Virginia Drops Doubleheader At Georgia Tech

ATLANTA, Ga. – The Virginia softball team (15-31, 10-25 ACC) dropped both games of a doubleheader on Friday (April 30) at Georgia Tech (17-25, 9-19 ACC) to open the weekend series. The Yellow Jackets won game one 7-1 before taking game two by a score of 8-0 in five innings.

Home runs were the difference maker in both games as Georgia Tech hit four home runs on the day with two in each game to pick up the pair of wins over the Cavaliers.

GAME ONE: Georgia Tech 7, Virginia 1
Molly Grube (2-4) suffered the loss for Virginia in the opening game of the day. Grube (Chesterfield, Va.) allowed three runs on two hits with two walks and a strikeout in 2.0 innings of work.

An infield single from Goldberg got a run home in the first as Arizona Ritchie (Stafford, Va.) scored on the hit. Ritchie doubled and took third on a wild pitch to set up the score on the Goldberg hit.

Georgia Tech answered in the second with a three-run home run before adding an RBI single and a two-run home run in the fourth. The Yellow Jackets would add a seventh run in the sixth inning to cap the day’s scoring.

GAME TWO: Georgia Tech 8, Virginia 0 (5 Innings)
The long ball proved to be the difference again in game two as Georgia Tech scored six runs off two home runs. A two-run home run in the second inning and a grand slam in the fifth inning pushed the Yellow Jackets out to the 6-0 lead. A bases-loaded walk and a fielding error allowed two more runs to come home in the fifth and give Georgia Tech the run-rule victory.

Mikayla Houge (5-10) took the loss in the second game of the afternoon. Houge (Collins, Iowa) allowed four runs on six hits with a walk and three strikeouts. She left the game with the Yellow Jackets up 2-0 in the fifth and with two runners on base.

Morgan Bruce (2-6) picked up the victory for Georgia Tech, allowing five hits with a walk and two strikeouts in her 5.0 innings of work.

NOTES ON THE DAY
• Arizona Ritchie got a hit in both games, scoring the lone run in game one on a Katie Goldberg single.
• Ritchie has now score four of the last seven runs scored by UVA going back to the Syracuse series last weekend.

FROM HEAD COACH JOANNA HARDIN
“Right now we have to turn the page on today and get ready to attack Georgia Tech tomorrow. We did not play our best softball, but the beauty of a series is we get another opportunity to make adjustments and compete against the same opponent. We have been successful at turning the page after a tough loss and I expect the same from this team tomorrow. We are resilient and are fighters.”

UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia and Georgia Tech will continue the series with a single game on Saturday (May 1) at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.