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Softball to Face Georgia Tech in ACC Tournament
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April 30, 1999
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia softball team completed its 1999 regular season schedule on Wednesday, April 28 with a doubleheader sweep over the Liberty Flames. The Cavaliers finished the regular season with a record of 32-24 overall, 4-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. UVa will now prepare for the 1999 ACC Softball Tournament which will be played in Tallahassee, Fla. at Florida State University on May 14-16.
The Virginia Cavaliers (4-4), seeded #4 in the tournament, will open competition by facing the fifth-seeded Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (0-8) on Friday, May 14 at 3:00 p.m. The Maryland Terrapins (6-2) claimed the #1 seed in this year’s tournament. The Florida State Seminole (6-2) were tabbed #2, followed by the North Carolina Tar Heels (4-4) at #3. Since both Maryland and Florida State finished with identical records, several tie breaking procedures were performed to determine the seeding of the teams. After those steps were exhausted, a blind draw was performed, giving the Terrapins the number one seed. The same format was used for North Carolina and Virginia. Georgia Tech was the only school that had locked a seeding without having to rely on a tie break procedure.
Here is a look at the 1999 ACC Tournament Schedule:
Friday, May 14Game 1 3:00 p.m. #5 Georgia Tech vs. #4 VirginiaGame 2 5:00 p.m. #3 North Carolina vs. #2 Florida StateGame 3 7:00 p.m. Winner of #5 Georgia Tech/#4 Virginia vs. #1 Maryland
Saturday, May 15Game 4 3:00 p.m. Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 LoserGame 5 5:00 p.m. Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 WinnerGame 6 7:00 p.m. Game 4 Winner vs. Game 3 Loser
Sunday, May 16Game 7 12:00 p.m. Game 5 Loser vs. Game 6 WinnerGame 8 3:30 p.m. Game 5 Winner vs. Game 7 WinnerGame 9 6:00 p.m. If the winner of Game 5 loses Game 8, then Game 9 becomes the Championship
The Cavaliers and Yellow Jackets have meet twice this season, when the two squads met in an ACC doubleheader at The Park in Charlottesville, Va. Virginia came away with a 2-0 decision in game one, followed by a victory in the second contest. UVa entered its doubleheader with the Georgia Tech looking to build upon a five-game winning streak, and to improve upon its 1-3 record in the ACC. Georgia Tech was coming off back-to-back loses to Maryland, and was searching for its first conference victory of the season.
In game one, neither team could manage to score a run through four innings of play. However, in the bottom of the fifth inning, UVa jumped on the scoreboard first. Amy Peay (1-2, run) got the Cavaliers rolling with a one-out single. After advancing to second base on a fielders choice, Mariruth Graham (1-2, RBI) stepped to the plate and delivered the eventual game winning hit when she recorded an RBI single that scored Peay to give Virginia a 1-0 lead. One inning later and still leading 1-0, Lori Reese (2-3, RBI, homerun, triple, run) extended UVa’s lead when she hit a solo homerun to give the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead that the Hoos would not relinquish.
Georgia Tech’s Beth Warren (1-2, double) was one of four Yellow Jackets to post a hit in the game. Virginia’s Stacey Zagol was the winning pitcher, as she held Georgia Tech to zero runs on four hits to go along with her four strikeouts in a complete game shutout. Mimi Utt took the loss, as she surrendered two runs on five hits while striking out one Cavaliers batter.
In the second game, Virginia scored one run in ever inning at bat for the game. Meaghan Young (4-4, two RBI, run) singled to start the game off and later scored on a passed ball. Georgia Tech responded by scoring a run of its own in the second inning when Erin Hawley (1-3, RBI, run) hit a singled which scored Warren (1-3, run), who doubled to get on base. That knotted the score at 1-1. In the second inning, Peay singled and eventually scored a run when Young hit an RBI single. UVa would answered the Yellow Jackets run by scoring four unanswered runs of its own over the next four innings to take a 5-1 lead.
After Virginia pulled out to a 5-1 lead, Georgia Tech made a late run in the sixth inning by scoring three runs to make the score 5-4. With the bases loaded and only one out, Warren grounded into a double play to end the Yellow Jackets late run. The Cavaliers added an insurance run in the sixth inning when Karen Breshears (1-2, two RBI) drove in Reese, who doubled to get on base, with a sacrifice fly. Virginia’s Chrissy Quinn had a solid all-around game for the Cavaliers. She went 2-3 at the plate and scored one run, and was also the winning pitcher after collecting five innings of work as a pitcher. Zagol replaced Quinn in the sixth inning to record the save for UVa. Utt received her second loss of the afternoon as a pitcher after being replaced by Jamie Smith.
UVa’s Reese (2-4, run in game-two) hit for the cycle on the day, as she recorded a homerun and a triple in the first game, before hitting a double and a single in the second game. She finished 4-7 at the plate with two runs and one RBI on the day.
This season against conference opponents, Virginia was 2-0 against Georgia Tech, 1-1 against Maryland, 1-2 against North Carolina and 0-2 against Florida State. UVa’s first contest against UNC this season was a non-conference game.