Georgia Tech Softball 2023 Season Preview
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket softball team enters the 2023 season with high hopes and standards. They capped off their successful 2022 season with the team’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament Regionals since 2012. The 38-18 overall and 11-13 ACC record season left them 7th in the ACC ranking. GT Sports Hall of Famer, Aileen Morales, enters her sixth season as the head coach and will look to build upon her first NCAA appearance as such.
Looking at the 2023 roster, we see several returning starters despite 2 of our starters graduating. The core of this team lies in star catcher and captain Emma Kauf, who has raked in the pre-season honors and rankings. She has been named to the Preseason All-ACC Team and ranked as high as the No. 8 catcher in the nation by D1Softball and No. 81 overall player in the nation by Extra Inning Softball. Kauf finished 2022 with 25 doubles, which tied for second in program history, and ranked second in the NCAA and first in the ACC for the achievement. Her high output of doubles led the nation in doubles per game with 0.45, and she led the ACC in total hits with 71.
Another key returner is starting pitcher Blake Neleman who finished 2022 with a 2.51 ERA and a .203 opponent batting average. Neleman and Chandler Dennis handled the majority of innings pitched, so seeing another young player step up and provide more relief and perhaps enter the starting rotation could allow for the pair to rest a bit more in the weekend series and pitch even better through the season. Sophomore Sofia Voyles showed promise last year in her 27.2 innings pitched, keeping an opponent batting average of .156 and 3.29 ERA, so seeing a big leap in her second year and getting in the rotation more would be huge.
Blake Neleman returns as Tech's top pitcher
One of the biggest losses to the team this year is in first base player Tricia Awald who was a key offensive threat for the Jackets the past couple of years. Finding another player to easily slide into this role will be difficult unless one of the younger players has a breakout year. This loss will most likely be made up by the young team simply having gained another year of college ball experience, and they now need to understand their potential offensive impact just grew significantly. With 5 incoming freshmen and 1 massive transfer in sophomore infielder Cayden Baker from Texas A&M, there is true promise within the roster that can be utilized. Cayden Baker was a true-freshman start on the playoff Texas A&M team with six multi-hit and multi-RBI games, and she should make an immediate impact on both sides of the ball.
Key Returning Players:
C #25 Emma Kauf
P #9 Blake Neleman
P #44 Chandler Dennis
SS #7 Jin Sileo
OF #6 Auburn Dupree
3B #11 Mallory Black
OF #1 Ella Edgmon
This team has all the components to make another great run this season, but in a difficult ACC conference, this will be no easy feat. Georgia Tech ranked 6th in the ACC preseason coaches poll. Our first home ACC matchup will be a true test against Virginia Tech, who ranked 3rd in ACC preseason polls, on March 14th-19th. The reigning ACC champions, Florida State, topped the rankings, and we will face off against them in Tallahassee from March 31st - April 2nd. This is shaping up to be a highly anticipated season with high hopes, and these top match series are sure to unveil what these younger players are truly capable of. If the young talent steps up, a return to the tournament is undoubtedly expected, so it is up to the coaches to guide and shape this team into a true contender.
Georgia Tech Softball 2023 Schedule
The season opens at home in Mewborn Field on Friday, February 10th at 4:30 PM in a doubleheader vs UCONN with the second game starting at 7:00 PM. The weekend makes up the Buzz Classic tournament, where we will also see North Texas (RV), Saint Francis, and UIC, and the Yellow Jackets will play six total games over three days.
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