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April 29, 2000
2000 Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Championships
Game Three
Virginia 3, North Carolina 1
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 4 seed Virginia knocked off top-seeded NorthCarolina, 3-1, in Game Three of the 2000 Atlantic Coast Conference SoftballChampionships, Saturday evening at the Seminole Softball Complex. With itssecond win of the day, UVA improved to 26-34 on the year while the Tar Heelsfell to 45-16.
Virginia’s Meaghan Young reached on an error to start things off in thefirst inning and after being sacrificed to second, was driven in by a doubleby Ruby Rojas. North Carolina’s Crystal Henderson answered for the TarHeels in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot over the left fieldfence. In the third inning, the Cavaliers scored two runs off of two hitsto give UVA a 3-1 advantage. With two out and one on, Stephanie Calhoundoubled to center field, scoring pitcher Kristen Dennis and Katie Weinberg.After giving up three hits and one run in the first inning, UVA pitcherDennis surrendered just four hits the rest of the game. She struck out sixand walked no one and improved her record to 6-12. Offensively for theCavs, Rojas went 3-for-4 with one RBI while Calhoun drove in two runs,including the game-winner.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Kristen (Dennis), because NorthCarolina is a good hitting team,” UVA Head Coach Cheryl Sprangel said. “Shewas a little shaky in the first inning, but she settled down nicely. Wewere able to get her a couple of runs early in the game, which we hadn’tdone this year.”
Kelly Ramsey and Crystal Henderson combined for four of the Tar Heels’ sevenhits. UNC’s Radara McHugh fell to 22-6 with the loss.”I thought we came out the first couple of innings and attacked the ballwell,” UNC Head Coach Donna Papa said. “Virginia really hit the ball. Theydidn’t have a lot of big hits, but they got the job done. Now we have totake a different path to the championship game.”
Virginia will face Florida State at 3 p.m., on Sunday while North Carolinawill play the winner of the Georgia Tech/Maryland game at 5 p.m.
GAME THREE 123 456 7 R H EVirginia 102 000 0 3 9 1North Carolina 100 000 0 1 7 1
WP – Kristen Dennis (6-12)
LP – Radara McHugh (22-6)
* UNC’s Crystal Henderson hit her 17th career home run, tying her withNatalie Anter for the all-time UNC record for career home runs.