May 1, 2005

Box Score

VT 6, UVa 5

 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Virginia Tech softball team held on to pick up a 6-5 win over the University of Virginia Sunday afternoon at The Park to end the Atlantic Coast Conference season on a high note.

The Hokies struck for a run in the first inning when Megan Evans drove a pitch to right field to score Kelly Brown. The Cavaliers quickly responded, plating runs in the bottom of the inning.

In the fourth, Tech's bats came alive as the Hokies plated four runs. Kathleen Jones doubled to right and moved to third on Caroline Stolle's single up the middle. Jones scored when Ciara Chaffee laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to tie the game up. After Theresa Walsh walked, Brown then ripped a single to third on a hit and run to score Stolle. Walsh moved to second on Brown's single and scored on Caitlin Murphy's single to center. The last run of the inning came when Alisia Narodowski doubled to center, scoring Brown, to cap the inning.

Leading 5-2, UVa scored a run in the fourth before Brown doubled to the gap to drive in Walsh from first base, making it 6-3.

The Cavaliers had no quit in them, scoring a run in the sixth on a shallow pop single by Sara Larquier and then Whitney Holstun hit a solo home run to center in the seventh inning to tighten the game.

Katie Maynard (W, 17-11) went the distance, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits while walking four and striking out three. She ran into several jams, but got some timely pop ups and received solid fielding behind her.

At the plate, Brown and Walsh each had two hits to lead the way. Evans, Narodowski and Murphy each had a hit and an RBI while Jones and Stolle each had a hit. Chaffee had an RBI in the fourth inning.

With her infield single in the fourth inning, Brown extended her hitting streak to 17 games, setting a new school record. The previous record of 16 games was set by Kara Krumhardt in 1999. Brown has previously had two streaks of 12 games, but finally broke through to get the record.

With the win, the Hokies still have a shot at their goal of winning 40 games in the regular season. Tech is now 38-20 on the season with a doubleheader against Winthrop on Thursday at Tech Softball Park. Game time is set for 1 p.m.