Virginia Falls on Opening Day

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Virginia (0-2) dropped a pair of games to open the 2019 season. The Cavaliers fell 9-1 to Indiana (1-0) in the opening game of the FAU First Pitch Classic before suffering a 5-4 loss in nine innings to Bethune-Cookman.
 
GAME 1: INDIANA 9, VIRGINIA 1 (5 Inn.)
 
Indiana scored six runs on four hits in the fifth inning to down Virginia, 9-1, in the opening game of the season.
 
Indiana jumped to an early lead in the opening frame, scoring an unearned run on the strength of two, two-out hits. The Hoosiers tacked on a pair in the third inning, using three singles to build a 3-0 lead. Bella Norton delivered the damage with a two-run single for Indiana.
 
After an Indiana double in the fourth, freshman Clare Zureich (Cary, N.C.) entered the circle for the first time as a Cavalier and stranded a pair of Hoosiers in scoring position.
 
Senior Lacy Smith (Lancaster, Pa.) sparked Virginia in the fourth, launching a solo home run to open the frame. The long ball was Smith’s 15th of her career. Erika Osherow (Darien, Conn.) followed with a double off the left-center field wall but was left stranded after three-consecutive fly outs.
 
Indiana would build its lead in the fifth, as a trio of walks loaded the bases with one out. An infield single scored one and then Grayson Radcliffe delivered a two-run single to left. The Hoosiers continued to break the game open with a bunt-single and another two-run knock to make it 9-1.
 
Allyson Frei (Branchville, N.J.) made her first start as a Cavalier and took the loss. Frei (0-1) allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits in 3 2/3 innings. The graduate transfer fanned four Hoosiers in her action.
 
Indiana ace Tara Trainer (1-0) held the Cavaliers to just the one run on three hits. Virginia freshman Arizona Ritchie (Stafford, Va.) picked up her first collegiate hit with a single in the game.
 
GAME 2: BETHUNE-COOKMAN 5, VIRGINIA 4 (9 Inn.)
 
Missed opportunities would come back to haunt Virginia in the second game of the day, as the Cavaliers left 16 runners on base. 11 of those 16 were stranded in scoring position, including eight runners who reached scoring position with less than two outs.

Lacy Smith and Erika Osherow produced back-to-back singles with one away to set the table in the opening frame. The Cavaliers were unable to capitalize, however, as a pair of fly outs helped Bethune-Cookman escape the early threat.
 
Virginia would threaten again in the second, as freshman Donna Friedman (Orange, Calif.) laced a two-out single into left field. A walk put two aboard, but a fly ball ended the inning with nothing across.

The Cavaliers finally broke through in the third, capitalizing on a Bethune-Cookman miscue. A collision in shallow left allowed Smith to reach and Olivia Gott followed with an RBI-double that snuck just inside the left field line.
 
Bethune-Cookman made its first noise of the afternoon in the sixth. A lead-off walk put one aboard before a bunt single broke up Osherow’s no-hit bid to put runners at the corners with two outs. Allyson Frei entered in relief, hitting the first batter she faced to load the bases before inducing a weak ground ball to end the threat.
 
The Wildcats would load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the seventh, as a lead-off double from Kaira Cabato was followed by an error and a walk. A sacrifice fly drew Bethune-Cookman even before Frei earned a strikeout to end the frame and send the game into extra innings.
 
Under the international tiebreak rule in the eighth inning, Virginia tallied a run on Smith’s RBI-single. In the bottom half, an error on a bunt attempt allowed Bethune-Cookman to tie the game. Frei bounced back to retire the side with a pair of punchouts and a ground ball to third.
 
In the ninth, Arizona Ritchie roped a double to the wall in left to plate Gott from second. That gave the Hoos a 3-2 lead. Abigail Barber (Providence Forge, Va.) added another run to the lead with a sacrifice fly.
 
Again, Bethune-Cookman had the answer as a double off the wall and Virginia’s fifth error of the game tied the affair at 4-4. The Wildcats walked-off on Cheyenne Smith’s single down the right field line.
 
Osherow’s strong start was spoiled as the senior allowed just one hit in 5 2/3 innings of work. She struck out four while issuing just a single free pass. Frei (0-2) took the loss, allowing all five runs in the game, only one of which was earned.

SINGLES
• Osherow finished the day 4-for-7 at the plate with a double.
• Smith went 3-for-7 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored.
• Freshmen Friedman and Ritchie each had two-hit days.
 
UP NEXT
The Cavaliers return to action on Saturday with an 11:15 a.m. matchup against No. 6 Georgia before facing host FAU at 6 p.m.