Despite a gutsy performance against North Carolina in last weekend's series, the Virginia softball team came up short losing all three games.
Friday's game was moved to Saturday because of inclement weather, and Saturday's doubleheader was moved to Sunday. Saturday's game proved to be the most dramatic. Freshman first baseman Kelly Haller hit her sixth home run of the year in the first inning, giving the Cavaliers (8-19, 0-3 ACC) a quick 1-0 lead. They could not hold the lead, though, as the Tar Heels (27-8, 3-0 ACC) tied it up at one in the second inning and then scored two runs in the fourth to surge ahead 3-1. They went on to win by that same score.
Haller's home run was indicative of her continued success as a freshman.
"Kelly Haller is swinging the bat really well," Virginia coach Karen Johns said.
Virginia again competed well in the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday, taking a 2-0 lead into the fourth inning. North Carolina, however, proceeded to pile on the offense in the bottom half of the inning, gathering a total of nine runs.
The second game of the doubleheader and final game of the weekend was a dominating 9-0 Tar Heels win.
The Cavaliers did some things well against North Carolina, but they agree that they need to change the way they are approaching the games.
"I thought our defense was solid," Johns said. "We had one or two errors all weekend. That was a bright spot. Our mindset needs to be better though. [The players] have to feel bad about losing and they have to figure out how to win."
Senior Brooke Sorber led the Cavaliers' offensive attack with four hits on the weekend.
The practices this week for the team should be focused, as everyone will aim to improve after a tough weekend in North Carolina.
"Everyone should know what to work on," said Amy McKean, senior first baseman and catcher. "This week in practice everyone will work on those things that were highlighted in the UNC series."
Things for the Cavaliers, however, don't appear to be getting any easier. As the Cavaliers get deeper into their ACC schedule, they will find that the top teams will probably be similar to last year.
"Florida State and North Carolina State just like last year [are good teams]" Johns said. "The two top teams have very, very good pitching. They throw the ball very well from the mound and they are going to win a lot of games that way."
Florida State is currently 21-12 and N.C. State is currently 21-11 and 2-1 in the ACC.
Any team, however, has a chance when it hits the field in the ACC.
"Virginia Tech has a really good pitcher and North Carolina State has a good overall team but everybody is beatable," McKean said. "Anyone can win on a given day."
To start winning some ballgames, Virginia players agree that they need to have unity in the three main facets of their game.
"Our offense, defense and pitching need to come together in the same game," McKean said.
Virginia will look to get all three of these tomorrow when the team plays Radford.
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