June 16, 2004
ATLANTA – Junior Jessica Sallinger will get her shot at the World’s best softball team as she will pitch against Team USA on Friday night at 8 p.m. in Salem, Va., at the James Moyer Softball Complex. Sallinger will start for the College All-Stars in the circle as ‘Aiming for Athens’ tour stops in Virginia.
“I’m really excited,” said Sallinger. “It’s a once and a lifetime opportunity to throw against the best softball team in the world.”
Sallinger (31-10) became just the third Yellow Jacket, first pitcher, to earn NFCA All-America honors as she was selected to the third team on May 27. The Kennesaw, Ga., native broke Tech single-season records in wins, earned run average (0.82), shutouts (15), no-hitters (3) and consecutive scoreless innings pitched (39.2).
Sallinger also became the second pitcher in ACC history to surpass a 1,000 strikeouts, ending her junior campaign with 1,025, 13 shy of becoming the strikeout queen of the ACC. She was also named to the All-ACC team for the second straight season and was tabbed All-Southeast Region first team for the second time in her career (2002).
Joining Sallinger on the College All-Stars from the ACC will be Virginia’s Jenn Wynn, Karen Lemcke and Jessica Taylor. The team’s roster is mostly made up with local standouts from Virginia, with the exception of Sallinger.
The U.S. team is currently 37-0 on the tour continuing a 151-game win streak in pre-Olympic tour history. The team has one more game before playing in Salem on Friday night. On its current tour, the U.S. has outscored opponents 335-11 and the pitching staff has an ERA of 0.27 as of June 14.
For a complete list of team rosters and additional information on the game, please go to Virginia Tech website.
