/
.
Virginia Softball Eliminates Maryland From ACC Championship
Story Links
May 10, 2003
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The University of Virginia softball team scored five runs in the first inning in registering a 6-3 victory over Maryland Saturday (May 10) at the Seminole Softball Complex in the 2003 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. With the win, the Cavaliers improve to 36-25 on the season and advance to play Georgia Tech at 7:00 p.m. Saturday with the winner moving on to the Sunday’s ACC Championship game.
The victory was UVa’s second over the Terrapins in the ACC Championship and it also eliminated Maryland from the tourney. Virginia opened the tournament with a 4-0 victory over Maryland Friday (May 9). The Terps end their season with a 27-18 record.
The Cavaliers wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as third-year shortstop Heather Field (Lincoln, Calif./Lincoln) led off the game with a long home run down the left field line. It was Field’s career-high tying sixth home run of the season. UVa went on to add four more runs in the inning, all of which were unearned. First-year center fielder Jessica Taylor (Philadelphia, Pa./Germantown Academy) followed with a single down the right field line. Fourth-year third baseman Ruby Rojas (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei) reached on a fielder’s choice grounder and advanced to second when Maryland’s second baseman committed a throwing error on first-year second baseman Sara Larquier’s (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) ground ball. Rojas and Larquier moved to second and third on second-year catcher Jenn Wynn’s (Herndon, Va./Herndon) single up the middle. Fourth-year left fielder Johanna Kaiser (Scottsdale, Ariz./Saguaro) then hit a ground ball to third that the Terrapins’ third baseman threw away trying to get Rojas at the plate. The error also allowed Larquier to score. Third-year first baseman Hannah Owings (Issaquah, Wash./Liberty) closed out the scoring by lacing a long single off the top of the center field wall that scored both Wynn and Kaiser to make the score 5-0.
The Terrapins came right back to score three runs in the bottom half of the first inning. Malissa Moczulski started the two-out rally with a single and Monica Cyphert hit a bloop single down the left field line. Jillian Callaway followed with an RBI single down the left field line that scored Moczulski. After a walk to Casey Leiter, Cyphert and Callaway scored on Crystal Rizzuto’s single to make the score 5-3.
The game turned into a pitcher’s duel after the first inning as neither team was able to get more than one runner on base over the next four innings. However, that changed in the top of the sixth when first-year designated player Christina Grimm (Los Osos, Calif./Morro Bay) ripped a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for her fifth home run of the season to increase Virginia’s lead to 6-3.
First-year Erin Horn (Tallahassee, Fla./Leon) picked up her second complete-game victory of the tournament in the circle. She improved to 16-11 on the season by holding Maryland to just one hit over the final six innings after allowing three runs on four hits in the first frame. She struck out seven batters while walking two. Jessica Aditays (9-8) took the loss for the Terrapins’ as she allowed five runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits in two-thirds of an inning of work. Monica Cyphert pitched the final 6.1 innings and gave up one run on one hit while striking out three and walking three.