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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The Virginia softball team (9-22, 2-4 ACC) returns to Atlantic Coast Conference play this weekend against NC State (18-16, 2-4 ACC) at The Park. The Cavaliers and Wolfpack are set to battle at 1 p.m. Saturday with a doubleheader before closing out the series at 1 p.m. Sunday. The first game Saturday will be shown on ACC Select.
“We need to continue to play aggressively while minimizing our mental mistakes,” Virginia head coach Eileen Schmidt said. “We have been working hard and we are going to continue to work hard throughout the weekend.”
Virginia ended its nine-game losing skid with a two-game sweep over George Mason (7-19) Wednesday at home. The Cavaliers won the first game 5-3 and also took game two, 6-2. Fourth-year Lindsey Preuss tallied four hits on the day while rookie Alison Pittman also had four. UVa also had a solid effort from pitcher Whitney Holstun, who struck out nine batters on the day.
“Whitney had a good pitching performance on Wednesday and we need to have that again this weekend,” Schmidt continued. “We need to have timely hitting again. We swung at good pitches and ran aggressively.”
Second-year Kelly Haller leads Virginia at the plate with a .380 average and is tied for second on the team with 30 hits. Preuss, who hits .365, leads the Orange and Blue with 35 hits while Carly Winger bats .318 and her 18 runs is also tops on the squad. Captain Meghan O’Leary upped her average to .300 against the Patriots and is tied with Haller with 30 hits on the year.
In the circle, Karla Wilburn has picked up five wins thus far in 21 appearances and Holstun leads the pitching staff with 30 strikeouts in 20 showings.
NC State is coming off a sweep of Winthrop in Raleigh on Wednesday. In the second game of the doubleheader, pitcher Mendy McKenzie threw a perfect game against the Eagles in an 8-0 victory. McKenzie tied her season-high with 10 strikeouts en route to dismissing all 18 batters faced.
In conference action, the Wolfpack opened ACC play with a series win against Boston College, beating the Eagles twice in a three-game series back on March 15 and 16. Last weekend, NC State was swept by defending champion Virginia Tech.
Offensively, Alyssa Allbritten leads the Wolfpack with a .316 average in addition to her team-best 13 doubles and 18 RBI. Shanna Smith hits .311 and tops the squad with 32 hits and 25 runs. Both Allbritten and Smith have blasted three home runs apiece on the year.
Live stats of all three games will be available online at VirginiaSports.com.