Softball falls to UGA

With the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament and the graduation of several seniors, including All-American pitcher Jessica Sallinger, the Jackets softball team has come to an end of an era. The Jackets won the ACC regular season crown as well as the ACC Tournament before finishing runner-up to UGA in the Athens Regional.

Tech's season ended with a .780 winning percentage and came one win short of the school record for wins set in 2002. Tech clinched the ACC regular season on May 6 with a win over Maryland and a record of 11-4 in the conference, earning the team's first ACC title.

"The regular season was more exciting to win for me because it showed more of a theme of success over time," Head Coach Ehren Earleywine said. "When you're talking 15, 18, 20 games in the regular season and then in the tournament we just won three games and we are champion. The regular season was exciting for me in terms of it showed that we had consistency and the exclamation point was the tournament. It was just confirmation that we were the best team."

Tech swept through the ACC tournament without a loss. Sallinger pitched 19 out of a possible 21 innings and didn't allow a run in any of the three games. She was named the ACC Tournament's Most Valuable Player.

The team defeated North Carolina State in the first game 2-0, then beat Virginia in the second game 3-0 before winning a 1-0 game against seventh seeded Virginia Tech in the championship game.

"It was very exciting to win our second ACC Championship," Sallinger said. "I'm honored to win MVP honors and I was just trying to pitch as well as I could to give my team a chance to win."

Despite being ranked as high as No. 16 in the polls at the conclusion of the ACC Tournament, the Jackets were a No. 3 seed heading into the Athens Regional.

"It was disappointing that we were a three seed," Earleywine said according to ramblinwreck.com. "It started us off on a frustrating note."

The Jackets defeated Kansas twice in the regional, but lost to Georgia twice. In the first game, Sallinger pitched all nine innings to pick up the complete game after extra innings. Tech was unable to carry the momentum and were defeated by the Bulldogs 8-1 to send the team into the loser's bracket. In the top of the first inning, second basemen Aileen Morales suffered a fracture in her foot after turning a double play. Georgia's Kim Wendland slid hard into second base, taking Morales out of the game. Wendland was hit by a pitch a the the top of the fourth inning.

Tech defeated the Jayhawks 5-2 in their second match up. The Jackets were down early on Sunday in the championship game against Georgia. A seventh inning rally fell short and the team lost 2-1.

"The bottom line was that unfortunately we weren't hitting when it became crunch time," Earleywine said.

These were the final games for a group of seniors that includes Jessica Sallinger, Kirin Kumar, Katie Donovan and Liz Bartle. Since the group has arrived on campus the Jackets have gone 188-76.

Sallinger leaves Tech holding the ACC record for strikeouts (1,398) and career wins (109).