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UVa Softball Falls To Cal State Northridge In Nine Innings
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March 9, 2006
LOS ANGELES – The Virginia softball team pounded out 13 hits, but Cal State Northridge took advantage of a two-out error to score two unearned runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and pull out a 5-4 victory over the Cavaliers Thursday (Mar. 9) at Loyola Marymount’s Smith Field. With the loss, UVa falls to 13-6 on the season, while Cal State Northridge improves to 10-10. The Cavaliers immediately turn around and play host Loyola Marymount in the LMU Tournament.
UVa took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning against Cal-State Northridge. Fourth-year center fielder Jessica Taylor (Philadelphia, Pa.) led off with a double to right center and scored when third-year catcher Amy McKean (Kent, Wash.) continued her hot hitting with a RBI single up the middle. The Matadors tied the game in the bottom half of the inning when Jan Moshier hit a one-out homer to left field.
The Cavaliers nearly took the lead in both the fifth and sixth, but they had runners thrown out at home in both innings. Second-year first baseman Whitney Holstun (Escondido, Calif.) doubled to right field to lead off the fifth and moved to third on fourth-year right fielder Jackie Greer’s (Portage, Mich.) sacrifice bunt. Holstun was thrown out at home trying to score on third-year second baseman Elea Crockett’s (Tucson, Ariz.) fly out to center field. In the sixth, fourth-year third baseman Sara Larquier (Burbank, Calif.) moved to third on third-year designated player Michelle Salmiery’s (San Jose, Calif.) single and was out trying to steal home.
The game remained tied after seven innings. Using the international tie-breaker, the Cavaliers scored two runs in the top of the eighth. Crockett was placed on second to begin the inning and moved to third on Taylor’s single to first base. Crockett scored on McKean’s second RBI single of the day with Taylor advancing to third. Taylor scored on Larquier’s suicide squeeze to make the score 3-1. Cal State Northridge answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning on Amanda Peek’s two-run homer to center to tie the game at 3-3.
UVa took a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth. Fourth-year Erin Horn (Tallahassee, Fla.) began the inning on second and moved to third on second-year shortstop Lindsey Preuss’ (La Plata, Md.) bunt single. Greer brought Horn home with another bunt single. With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Heather Martin was hit by a pitch to move Stacy Milne to second. Both runners moved up on an infield out. With two outs, Jamie Pederson reached on a throwing error by second-year Karla Wilburn (Del Mar, Calif.), which allowed the tying and winning runs to score.
Wilburn (4-3) suffered the loss in the circle with 1.1 innings of relief work in place of Horn. Wilburn allowed two unearned runs on one hit with two strikeouts. Horn went 7.1 innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits. She struck out 10 batters and walked one. Sam Schroeder went the distance to improve to 5-3 in the circle. She scattered 13 hits over nine innings, allowing four runs (two earned) with four strikeouts and one walk.
McKean had three hits and two RBI for the Cavaliers, while Taylor, Salmiery, Preuss and Greer all had two hits.