Midweek Non-Conference Game Sees Tech Come Up Short Against Mercer – Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech softball (19-13, 7-5 ACC) came up short at home on Wednesday, dropping the midweek non-conference contest against Mercer (18-16, 1-2 SoCon), 8-5.

QUICK HITS

• Freshman Maddie Furniss made her third start of the season, 10^th appearance overall this season.
• Grace Connelly recorded her fourth multi-hit game of the season after slamming two hits on Tuesday.
• Connelly also recorded her sixth multi-RBI game of the season with her three RBI against Mercer.
• Alyssa Willer recorded her seventh game of the season scoring multiple runs with the two runs she scored on Tuesday.
• Gracyn Tucker’s performance against the Bears set a new longest reached base streak as the third baseman extended her streak to 11 games, surpassing the previous longest streak of 10 games, set by Addison Leschber.
• Against the Bears, the Jackets batted .333 percentage, compared to Mercer’s .125 percent with two outs.
• Tech’s pitching staff also held a higher strike percentage in comparison to Mercer’s pitchers, boasting a 64.0% strike percentage next to the Bears’ 56.2%.
• Tuesday’s loss to Mercer is Tech’s first loss to the Bears since the 2013 season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Furniss began in the circle for Tech and pitched 1.0 innings for the Jackets.
• Mercer scored early, posting four runs in the first inning off of two Tech errors and two hits before a ground out left one Bear on base.
• The Jackets responded quickly as Connelly’s double to right center brought Tucker, Gailey, and Willer home, bringing the game within one run.
• Watts relieved Furniss to begin the second inning and faced five batters in her 0.1 innings pitched.
• The freshman was relieved by Norton after Mercer scored one run in the second as a result of a hit batter with the bases loaded. In relief, Norton immediately got the final two outs of the inning, catching both batters swinging.
• After a scoreless third inning for both teams, a pair of double stacked two runs for Mercer, forcing Tech to trail 7-3.
• Singles from Caroline Patterson and Leschber put the Jackets in scoring position just before Vukadinovich was up to bat. Vukadinovich slammed a double to center field to send Leschber running home.
• The Bears scored their final run of the game in the top of the fifth as a pair of doubles brought one run in.
• Voyles relieved Norton to start the top of the sixth and would go on to finish the game in the circle for Tech.
• Leschber scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth after being hit by pitch with…