Feb. 19, 2005
ATLANTA, Ga. – Georgia Tech softball opened the first day of the Lady Panther Invitational shutting out Eastern Kentucky and edging out Evansville. Jessica Sallinger pitched a complete game shutout to start the day, and Aileen Morales had a game winning single to help the Jackets remain perfect. With the wins, the Jackets improve to 11-0 on the season, just two victories shy of tying the record set in 1991 of 13-0.
Morales hit a two run single in the bottom of the seventh inning against Evansville to extend the Jackets winning streak to eleven games. With the Jackets down by one in the bottom of the seventh, senior Katie Donovan walked to start the inning. Pinch hitter Lauren Schlechte drew a base on balls after Donovan successfully stole second. Kirin Kumar’s sacrifice bunt advanced the runners. With two outs and runners on second and third, the freshman from Columbus, Ga. sent a pitch to right center field to drive in Donovan and Schlechte and give Tech the win, 6-5.
The Jackets jumped out to an early 3-0 lead against Evansville before leadoff hitter Laraway hit a homerun off of starting pitcher Sarah Wood in the fourth inning. The run was the first run given up by the Rambling Wreck in the Lady Panther Invitational, a stretch of 36.0 innings. Evansville would add another run later in the inning before relief pitcher Whitney Humphreys recorded the final out.
In the fifth inning, Amy Hosier walked to begin the inning, stole second and scored courtesy of a Kumar RBI single.
With the Jackets clinging to a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning, Evansville loaded the bases with no outs. Humphreys induced a pop out and struck out the next Aces batter on three pitches. With the bases loaded, Stuart popped up to shallow left center field. The ball dropped in off of the glove of shortstop Christine Sheridan. The error scored three runners and put Evansville up 5-4.
Humprheys picked up the win (2-0) allowing three runs, no earned runs, walking one and striking out three.
In the first game, Tech improved to 10-0 on the season on the strong arm of all-American Jessica Sallinger. The Kennesaw, Ga. native fanned 10 Eastern Kentucky batters en route to a complete game shutout.
The Jackets scored seven runs on 11 hits. Sheridan led the way for Tech going 3-for-4 and scoring a run. Georgia Tech had five runs batted in with Kumar pacing the Wreck with a pair of RBI.
Georgia Tech returns to action Sunday, February 20, when they will face tournament host Georgia State at 10 a.m. at Bob Heck Field.
-GT Softball-
