie Black enters her final ACC Championships as the conference leader in doubles (17) and total bases (134), she owns the second most home runs (19) and RBI (60). Her .832 slugging percentage this season is the third highest in a single season in program history as she attempts to become the 7th Yellow Jacket in the 20-home run club.
- Black is the first Yellow Jacket to record 50 runs and 50+ RBI in a single season since Kelsi Weseman in 2011.
- Sara Beth Allen begins her final ACC Championship run after delivering the eighth-highest on-base percentage in program history this season (.526). She has drawn 48 walks this year, the third-most in Division I, while smashing a career-best 16 home runs.
- She tied a program record with three home runs in a single game as the Yellow Jackets defeated Auburn, 10-9, on the road (April 6).
- Madison Dobbins set career-bests in doubles (8), triples (2), RBI (55) and HR (13) this season. She, along with Black, became just the third set of Yellow Jacket teammates to hit 55+ RBI in the same season and the first since 2010.
- Dobbins has tied a program record by connecting for three grand slams in 2024 (vs. Longwood, Pitt and Coastal Carolina).
- Jin Sileo posted a .383 batting average in conference play, the highest ACC batting average by any Jacket every day starter since 2014.
- She hit a career-best five home runs this season while also successfully laying down 12 bunt hits and stealing 12 bases without being caught. Her 12-12 record on the bases is tied for the most steals without being caught in a season in program history.
- Sileo became the first player in the Morales era (since 2018) to steal double digit bases in all four seasons on The Flats.
QUICK HITS: THE ARMS
- Tech emphasized pitching as a staff in the 2024 season resulting in being the only team in the Power 5 with four pitchers throwing over 70 innings this year: Sophia Voyles (79.2), Kinsey Norton (72.2) Chandler Dennis (71.2) and Blake Neleman (71.1).
- That mentality lead to the Tech staff recording eight saves (Norton (4), Dennis (3) and Makayla Coffield (1)), the second-most in program history for a single season.
- Voyles stepped up in ACC play, leading the team in innings pitched (46.2) and strikeouts (35) while holding opposing hitting to just a .211 batting average, the sixth-lowest in the conference.
- Voyles more than doubled her career totals in both innings pitched and strikeouts this season while winning a career-best eight games.
- Norton has emerged as the team’s go-to bullpen arm. After throwing only 30.0 innings in her first two years in the program, Norton got the second-most outs on the team this year, throwing 72.2 innings and standing one K short of her first-career 50 strikeout season.
- Norton finished 19 games in the circle this year, tied for the most in program history while leading the team with nine wins.
- Coffield delivered a strong start to her college career, not allowing an earned run in her first 10.1 innings of ACC play, the longest such streak by a GT freshman since Neleman in 2021 (11.1 innings).
- Neleman enters her fifth and final ACC Championships with the second-most strikeouts (630), appearances (147) and strikeouts/seven innings (7.71).
- Dennis completes her collegiate career with eight saves, the second-most in program history. She was the only Jacket pitcher to throw in two shutouts this year, tossing the first 4.1 innings of a shutout vs. Pitt before posting a complete game shutout of Alabama State on April 10.
QUICK HITS: THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- This will be Georgia Tech’s 29th appearance in the ACC Championships, the third most in the conference behind Florida State and UNC.
- The Yellow Jackets have won 37 games at the tournament, the second most in conference history, behind FSU.
- Georgia Tech’s five ACC Tournament titles is the second most in the conference.
- GT and FSU are the only programs to have won at least one game at the ACC Tournament in each of the past four seasons (tournament was canceled in 2020).
- This will be the fifth meeting between Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech in the tournament. GT leads the all-time series, 3-1, winning the last meeting, 9-1 (5) back in 2012.
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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