Cavs Defeat Maryland 3-1, Advance to ACC Championship Final
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May 16, 1999
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The University of Virginia softball teamsquared off against the Maryland Terrapins for the second time in the 1999ACC Softball Championships at Lady Seminole Field. UVa, 2-1 in thetournament, was coming off the heels of a tough 1-0 loss to Florida State.Maryland entered the contest with a 1-1 record in the tournament afterhanding Georgia Tech a 7-0 loss. The Cavaliers defeated the Terrapins by ascore of 1-0 in their first meeting in the tournament. The number fourseed Virginia rallied from a 1-0 deficit to pull out a 3-1 victory overnumber one seed Maryland.
Virginia’s Kristen Dennis and Maryland’s Kelly Shipman took to thepitchers circle for what would be another pitchers duel between the twoplayers. In the last two games that both players opposed on another, eachgame ended in a 1-0 decision. Dennis and Shipman each had a no-hitterthrough four innings of play until the fifth inning when the TerrapinsJennifer Potzman and Virginia’s Karen Breshears collected the first hitsfor their respective teams.
However, in the sixth inning of play, the offenses came to life.Maryland jumped on the scoreboard first when Michell Burrell walked tostart the inning off for the Terrapins. After a single by Jennifer Potzmanand an error by UVa’s Breshears loaded the bases, Burrell scored on apassed ball by Virginia catcher Gina McCabe to put the Terrapins ahead 1-0.
But the Cavaliers responded with thee runs in the bottom of thesixth inning their own. Katie Zunno walked to start the inning off forUVa. Claudia Hickey then replaced Zunno and then stole second base. Twobatters later, Meaghan Young hit an RBI double to score Hickey and knot thegame at 1-1. After a Corinne Good walk, Lori Reese hit a sacrifice fly toscore Young and Breshears hit a RBI single to score Good to give theCavaliers a 3-1 lead they would not relinquish.
Dennis gathered her ninth win of the season as she allowed only onerun on two hits to go along with her game-high eight strikeouts.
With the victory, the Cavaliers improve to 35-25 overall, 3-1 inthe ACC Tournament. Maryland falls to 48-21 overall and was eliminated inthe tournament by UVa as it finished with a 1-2 record in the tournament.Both Terrapins losses came to the Cavaliers. Virginia will now advance toplay the Florida State Seminoles at 3:30 p.m. in the Championship game.