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Virginia Softball Falls To 10th-Ranked Florida State 10-1 In ACC Championship
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May 9, 2003
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The University of Virginia softball team lost to 10th-ranked Florida State 10-1 in five innings Friday evenings (May 9) at the 2003 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship at the Seminole Softball Complex. UVa opened play in the double elimination tournament Friday afternoon with a 4-0 victory over Maryland. With the loss to Florida State, the Cavaliers fall to 35-25 on the season while the Seminoles improve to 44-9 and extend their winning streak to a nation-best 25 games. Virginia continues play in the tournament at 5:00 p.m. Saturday against the winner of the North Carolina – Maryland game.
Florida State broke the game open with seven runs in the second inning. Five of the runs in the inning were unearned and came with two outs. The Seminoles scored the seven runs on six hits and a pair of Virginia errors. Brandi Stuart led off the inning with a single to left field and eventually scored the first run on a throwing error while stealing third base. Elisa Vasquez provided the big hit in the inning with a three-run homer to right center to close out the scoring.
The Seminoles extended their lead to 8-0 in the third inning when Lesley Palmer hit a homer to left center with one out. FSU added two more runs in the fourth on Beth Wade’s two-run homer to left center field.
The Cavaliers had several scoring opportunities early in the game, but finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning. First-year Christina Grimm (Los Osos, Calif./Morro Bay) led off the fifth inning with a double to center field and second-year pinch runner Lauren Dennis (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon) advanced to third on third-year first baseman Hannah Owings’ (Issaquah, Wash./Liberty) single up the middle. The Cavaliers avoided the shutout when Dennis scored on third-year shortstop Heather Field’s (Lincoln, Calif./Lincoln) fielder’s choice ground out.
Grimm took the loss in the circle for the Cavaliers as she fell to 13-8. In 2.1 innings, she allowed eight runs, only three of which were earned, on seven hits with one walk. First-year Erin Horn (Tallahassee, Fla./Leon), who earned the win in UVa’s victory over Maryland, pitched 1.2 innings in relief of Grimm and gave up two runs on three hits. She struck out two batters and walked three.
Florida State’s Casey Hunter improved to 26-5 on the season with the complete-game victory in the circle. She allowed one run on seven hits and walked one batter.
UVa fourth-year left fielder Johanna Kaiser (Scottsdale, Ariz./Saguaro), who had two hits against Maryland, extended her hitting streak to 10 games with a single to right field in the fourth inning. Her 10-game hitting streak is the season-high by a Virginia player.