April 21, 2012
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A walk-off single in game one and a five-run fifth inning in game two was what No. 21 North Carolina needed to earn a doubleheader sweep of the Georgia Tech softball team Saturday at Anderson Softball Stadium.
UNC earned a 3-2 victory with a walk-off single up the middle in game one and came back from a 3-0 deficit to take a 6-4 win from the Yellow Jackets in game two.
Kelsi Wesemanwas 2-for-5 on the day for the Jackets scoring two runs and driving in another while getting hit by a pitch twice.
Rush pitched six and a third innings before giving up the game winning run, allowing five hits and three earned runs in the loss. Kleinschmidt threw six innings for the Jackets allowing five hits, four of which came in the fourth inning, while striking out two.
North Carolina got out to the first lead in game one pushing across Amy Nece after a leadoff walk. The Tar Heels added to their lead in the fifth inning as Nece leadoff with a triple to left center, coming home on a sac fly to right by Kelsey Green to bring the lead to 2-0.
But Tech responded in the top of the sixth with a couple of runs of its own. Alysha Rudnik started things off with a bang homering to right field, her eighth of the season. With two outs on the board, Karly Fullemevened things up with one swing of the bat, taking the pitch and depositing in over the left field wall. Her second home run of the season came at a clutch moment for the Jackets to even the score.
But the Tar Heels took game one with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh. Nece continued her hot streak against Tech starting the seventh off with an infield single. She moved up to second on a fly out to left, and came around to score on the game winning single up the middle by pinch hitter Elisha Elliott for the 3-2 victory.
In game two, Tech got out to an early lead thanks to back-to-back-to-back doubles by Weseman, Kate Kuzma, and Rudnik. Weseman started things off with two outs doubling to right center, she was driven in my Kuzma’s double to left center. Kuzma came home thanks to Rudnik’s double to right center and Tech had a 2-0 advantage.
Tech added to its lead in the third inning when Weseman blasted her 10th home run of the season, the first Yellow Jacket to reach double digits. The homer was the 52nd of her career, just two shy of Jen Yeewho sits in second place with 54.
North Carolina got a run back in the bottom of the fourth due to a Georgia Tech error. Ally Blake walked to start off the inning and came around to score as a throw by Fullem to first base sailed into the outfield.
The Tar Heels added to their total and gained their first lead of the day recording five runs in the bottom of the fifth. Carolina used three singles, a double, two sacrifice bunts and a Georgia Tech error to put up the five-runs and take a 6-3 advantage.
Kuzma cut the lead to two homering to left centerfield in the top of the seventh, but that would be all as Tech dropped its second game of the day to the Tar Heels by a 6-4 score.
The Jackets will be back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. for their final ACC road game of 2012 when they take on the Tar Heels in game three of the weekend series.
Keep up to date with the Georgia Tech Softball team all season long at www.RamblinWreck.com as well as twitter.com/GaTechSoftball and facebook.com/GTSoftball
