Terps Take Doubleheader to Open Series vs. Virginia
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Virginia softball team (20-20, 5-9 ACC) lost two games at Maryland Saturday in a doubleheader at Taylor Stadium in College Park, Md. The Terrapins captured their first conference wins of the season defeating Virginia 3-1 and 6-5.
In game one, Maryland (22-17, 2-6 ACC) edged Virginia in hits 5-4 and got two solo home runs from Nikki Maier and Shannon Bustillos in the fourth inning to lift the Terps to victory.
Junior pitcher Melanie Mitchell (White Plains, Md.) took the loss after throwing six innings. She struck out nine, had one walk and gave up two earned runs.
Maryland’s Kendra Knight earned the victory. She struck out 13 batters with five walks on four hits allowed.
After the Terps scored an unearned run in the second to take a 1-0 lead, homers from Mairer and Bustollos made it 3-0 after four innings of play.
Virginia got a run back in the top half of the fifth to cut the Maryland lead to two runs. Junior Kristen Hawkins (Elizabeth, Pa.), who walked with one out, scored on senior Giannina Cipolloni’s (Philadelphia, Pa.) double to right center. But Knight got out of the jam leaving Alex Skinkis (La Palma, Calif.), who also walked, on third and Cipolloni on second to end the inning.
Hawkins, sophomore Marcy Bowdren (Fairfax Station, Va.) and junior Taylor Williams (Woodbridge, Va.) also had singles in game one for Virginia.
In game two, the Cavalier bats came alive in the second inning as Virginia put up five runs on four hits off Maryland starter Kaitlyn Schmeiser. Freshman Rachel Gillen (Wilmington, Del.) led off the stanza with a single and Hawkins reached on a hit by pitch. Cipolloni hen started a string of five consecutive base runners to reach with a two-out, two-RBI triple as the Cavaliers went on to take a 5-0 lead. Skinkis also tripled, senior Alexa Martinez (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) doubled and Karli Johnson (Lovettsville, Va.) had a pinch-hit RBI single to highlight the inning for UVa.
The Terps got a run back in the bottom of the third and then went on to explode for five runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-5 lead over Virginia. Maryland put up six runs total on 10 hits off Gillen, who started the game in the circle for the Cavaliers.
Mitchell came on in relief to throw the final 2.2 innings. She did not allow a run on one hit during that span.
After Schmeiser exited in the second inning, Knight came back on for Maryland and earned the victory. She threw the final 5.1 innings and did not give up a run on three hits with five strikeouts.
Maryland outhit Virginia 11-7 in game two. Seven different players each had hits for the Cavaliers.
Virginia and Maryland conclude the series at 1 p.m. Sunday.