Virginia Splits Two Games In Championship Bracket Of National Invitational Softball Tournament
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March 9, 2002
PLEASANTON, Calif. – The Virginia softball team lost to top-ranked UCLA 2-0 Saturday (March 9) in Championship Bracket play of the National Invitational Softball Tournament, but bounced back to defeat ACC rival Georgia Tech 6-4 in 10 innings. The Cavaliers, who now stand at 15-6 on the season, will play again in the NIST at 9:00 p.m. Saturday evening with its opponent yet to be determined.
UCLA’s Amanda Freed threw a no-hitter in the Bruins’ 2-0 win over UVa. She struck out 10 batters while walking one in improving to 13-1 on the season. Fourth-year All-American Kristen Dennis (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon) took the loss on the mound for Virginia as she fell to 6-3 on the season. She allowed only one earned run and struck out six batters while giving up nine hits. UCLA (27-2) scored single runs in the top of the third and fifth innings with the run in the fifth being of the unearned variety.
The Cavaliers, who dropped three consecutive games in the tournament, bounced back with a 6-4, 10-inning win over Georgia Tech (18-6). UVa led 4-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Yellow Jackets scored four runs to force extra innings. Sara Wissman drove in the first three runs with a bases loaded triple and then scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly. After two scoreless extra frames, Virginia scored a pair of runs in the top of the 10th inning for the 6-4 victory.
Dennis improved to 7-3 with four innings of one-hit relief in place of fourth-year Erin Allinder (Norco, Calif./Norco). Dennis struck out five batters and walked only one. Allinder pitched six innings and allowed just one hit in the first six innings, but Georgia Tech exploded for four runs on three hits in the seventh.
UVa jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Dennis drove in first-year right fielder Valerie Sevilla (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga) and fifth-year center fielder Kelly McCabe (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) with a triple. The Cavaliers increased their lead to 4-0 with two more runs in the fifth inning. Second-year catcher Stephanie Calhoun (Spring Valley, Calif./Mount Miguel) supplied the big hit, a two-run single that scored Sevilla and McCabe.
Virginia broke a 4-4 tie by scoring two runs in the top of the 10th inning. Calhoun was placed on second base to begin the inning in accordance to the international tiebreaker rule. Second-year Brit Gore (Vienna, Va./James Madison) pinch ran for Calhoun and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by third-year third baseman Ruby Rojas (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei). Second-year first baseman Hannah Owings (Issaquah, Wash./Liberty) then tripled to score Gore. Third-year Johanna Kaiser (Scottsdale, Ariz./Saguaro), pinch running for Owings, scored on third-year second baseman Jill Bumler’s (Montclair, Va./Bishop O’Connell) double.
Sevilla was three for five at the plate and scored two runs in the game. Bumler had two hits, including the RBI double in the 10th and two walks.