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March 15, 2007
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia softball team begins Atlantic Coast Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at North Carolina. The series, which will be held at UNC’s Anderson Stadium in Chapel Hill, begins with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday (March 17), followed by a 1 p.m. game on Sunday (March 18).
The Cavaliers, who have not played since March 6, stand at 8-16 on the season. In its last outing, Virginia dropped both ends of a doubleheader at East Carolina (4-3 and 7-1) on March 6.
North Carolina is 24-8 on the season and has won a school record 17 consecutive games. The Tar Heels are coming off a 9-1 victory over Boston University on Tuesday (March 13). North Carolina won its own Tar Heel Invitational March 2-4 and then the Adidas Tournament (March 8-11) in Clearwater, Fla.
UVa trails North Carolina 58-27-1 in the all-time series. The Tar Heels swept all three meeting last season in Charlottesville. UNC, ranked 23rd at the time, took the doubleheader 3-1 and 13-2 and then closed out the series with a 5-4 victory. The two teams split four meetings in Chapel Hill in the 2005 season with UVa winning two of three ACC matchups. The Tar Heels won the first meeting of that season during the Triangle Classic.
“We need to play great defense in order to have a chance to win the series,” said head coach Karen Johns. “UNC is playing great softball right now – pitching, defense and hitting. This will be a huge challenge for us, but I know we will be ready to play.”
First-year first baseman Kelly Haller (Leesburg, Va.) leads the Cavaliers with an impressive .403 (27-67) batting average. She entered the week fifth among all ACC players in batting average. Haller also leads UVa in RBI (23), slugging percentage (.716), home runs (5) and doubles (6). Fourth-year second baseman Elea Crockett (Tucson, Ariz.) is second on the squad in hitting with a .271 batting average (23-85) and leads the team with 18 runs scored.
The entire series can be followed via gametracker at virginiasports.com. Sunday’s game will be broadcast on ACC Select (www.ACCSelect.com).