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Virginia's Taylor Earns All-ACC Softball Honors
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May 10, 2006
GREENSBORO, N.C. – University of Virginia fourth-year center fielder Jessica Taylor (Philadelphia, Pa./Germantown Academy) has been selected to the 11-member All-Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Second Team as voted by the league’s eight head coaches. The All-ACC awards were announced Wednesday evening (May 10) at the annual pre-ACC Championship banquet in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Taylor captures second-team All-ACC honors for the second consecutive season. Taylor started all 52 games in center field and is the only Cavalier to start every game at the same position this season. She is second on the team in hitting with a .281 (45-160) batting average and leads the team with 45 hits and 28 runs scored. Taylor shares the team lead with 64 total bases and 10 multiple-hit games, and has driven in 19 runs. She has also stolen 15 bases and possesses a .973 fielding percentage (two errors in 73 total chances). In 20 ACC games, Taylor tops the Cavaliers with a .267 (16-60) batting average and has been perfect on 29 fielding opportunities.
In her career, Taylor has stolen 52 bases and is tied for second on UVa’s all-time steals list. She is second at UVa with 43 sacrifice hits. She is also third in triples (13) and hit by pitches (16), sixth in hits (198), multiple-hit games (48), runs (119), and at-bats (675), and seventh in total bases (263) and games played (231).
Taylor was the lone UVa player to earn All-ACC honors. Ten players were named to the All-ACC first-team and 11 players earned second-team honors. Florida State and Virginia Tech both had four players earn All-ACC accolades with the Seminoles placing three players on the first team. North Carolina, NC State and Georgia Tech each had three players capture All-Conference honors, while Maryland had two selections and Boston College one.
Virginia Tech’s Angela Tincher swept the ACC Player and ACC Pitcher of the Year awards, while Georgia Tech’s Whitney Hall was named the ACC Freshman of the Year. NC State’s Lisa Navas was tabbed the ACC Coach of the Year.
Virginia (28-24, 7-13 ACC) begins play in the 2006 ACC Championship, which is being held at Anderson Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Thursday, May 11. The sixth-seeded Cavaliers open the eight-team, double elimination tournament by playing third-seeded Virginia Tech (37-17, 12-8 ACC) at 10:00 a.m.