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April 2, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – North Carolina used a bases loaded walk with two outs in the top of the seventh inning to pull out a 5-4 victory over the Virginia softball team Sunday (Apr. 2) in Atlantic Coast Conference action at The Park. With the loss, the Cavaliers fall to 18-15 overall and 2-7 in the ACC, while the 23rd-ranked Tar Heels improve to 33-10 overall and 7-2 in the conference.
North Carolina took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Jennifer Jacobs led off the second with a single up the middle. Marissa May, pinch running for Jacobs, stole second base and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Lisa Norris. May then scored on Anna Evans’ sacrifice fly to center field.
The Cavaliers took advantage of two UNC errors to score four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Third-year second baseman Elea Crockett (Tucson, Ariz.) led off the inning with a single to third base. Third-year right fielder Brooke Sorber (Alexandria, Va.) laid down a sacrifice bunt and moved all the way to second when Tar Heel third baseman Alyssa Francona threw high to first base for a two-base error. Fourth-year shortstop Sara Larquier (Burbank, Calif.) was issued an intentional walk to load the bases and third-year catcher Michelle Salmiery (San Jose, Calif.) tied the game at 1-1 with a RBI single to left that scored Crockett. With the bases loaded, Sober and Larquier both scored when fourth-year left fielder Erin Horn’s (Tallahassee, Fla.) ground ball back to UNC pitcher Crystal Cox was thrown wide of the plate for an error. Second-year first baseman Whitney Holstun (Escondido, Calif.) made the score 4-1 with a sacrifice fly to left that scored second-year Kat Mirras (Montauk, N.Y.) from third. Mirras was pinch running for Salmiery.
The Tar Heels came right back to score three unearned runs in the fifth to knot the game at 4-4. With two outs, UVa dropped a foul popup for an error and the next batter, pinch hitter Emily Troup took advantage of it by hitting a three-run homer to left center. UNC scored the game-winning run with two outs in the top of the seventh. Ashley Oxendine reached on a two-out infield single and the Tar Heels then drew three consecutive walks with the third by Norris that forced in Oxendine with the winning run.
Cox picked up her second victory of the weekend to improve to 16-5 in the circle. She allowed four runs (one earned) on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts in a complete-game effort.
Horn took the loss in the circle and fell to 6-6 on the season. She pitched the final 1.1 innings and gave up one run on one hit with three strikeouts and three walks. Second-year Karla Wilburn (Del Mar, Calif.) pitched a total of three innings, including the first two, and gave up one run on two hits. First-year Madi Gore (Acworth, Ga.) entered the contest in the third inning and gave up one hit and issued one walk in 1.1 innings. Third-year Coty Tolar (Marietta, Ga.) also threw 1.1 innings and gave up three unearned runs on three hits. She also struck out a pair of batters.
Crockett, Salmiery and fourth-year center fielder Jessica Taylor (Philadelphia, Pa.) had UVa’s hits in the contest.
Virginia returns to action on Tuesday (Apr. 4) when it travels to Lynchburg for a 2:00 p.m. doubleheader against Liberty.