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March 25, 2006

Box Score

ATLANTA, Ga. – The Virginia softball team lost both ends of an Atlantic Coast Conference doubleheader to Georgia Tech Saturday (Mar. 25) at Glenn Field. The Cavaliers fell 10-2 in five innings in the first game and then suffered a 7-4 loss in the nightcap. With the two losses, UVa falls to 14-11 overall and 1-4 in the ACC. Georgia Tech improves to 28-8 overall and 5-0 in the conference.

In the first game, UVa took a 2-0 lead in the second. With two outs, fourth-year pitcher Erin Horn (Tallahassee, Fla.) drew a walk and moved to second when second-year shortstop Lindsey Preuss (La Plata, Md.) was hit by a pitch. Second-year first baseman Whitney Holstun (Escondido, Calif.) drew a walk to load the bases before fourth-year third baseman Sara Larquier (Burbank, Calif.) delivered a two-run single to left to score Horn and Preuss.

The Yellow Jackets came back to score four unearned runs in the bottom of the second. Georgia Tech capitalized on two errors, two walks and a hit batter to score the four runs and take a 4-2 lead. The Jackets added four more runs in the fourth on only two hits. Georgia Tech used three walks and a three-run triple by Amy Hosier for the first three runs. Hosier then scored on Blair Shimandle’s double to make the score 8-2. The Yellow Jackets closed out the game with two more runs in the fifth, including a RBI single by Savannah Brown to invoke the eight-run rule and win 10-2.

Horn took the loss in the circle to fall to 5-4 on the season. In one-plus inning of work, Horn allowed four unearned runs without giving up a hit, but issued three walks while striking out one. Third-year Coty Tolar (Marietta, Ga.) pitched 1.2 innings in relief of Horn and gave up four runs on three hits. She walked four and struck out one. Madi Gore (Acworth, Ga.) pitched the final 1.1 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits. Gore walked two and struck out one. Lacey Richardson pitched 3.1 innings to pick up the win and improve to 5-3. She gave up two runs on four hits with three walks and one strikeout. Whitney Haller picked up the save with 1.2 innings of work.

Virginia again took an early lead in the second game by scoring two runs in the top of the third. Third-year right fielder Meghan O’Leary (Baton Rouge, La.) had a one-out single and moved to second on a groundout. O’Leary advanced to third on third-year second baseman Elea Crockett’s (Tucson, Ariz.) single up the middle. O’Leary and Crockett both scored on a throwing error by GT shortstop Christine Sheridan. The Jackets came back to tie the game in the bottom half of the frame with a pair of runs. Sheridan and Haller drove in the runs for Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets took advantage of two UVa errors to add three runs in the fourth to take a 5-2 edge.

In the fifth inning, the Cavaliers narrowed the gap to 5-4 with a pair of runs. Fourth-year center fielder Jessica Taylor’s (Philadelphia, Pa.) led off with a single through the right side of the infield and moved to second on a walk to Horn. Taylor was forced out at third on Preuss’ fielder’s choice grounder. A walk to Larquier loaded the bases and Crockett came through with a RBI single to center field that plated Horn. Preuss then scored on a throwing error by Sheridan. Georgia Tech answered with two runs of its own on Haller’s two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to make the final score 7-4.

Karla Wilburn (Del Mar, Calif.) took the loss in the circle. Wilburn (4-5) allowed seven runs (five earned) on seven hits with five walks and one strikeout. Horn pitched the final two innings and held Georgia Tech hitless while striking out one batter. Sarah Wood (10-2) earned the victory in the circle for the Yellow Jackets. She allowed four runs (one earned) on six hits with two walks. Haller gave up two hits in the seventh but managed to get out of the jam without allowing a run to earn her second save of the afternoon.

UVa wraps up the series with Georgia Tech on Sunday (Mar. 26) with a single game beginning at 1:00 p.m.

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