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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The Virginia softball team (25-14, 2-9 ACC) welcomes No. 21 Georgia Tech (32-11, 9-3 ACC) to The Park this weekend for the final home series of the 2009 season. The Cavaliers will honor their three seniors Casey Steffan, Karla Wilburn and Carly Winger prior to the 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday. The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Virginia had three of its four midweek games rained out and only played the first game of a doubleheader with Hampton on Wednesday. The Cavaliers picked up their 25th win of the year with a 4-2 victory over the Pirates.
Redshirt junior Sarah Tacke continues to pace the UVa offense, hitting .386 with a team-best 39 hits and 39 RBI. Nicole Koren is batting .366, leads the team with 12 home runs and is second with 34 RBI. Rookie Giannina Cipolloni is a perfect 15-for-15 on the base paths while Alison Pittman and Winger have also stolen 15 and 13 bases, respectively.
Freshman Stephanie Coates picked up her sixth win of the year against Hampton and leads the Virginia pitching staff with a 2.19 ERA. Wilburn has seen the majority of time in the circle and boasts 18 complete games and has 92 strikeouts on the year.
Georgia Tech is the second consecutive ranked ACC opponent Virginia will face, after playing at No. 14 North Carolina last weekend. The Yellow Jackets have won four straight games and six of their last seven. Most recently, the squad picked up an 8-6 victory at home over Kennesaw State on Tuesday night.
Jen Yee leads Georgia Tech and is second overall among all ACC players with a .425 batting average. She also has the second-most hits in the conference with 51. Teammate Tiffany Johnson provides some power in the lineup with a team-high 11 home runs and 41 RBI.
Kristen Adkins has pitched well in the circle for Georgia Tech this year and has a 17-6 record with an ERA of 1.23. Johnson also pitches for the Yellow Jackets and has held her opponents to a .169 batting average. In over 103 innings pitched, she has accumulated a team-high 105 strikeouts.
Virginia leads the all-time series with Georgia Tech, 33-23. The Cavaliers and Yellow Jackets met four times last year with the Cavaliers earning the series win in Atlanta before Georgia Tech knocked UVa out of the ACC Tournament with a 5-3 win.