March 27, 2011
ATLANTA – Led by Alysha Rudnik and Kristen Adkins, the Georgia Tech softball team swept NC State Sunday at Mewborn Field to capture their 18th-straight ACC series win, a conference record. The Yellow Jackets (28-5, 3-0 ACC) earned an 8-4 comeback win in the final three innings of game two and easily took game three from NC State (15-15, 1-5) in a run-rule 14-0 victory.
Rudnik was 3-for-6 on the day with two home runs and seven RBIs while Adkins earned her second and third wins on the weekend allowing just two earned runs and striking out eight.
After postponing game two in the fifth inning on Saturday, the Jackets entered play in Sunday down 2-0. NC State came out swinging and added two more runs to their lead but Tech responded with an eight run inning of their own to claim their first lead of the game and the win.
Ashley Thomas started things off for the Jackets getting hit by a pitch and stealing second. She moved over to third on a chopper up the middle by Christy Jones and both runners came home on a check swing home run by Kate Kuzma.
After the NC State pitcher Morgan Peeler loaded the bases and walked in the fourth run of the inning on four-straight walks, Alysha Rudnik stepped to the plate and belted a grand slam on a 2-2 count that smashed into the scoreboard lifting the Tech lead to four while recording the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth runs of the inning.
The Jackets held on for their second comeback victory of the weekend, finishing the delayed game two with an 8-4 win to clinch the series.
Tech’s bats continued to fire in the final game of the series as both Shannon Bear and Hope Rush belted two-run home runs to give Tech a five-run lead after one. Kuzma chopped a single up the middle and one batter later Bear smashed a roundtripper to dead centerfield. The next batter, Kristine Priebe walked and Rush sent a check swing home run over the left field wall. Rush’s homer was followed up by a solo shot by Rudnik to right centerfield for the 5-0 lead.
In the second, Tech added another four runs to the board, all manufactured by some small ball and some rips to the gaps. Ashley Thomas started things off with a single to centerfield, moving to second base on a bunt single by Jones. After stolen bases by each runner, a double to right centerfield by Kelsi Weseman drove them both in adding to the Tech lead. Kristine Priebe added a double of her own in the next at bat, this time to left center to drive in Weseman. A single by Rush brought home Priebe for the 9-0 lead.
The Jackets continued to manufacture runs in the bottom of the fourth. Caitlin Jordan started things off with a single to right center and was replaced on the basepaths by Kelly Delashmit who moved over to second on a wild pitch. After Weseman got hit by a pitch for the fourth time on the weekend, both runners moved up a base thanks in part to a passed ball. Priebe loaded the bases and Hope Rush drove in the first run of the inning on a blooper to leftfield. A Rudnik single to left scored two more runs and Jones tallied the fourth run of the inning beating out a single to third base. Fittingly, Rudnik tallied the final run of the game scoring on a wild pitch and giving the Jackets a 14-0 advantage.
The Jackets will be on the road for four-straight games, first heading to Athens on Wednesday for a meeting with Georgia at 6:30 p.m. and then heading to College Park where they will take on Maryland in their second ACC series of the season.
