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Virginia Softball Drops 4-1 Decision To Virginia Tech In ACC Tournament
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May 10, 2007
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The eighth-seeded Virginia softball team gave up four runs in the sixth inning to top-seeded Virginia Tech and fell to the Hokies 4-1 Thursday (May 10) in the Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Championship at JoAnne Graf Field in Tallahassee, Fla. With the loss, the Cavaliers fall to 17-38 and will play the loser of the Thursday evening’s North Carolina-Florida State game on Friday (May 11) at 10 a.m. The Hokies, who are ranked 15th in the ESPN.com/USA Softball and 21st in the USAToday/NFCA Top 25 polls, improve to 45-14 on the season.
The Cavaliers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Fourth-year shortstop Meghan O’Leary (Baton Rouge, La.) led off with a single to shortstop and moved all the way to third base when fourth-year catcher Michelle Salmiery’s (San Jose, Calif.) sacrifice bunt was thrown into right field by Virginia Tech first baseman Stephanie Savre for an error. Third-year Casey Steffan (Long Valley, N.J.) pinch ran for Salmiery and stole second base. With two outs, first-year first baseman Kelly Haller (Leesburg, Va.) hit a single through the right side of an infield to bring home O’Leary with the first run of the game. Steffan tried to score from second on the play and was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
Virginia Tech came back to score four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 4-1 lead. Callie Rhodes led off the inning with a single off the glove of third-year pitcher Whitney Holstun (Escondido, Calif.). Fourth-year Coty Tolar (Marietta, Ga.) replaced Holstun in the circle and walked Erin Ota and hit Caroline Stolle with a pitch. Holstun re-entered the game and induced a force out at home and then an infield fly. But with two outs, Jessica Everhart hit a single up the middle to score Ota with the tying run. Charisse Mariconda then drove in a pair of runs with a single through the left side of the infield to give the Hokies the lead for good, 3-1. Virginia Tech added an unearned run in the inning when the throw from short on Kelsey Rokey’s ground ball was misplayed at first base by Haller for an error to make the final score 4-1.
Tolar took the loss to fall to 5-14 on the season after facing only two batters. She gave up two earned runs with a walk and a hit batter. Holstun held Virginia Tech off the scoreboard for the first five innings before being relieved by Tolar. Holstun pitched a total of six innings in two stints and allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits with two walks.
Angela Tincher registered the complete-game victory for Virginia Tech to improve to 34-5 on the season. She allowed one unearned run on four hits with 11 strikeouts. Tincher became the ACC’s all-time strikeout leader in the fifth inning with her seventh strikeout of the game and 1,398th of her career. She broke former Georgia Tech pitcher Jessica Sallinger’s conference record of 1,397.
O’Leary went 2-for-2 with a run scored for the Cavaliers. Haller had a RBI single in the third, while first-year right fielder Sarah Tacke (Merced, Calif.) had UVa’s first hit in the game with a single down the right field line in the second inning.