The Virginia softball team looks to continue its three-game winning streak this weekend as it takes on Virginia Tech in a three-game ACC series at The Park.
The Cavaliers (14-24, 1-8 ACC) play today at 4 p.m. and tomorrow in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
Virginia has won its last three games, its longest such streak of the season. During the stretch, the team defeated Boston College in the final game of its series last weekend and swept Towson Tuesday.
The Cavaliers will have their hands full with the Hokies (29-12, 6-3 ACC), who are ranked No. 23 in this week's Espn.com poll. Virginia Tech split a doubleheader at Longwood Wednesday and took two games out of three last weekend from then-No. 24 N.C. State.
Virginia Tech is no doubt centered on defense around the dominating pitching of junior Angela Tincher, who flaunts a 22-4 record and a miniscule 0.52 ERA. The Hokies' other main pitcher is freshman Heather Lowry, who is 5-6 with a 2.82 ERA.
The Cavaliers expect Tincher to try to make them swing at bad pitches, so they know they are going to have to be patient.
"We're going to go out and we're looking for her to throw strikes," freshman third baseman Kelly Haller said. "We're going to wait for our pitches. She's going to try to make us swing at pitches not in the strike zone. If we stay in the box we'll have a good chance to neutralize Tincher."
The Cavaliers said they also think Virginia Tech bases most of its game around Tincher and is dependent on her success in the circle.
"I feel like they rely a lot on her," senior second baseman Elea Crockett said. "She's expected to go out and win the game for them. I feel like they have less of a team concept than we do. They just have a very good pitcher but we expect to do things as a team and overpower that."
Indeed, the Hokies are 7-8 without Tincher on the mound, so if the Cavaliers could find a way to neutralize her or knock her out of the game early, they would have a better chance of pulling off the upset.
The Hokies do not display off-the-charts batting. Junior outfielder Caroline Stolle leads the team with a .351 batting average, 31 RBI and eight homeruns and is followed by senior outfielder Callie Rhodes with a .331 batting average.
The Cavaliers will counter Tincher's pitching with a batting lineup that seems to be continually improving. Haller, who did not play against Towson because of a back injury but will play this weekend, bats .439. Junior outfielder Casey Steffan has come on as of late, batting.417. Though this number is inflated because of the number of at-bats Steffan has had, she was 4 for 5 in the doubleheader against Towson.
Virginia's pitching staff seems to have found a consistent reliever in junior Whitney Holstun, who is 3-0 in her last three relief appearances. Holstun also has the best ERA of the staff at 5.50. The other Cavalier pitchers the Hokies could see this weekend include freshman Nicole Koren (0-6, 5.92 ERA), senior Coty Tolar (5-7, 6.05 ERA) and sophomore Karla Wilburn (6-11, 5.89 ERA).
As it prepares to face its conference and in-state rival, Virginia's confidence is brimming from its winning streak.
"I think the wins have really pushed up our confidence," Haller said. "Especially with the Commonwealth Challenge and Tech being Tech, we really want to kick butt."
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