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Virginia Softball Registers 5-4 Win Over Georgia Tech
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March 26, 2006
ATLANTA, Ga. – The Virginia softball team bounced back from a pair of losses to Georgia Tech on Saturday to register a 5-4 victory over the Yellow Jackets Sunday (Mar. 26) at Glenn Field to take the final game of the series. The Cavaliers used a four-run fourth inning and a “pitching by committee” approach to notch their second Atlantic Coast Conference victory of the season. UVa now stands at 15-11 overall and 2-4 in the ACC, while Georgia Tech falls to 28-9 overall and 5-1 in the conference.
The Cavaliers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Fourth-year center fielder Jessica Taylor (Philadelphia, Pa.) led off the inning with an infield single. Second-year first baseman Whitney Holstun (Escondido, Calif.) reached when her sacrifice bunt was misplayed for an error that allowed Taylor to move all the way to third. Fourth-year left fielder Erin Horn (Tallahassee, Fla.) brought Taylor home with the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly to left field. Georgia Tech tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom half of the second when Amy Hosier hit a RBI double to left center to score Savannah Brown.
UVa added four runs on five hits with two outs in the third inning. Fourth-year shortstop Sara Larquier (Burbank, Calif.) got the inning started with a one-out double high off the wall in right center. With two outs, third-year designated player Amy McKean (Kent. Wash.) slammed her team-leading seventh home run of the season down the left field line to give the Cavaliers a 3-1 lead. Third-year right fielder Brooke Sorber (Alexandria, Va.) followed with a single to right center and moved to third on Taylor’s single to right. Taylor moved to second on the throw and both Sorber and Taylor scored on Holstun’s single to right to give Virginia a 5-1 lead.
Georgia Tech came back to score two runs in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 5-3. The Yellow Jackets used two walks, two bloop singles and a groundout to score their two runs. Caitlin Lever had a RBI single and Blair Shimandle brought home the second run with a groundout. In the sixth, the Jackets added an unearned run on Lever’s squeeze bunt that went for base hit.
Second-year Karla Wilburn (Del Mar, Calif.) made two pitching appearances in the contest and pitched a total of 4.1 innings to pick up the win and improve to 5-5 on the season. She allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits with one strikeout. First-year Madi Gore (Acworth, Ga.) pitched a perfect third inning for the Cavaliers. Third-year Coty Tolar (Marietta, Ga.) entered the game in the fourth inning and allowed two runs on one hit with two walks. Wilburn relieved Tolar in the fourth and then gave way to Horn in the sixth. Horn pitched the final 1.2 innings to earn her second save of the season. She retired all five batters she faced, including one by strikeout.
Sarah Wood (10-3) took the loss in the circle for Georgia Tech. In 2.2 innings, she allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits. Lacey Richardson pitched 2.1 innings and walked two, while Whitney Haller tossed the final two innings and did not allow a hit.
Virginia returns to action on Tuesday (Mar. 28) when it travels to Fairfax, Va., for a doubleheader against George Mason. The first game is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. The Cavaliers open the home portion of their schedule on Wednesday (Mar. 29) with a doubleheader against Radford at The Park. The first game will begin at 1:00 p.m.