University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Georgia Tech
UNC Falls To Georgia Tech In ACC Championship Game, 6-2
May 12, 2002 | Softball
May 12, 2002
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Tournament Most Valuable Player Jessica Sallinger struck out 10 batters to lead Georgia Tech to its first Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Championship with a 6-2 victory Sunday over North Carolina at the Seminole Softball Complex.
Sallinger, the ACC Rookie of the Year allowed one earned run and pitched all 23 innings for the Yellow Jackets, setting a new championship record for strikeouts with 29. She improved to 25-7 and fanned 10 or more batters for the eleventh time this season.
Georgia Tech (49-16) was appearing in its first title game since 1995 and just second in school history. North Carolina (34-30) was trying to become only the second team in league history to repeat as softball champions. Georgia Tech went 4-0 against the Tar Heels this season.
Soraya Reddick had two hits on the day while Jamie Frost drove in two runs for the Yellow Jackets. Quinn Porter had two of North Carolina's six hits off Sallinger.
The Yellow Jackets exploded for five runs in the bottom of the third by taking advantage of some defensive miscues by North Carolina. With one out, Felicia Coursey walked. Katie Donovan reached base on a ball that was ruled a hit when it glanced off the glove of second baseman Emily Price. Both runners advanced on a passed ball followed by a walk to Tara Knudsen to load the bases. Lindsay Wood's potential double-play grounder was bobbled by third baseman Jessica Young, allowing Coursey to score. Reddick then singled up the middle to plate Donovan. With two out, Frost singled off the glove of Young that scored two more runs for a 5-1 lead. Mimi Utt closed out the scoring with a RBI double to left.
North Carolina tried to get back into the game in the top of the fourth. They loaded the bases on an infield single and two walks. With no one out, Sallinger struck out the next three Tar Heels she faced to get out of the jam. She also set the Georgia Tech career record for strikeouts in the process.
Anter led off the second inning with her 15th home run of the season to give the Tar Heels a 1-0 lead. Anter took Sallinger's 2-2 offering over the right center field fence, extending her single-season and career school records. The run also broke Georgia Tech's streak of 17 scoreless innings in the championship.
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP: Jessica Sallinger, Georgia Tech
Soraya Reddick, Georgia Tech
Lindsay Wood, Georgia Tech
Katie Donovan, Georgia Tech
Shannon Walsh, North Carolina
Kelly Ramsey, North Carolina
Rosie Gustavson, North Carolina
Natalie Anter, North Carolina
randi Stuart, Florida State
Jessica van der Linden, Florida State
Kristen Dennis, Virginia
Amanda Bettker, Maryland
