Florida Atlantic Softball is off to Gainesville for the schools 13th regional appearance since the program’s inception in 1995. They will be a part of a field which features 1 seed Florida, 3 seed Georgia Tech, 4 seed Mercer and as the 2 seed the Owls will matchup with Georgia Tech on Friday at 2 PM EST.
For the second year in a row the Owls were eliminated in the semi-finals of the AAC tournament, this year losing to North Texas 1-0 in a pitchers duel which saw the only run of the game for UNT come in on an error, however the Owls were unable to overcome it. The bats went quiet for FAU which was something that didn’t happen very often during the regular season, so Coach Clark will head to Gainesville confident in her squads ability to bounce back.
This year FAU will be looking to flip the script and bounce back in Gainesville, as last year following their one and done in the AAC tournament, they went 0 for 2 in the regional with back to back losses to South Alabama and FGCU. The Owls have shown they have the ability to beat power conference teams this year with wins over Ole Miss, Kansas and Clemson, however everything is amped up in the postseason and Jordan Clark’s Owls will need their best to get past Georgia Tech and potentially make further noise in the regional.
This will be the 9th matchup all time between FAU and Georgia Tech and first since 2015 where the Owls came out on top 2-0 and deadlocked the series 4 wins a piece.
FAU Notables:
Overall Record: 44-10
Conference record: 23-4
Pitchers to watch:
Starter: Autumn Courtney, 23-3, 1.80 ERA, 163 strikeouts to 49 walks.
Closer: Ainsley Lambert, 7-1, 1.63 ERA, 11 saves, 52 strikeouts to 10 walks
Hitters to watch:
Average Leader: Bella Foran, .420
Homerun Leader: Jesiana Mora, 8
RBI Leader: Chloe Yeatts, 51
OPS leader: Kylie Hammonds, 1.090
The Rundown:
The Owls head into Gainesville looking for a bounce back in the hitting department and to get a similar performance in the circle from Autumn Courtney.
Courtney dominated against North Texas in the AAC tournament, pitching a complete game and allowing just one hit and an unearned run, while also striking out 7 and walking 2, however the uncharacteristic error from the FAU defense was all the Mean Green needed to secure a 1-0 win. While the error allowed the only run of the game to score for UNT, the Owls had their chances offensively with multiple runners on in both the 5th and 7th innings and a Leadoff double from Kylie Hammonds in the 5th, but FAU got away from their game plan and were unable to push them home.
The Owls inability to move runners from station to station and their unfortunate error defensively are two things that are overcomeable for Coach Clark’s squad, as their offense was consistent throughout most of the season and their defense rivaled some of the top programs in the country all year long. The key for FAU will be finding a way to bounce back and get back to doing what they have been able to do all season long which is get consistent hitting 1 through 9, solid pitching in the circle and top-tier defense to back that up and although it won’t be easy in a regional setting, there is more than enough talent on the squad to make it happen.
Autumn Courtney has proven she has the ability to perform in big games and against power opponents, as outside of her most recent one hitter in the AAC tournament she struck out 12 in a complete game one hitter against Kansas on February 6th, while Ainsley Lambert pitched 4 innings combined against Clemson and Ole Miss, allowing no earned runs while striking out 4 and walking just one.
As for the Owls bats production against power opponents, they recorded 9 hits including a Kiley Channell homer on February 7th against Clemson, Bella Foran and Chloe Yeatts each recorded multi-hit games with RBIs against Ole Miss on February 6th, while against Kansas, Channell went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs and a triple.
FAU’s hitting and pitching is proven to be able to get the job done against high level opponents, now in an NCAA regional they will have to take it one at bat at a time, one pitch at a time, work counts like they have done all season and find a way to grind out some wins in Gainesville.
Georgia Tech Notables;
Overall Record: 27-22
Conference Record: 10-11
Pitchers to watch:
Starter. Sophia Voyles, 12-8 2.70 ERA, 134 strikeouts to 52 walks, 121.2 IP,
Closer. Kinsey Norton, 3-6, 3.01 ERA, 5 saves, 59 strikeouts to 50 walks
Hitters to watch:
Average Leader: Alyssa Willer, .354
Homerun Leader: Gracyn Tucker, 12
RBI Leader: Gracyn Tucker, 41
SLG% Leader, Alyssa Willer, .636.
Wins over: Stanford, Auburn, Cal, Oklahoma State
The Rundown:
Georgia Tech heads to Gainesville as a 3 seed and one of the final four teams to receive an at-large bid to the tournament. The Yellow Jackets squeaked into a regional behind a strong non-conference slate in which they challenged themselves and came home with key wins over Stanford, Auburn and Oklahoma State, making a 10-11 ACC record good enough for a trip to Gainesville.
Despite finishing just 5 games over .500, Georgia Tech was a fairly well rounded squad, finishing with 6 players with over 20 RBIs and a batting average over .300, and also having a dominating ace in Voyles and capable closer in Norton. The biggest issue Georgia Tech ran into was when Voyles was not in the circle, as all other pitchers outside of Norton and Voyles who pitched more than 10 innings had an ERA greater than 5 on the year.
Now in the postseason Voyles not pitching won’t be an issue as the Yellow Jackets may send their ace out there every game of the regional. When Voyles gets going she can be a tough cookie to crack, as she has a near 3 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio, however opposing batters have hit .229 which leaves the door open for the Owls to get on-base, however they will need to come through when they have runners in scoring position.
In the batting department, Georgia Tech will have their hands full with Autumn Courtney, however in 10 out of 20 of their regular season losses they scored 3 or more runs, which means this game could come down to if Voyles is able to slow down the Owls bats.