Hokies travel to Georgia Tech for final ACC series

Tech has won five of its last six contests in Atlanta against the Yellow Jackets

April 26, 2018

BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech travels to Atlanta this weekend for its final ACC series of the season where the Hokies will face Georgia Tech for a three-game set from April 27-29. All three games will be broadcast on ACC Network EXTRA via the WatchESPN platform.

The Hokies (20-27, 6-14 ACC) are still in contention to qualify for the ACC Softball Championship entering the final two weeks of the regular season. This weekend’s destination will also be the site of the conference tournament that runs from May 9-12.

Tech is coming off its inaugural series with Duke this past weekend where the Hokies won the series opener but fell in the final two games. Game one saw another outstanding pitching performance from sophomore Carrie Eberle as she allowed only two hits and no earned runs in a complete game effort. Back-to-back doubles in the fifth inning off the bats of sophomore Taylor Clark and senior Caroline Schoenewald drove in the three Virginia Tech runs.

Georgia Tech enters this weekend with an overall record of 25-22 and a 10-8 mark in conference play under first year head coach Aileen Morales. Morales, who was the head coach at Radford from 2016-17, is 1-3 all-time in her career against Virginia Tech. One of Morales’ assistants is Reese Mariconda, a 2009 Virginia Tech graduate and a four-year letterwinner for the head coach Scot Thomas. Mariconda ranks in the top five in Tech history in multiple categories including games played (249, third), hits (234, fifth), doubles (47, second), RBI (136, third) and stolen bases (52, fifth).

The Hokies trail the all-time series with the Yellow Jackets, 23-22, but have won three of the last five meetings. Tech took two out of three from GT last season at Tech Softball Park and its won five of its last six games at Mewborn Field in Atlanta.

PITCHING AND DEFENSE CARRY THE HOKIES

• The Hokies’ team ERA of 2.37 and team fielding percentage of .968 ranks among the top totals in the ACC.
• Tech’s ERA ranks fourth while its fielding clip sits in second behind only first place Florida State.
• First baseman Jessie Mehr ranks fifth in the league with 310 putouts while shortstop Caitlyn Nolan and second baseman Olivia Lattin ranks eighth and ninth, respectively, in assists.
• Virginia Tech, Florida State and Syracuse are the only teams in the ACC to rank in the top five of the conference in both team ERA and team fielding percentage.

For updates on Virginia Tech softball, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @HokiesSoftball