Softball Takes on No. 4 FSU in ACC Quarterfinal

May 10, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (22-31) will make its first Atlantic Coast Conference Championship appearance since 2013 on Thursday (May 11) when it takes on Florida State (48-6-1) in the tournament quarterfinal at 11 a.m.

Coverage: The game will be aired live locally on Comcast SportsNet and streamed on ACC Network Extra which is available to authenticated subscribers of ESPN3 through WatchESPN and the ESPN app. In addition, the game can be viewed on the ACC Regional Sports Networks and on Fox Sports Go. Live statistics for the contest are available on VirginiaSports.com.

Leading Off
-Thursday will be the 100^th meeting between Virginia and Florida State and the 18^th in the ACC Tournament
-The Cavaliers are making their first ACC postseason appearance since 2013 and seeking their first ACC tournament win since 2011.
-Virginia ended the regular season winning eight of its last 10 games.
-Florida State has won the last three ACC Championships and finished the regular season undefeated in league play (24-0).
-Virginia leads the ACC and is tied for 10^th in the country in doubles with 81.
-The Cavaliers rank 2^nd in the ACC in total bases (665) and triples (11).
-Virginia finished the ACC regular season with nine conference wins, tied for the second most in school history and the most since 2010.

Game Notes
March Meeting: Florida State, the No. 1 team in country at the time, limited Virginia to just one run in a three-game sweep of the Cavaliers at The Park. It was the first time a top-ranked team played in Charlottesville. Senior Katie Park was the offensive bright spot for the Cavaliers in the series, going 4-for-8 with an RBI.

Hoo History: In the tournament’s current eight-team format, Virginia is the only team to defeat a No. 1 seed after the Cavaliers topped No. 1 Georgia Tech, 6-0 in the 2011 quarterfinal. Virginia is 9-9 against No. 1 seeds since the ACC tournament that began in 1992.

Familiar Foes: Florida State and Virginia have met 17 times in the ACC Tournament since 1992 including six times in the ACC Title game. The Cavaliers won their only ACC Tournament Championship in 1994 when they defeated the Seminoles 3-0 in Tallahassee.

Season Bookends: Virginia opened its season in Scottsdale, Arizona on Feb. 9 with an 11-6 loss to then-No. 6 Oregon. The Cavaliers racked up 11 hits and ended up as one of three teams (Arizona & Washington) to score five or more runs on the Ducks in 2017. The Seminoles managed just two runs in a three-game series last weekend in Eugene. The series sweep of Florida State propelled Oregon to a No. 3 ranking in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll.

Extra Bases: Virginia’s ACC-best, 81 doubles are the fourth highest single season total in school history and the most since 2003. The Cavaliers are also two home runs shy of tying the school mark of 55 set in 2015.

Homer Happy: The Cavaliers are the only team in the ACC who have five different players with seven or more home runs. Led by junior Danni Ingraham’s 10 homers, Virginia is ranked fifth in the ACC with 53 home runs, two shy of league leaders Florida State and North Carolina who have hit 55.

Senior Superlatives: Catcher Katie Park comes into Thursday’s game on a 12-game hit streak, two games shy of matching a school record. She has reached safely in the last 14 games and leads the team batting average (.383), runs (34), hits (67) and doubles (12). In 20 games against teams ranked in the NCAA’s top-75 RPI, Park is hitting .435 (30-for-69) with four home runs and 11 RBIs.