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Virginia Softball Registers 11-8 Win Over Temple
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Feb. 17, 2007
TUCSON, Ariz. – The Virginia softball team’s bats remained hot and the Cavaliers took advantage of five Temple errors to post an 11-8 victory over the Owls Saturday (Feb. 17) in the Worth Wildcat Invitational at Hillenbrand Stadium. With the win, UVa improves to 2-1 in the tournament and 5-3 on the season. Virginia continues play in the tourney against host and third-ranked Arizona Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. (ET).
Temple opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning on Andrienne Repsher’s double to left field. UVa answered with a single tally in the bottom half of the opening frame. With two outs, first-year first baseman Kelly Haller (Leesburg, Va.) hit a double down the right field line, the first of her school record-tying four hits in the game. She moved to third on first-year shortstop Abby Snyder’s (Cantonment, Fla.) single to left field. Haller scored when fourth-year designated player Amy McKean’s (Kent, Wash.) grounder to shortstop was misplayed for an error. The Owls took a 2-1 lead in the second Anna Rico’s single to right field. Virginia came back with three unearned runs in the bottom of the second to take a 4-2 lead. First-year right fielder Sarah Tacke (Merced, Calif.) led off with a walk and third-year Casey Steffan (Long Valley, N.J.), who pinch ran for Tacke, stole second base. O’Leary moved Steffan to third with a single to center and O’Leary promptly stole second base. Steffan was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a passed ball with O’Leary moving to third. The Owls tried to get O’Leary at third, but the throw to third was low and skipped into the outfield, which allowed O’Leary to score. After a walk to first-year left fielder Nicole Koren (Warminster, Pa.), fourth-year second baseman Elea Crockett (Tucson, Ariz.) hit a grounder to third which turned into a three-base throwing error, allowing Koren to score from first. Haller closed out the scoring in the inning with a RBI double down the left field line.
The Owls closed to with 4-3 in the third on Krystle Metzler’s single to right center. The Cavaliers again had an answer as they added two runs in the bottom of the third to make the score 6-3. Third-year center fielder Lindsey Preuss (La Plata, Md.) led off the third with a triple to right center. Tacke then drew her second walk of the game and moved to second with a stolen base. Fourth-year Brooke Sorber (Alexandria, Va.), who pinch hit for Salmiery, brought both runners home with a double to the gap in right center.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Temple knotted the game at 6-6 in the fifth inning on Metzler’s three-run homer to left. UVa came right back with five runs of its own to pull ahead 11-6. Tacke led off with a single to center and moved to second base on a throwing error by the catcher on fourth-year catcher Michelle Salmiery’s (San Jose, Calif.) sacrifice bunt attempt. A fielder’s choice grounder by O’Leary put runners on first and second with one out. With two outs, Crockett drew a walk to load the bases for Haller. Haller came through with a two-run single and came all the way around to score after a throwing error by Temple’s catcher. The Owls scored two runs in the sixth to make the final score 11-8.
Haller went 4-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. She tied the school record with her four hits. Tacke was 2-2 with two walks.
Fourth-year Coty Tolar (Marietta, Ga.) picked up the victory in the circle to improve to 2-1 on the season. She allowed eight runs (five earned) on 11 hits. She walked five and struck out two. Second-year Karla Wilburn (Del Mar, Calif.) registered the save with 1.1 innings of relief work. She allowed one hit. Ashley Smuda took the loss. In 5.2 innings, she allowed nine runs (two earned) on 11 hits with five walks and a pair of strikeouts. Katie Burdeaux went one-third of an inning and allowed two unearned runs on one hit with one walk.