The Virginia softball team has another chance this weekend to capitalize on midweek momentum as it faces Boston College in a three-game ACC series at The Park.
Last week, the Cavaliers (11-22, 0-6 ACC) swept Radford in a doubleheader but were unable to apply those wins to the field against Maryland. Yesterday, the Cavaliers came up with a 6-5 win against James Madison in the first game of their doubleheader. The second game was called due to darkness in the middle of the fourth inning, tied at 1-1.
Senior pitcher Coty Tolar threw a complete game and picked up the win to move to 5-7 on the season. Senior catcher Michelle Salmiery and freshman right fielder Sarah Tacke both went three for four and had one run batted in. Sophomore Kierstie Cameron went one for three, with two RBIs.
"All of us tried to do well in every aspect of the game," Salmiery said. "We tried to take that next step in improving."
Timely hits were another key for the Cavaliers' victory.
Boston College (1-11, 0-3) is one of the weaker teams in the conference. They won against Holy Cross in a doubleheader yesterday, but lost all three games to ACC rival North Carolina by scores of 9-4, 1-0 and 3-2. Compared to Virginia's series with the Tar Heels in which the Cavaliers were swept 3-1, 10-2 and 9-0, it looks like this series against the Eagles could be an interesting one.
"We're looking forward to it," Salmiery said. "We've been doing lots of things in practice so we're looking forward to execute what we're doing in practice against another ACC team."
Boston College is led in the circle and at the plate by senior pitcher Britney Thompson. Thompson is 1-2 on the year with a 6.67 ERA and a .419 batting average, with nine RBIs. The rest of the Boston College pitching staff is a combined 0-6 with an average ERA of 39.2.
Despite having only one win on the year, the Eagles do have three other players who have batting averages over .300 in junior utility player Carley McNary (.345), senior utility player Ashley Obrest (.321) and freshman catcher Amy Tunstall (.308) (stats as of March 15).
Virginia's freshman first baseman, Kelly Haller, continues to be easily the most efficient hitter on the team, with a batting average of .427 and 30 RBIs. Senior designated hitter Brooke Sorber maintains a steady batting average of .314.
Even though Tolar's 6.25 ERA is the second-highest on the team, she has the best record of 5-7. Freshman Nicole Koren, following the same model, has the best ERA on the team, of 5.54, but is 0-6. Sophomore Karla Wilburn falls in the middle of the pack with a 5.97 ERA and a record of 6-9.
The Cavaliers are hoping that their victory against James Madison translates better to this weekend than the Radford sweep did last weekend.
"We just need to build upon the positive things we do," Salmiery said. "These midweek games give us the opportunity to do that."
It will be necessary for Virginia's pitching staff to improve for success in the ACC.
"We have to play good defense and get better pitching in the ACC," said coach Karen Johns. "[The Eagles] had unfortunate weather at the places they've played. They haven't had a lot of opportunities to play and we need to take advantage of that."
Virginia's doubleheader begins Saturday at 1 p.m., and Sunday's game is also slated for 1 p.m.
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