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March 1, 1999

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The University of Virginia softball team began competition in the final day of the 1999 UCSB Easton Invitational Tournament. The tournament was hosted by the University of California at Santa Barbara and was held at the UCSB Campus Diamond.

The Cavaliers entered the final day of tournament play riding a six-game losing streak, having lost all four games they played in the tournament. Virginia opened the morning session of the tournament with a game against the Cal Poly-SLO Mustangs. UVa jumped on the scoreboard first when Kristen Dennis (1-3, RBI) drove in Meaghan Young (1-4, RBI, run) in the first inning to give the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead. The Mustangs answered right back in the top of the second inning and took a 2-1 lead when Alana Marques hit a two-run double for Cal Poly-SLO. Virginia knotted the score at 2-2 after Claudia Hickey (run) scored on a wild pitch by the Mustang’s pitcher Carrie Jasper. The game would remain tied at 2-2 until the bottom of the seventh inning when UVa’s Amy Peay (run) scored the game winning run, giving the Cavaliers their first victory in the tournament and Virginia’s first win in its last seven contests.

Dennis (3-1) pitched a complete game for UVa and gathered her third victory of the season. She pitched seven innings, allowed five, two runs and walked 10 batters while collecting five strikeouts in the 3-2 victory.

After its win over Cal Poly-SLO, UVa moved on to play the Texas A&M Aggies in the final game for both squads in the tournament. The Aggies brought a 15-4 overall record into the game, including a perfect 5-0 slate in the UCSB Easton Invitational. Texas A&M defeated Virginia by a score of 9-3 in their first meeting in the tournament.

The game turned out to be a pitching duel between UVas Stacey Zagol and Texas A&Ms Amy Vining. Both pitchers went the distance, as Zagol gathered seven innings of work, gave up three hits, walked two batters and tallied one strikeout. Vining pitched seven innings, allowed three hits, one run and one walk after recording nine strikeouts.

Chrissy Quinn (1-2, run) and Corinne Good (1-3, RBI, double) proved to be the difference for UVa in the sixth inning. After hitting a single, Quinn stole second base to put herself into position to score the first run of the game. It worked to perfection, as Good hit the eventual game-winning double to score Quinn in the only run of the game. Young (1-3) also recorded a hit for the Cavaliers in the 1-0 win.

After posting two wins on the day, Virginias record improves to 6-7 overall. The Cavaliers finished play in the UCSB Easton Invitational Tournament with a 2-4 record.

UVa will return home to Charlottesville, Va. to play its home opener against Eastern Michigan on Wednesday, March 3rd at 2:00 p.m. The contest is a doubleheader and will be held at The Park.

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