The Virginia softball team got back on the winning track with an 8-4 victory against Georgetown yesterday afternoon. The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Cavaliers and sets the team up nicely ahead of its three-game home stand against conference rival Maryland this weekend.
Freshman pitcher Erica Cipolloni led the way for the Cavaliers (15-15) as she gutted out her fifth complete game of the season while battling multiple injuries. Cipolloni fought through a bruised finger - which she injured in last weekend's series - and has been struggling with a sore back and ribs as well. Cipolloni's torso was wrapped heavily in ice after the game, and her presence in the game had been questionable for most of the week until she inserted herself back into the rotation.
"I knew [I could go] probably two practices ago when I started throwing again for the first time," Cipolloni said. "We taped my finger up, and pitching doesn't bother my rib or my back too bad at all. I was like, 'I can pitch, I want to pitch, I want to pitch against Georgetown and Maryland and I want to do the best I can.'"
The Cavalier offense did its part to support Cipolloni throughout the game by scoring at least one run in each inning. Freshman third baseman Stephanie Harris led the offensive charge for Virginia with a 2-for-3 night which included a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored.
Harris notched her extra base hit during the first inning when she ripped a liner down the right field line to score sophomore outfielder Taylor Williams and set the tone for the rest of the game. The Cavaliers went on to score one run in each subsequent inning except for the three-run sixth, during which they roped together four hits, including a Harris RBI-single.
"The offense was great," Cipolloni said. "When we keep scoring runs, it means that if [Georgetown] scored a run, it's OK because I know we will pick it back up on the offensive side."
Cippoloni managed to hold the Hoyas (6-23) scoreless until the fifth inning, when freshman infielder Jenna Stark hit a deep three-run home run over the center field wall to cut Virginia's lead to 4-3. After a quick 1-2-3 sixth inning, Georgetown put another run on the scoreboard with a leadoff home run by junior infielder Mackensey Carter in the seventh, but it proved to be too little too late.
Throughout the game, a visibly pained Cippoloni was forced to rely on veteran pitching savvy and mettle which freshman athletes rarely demonstrate.
"[The injuries] didn't start bothering me until the fifth inning," Cipolloni said. "It was getting pretty tight. I couldn't swing the bat. I was just throwing meatballs, doing anything I could do to get outs."
The win marked the Cavaliers' first since a March 12 victory against Syracuse and was a necessary confidence boost, as Virginia now faces a tough weekend series against Maryland. The Terrapins (20-9) enter the series as winners of 11 straight games, and they boast arguably the best pitching staff in the ACC.
Maryland has the luxury of an interchangeable rotation, as all three of their everyday pitchers possess sub-3.00 ERAs and boast a team ERA of 2.35. Senior pitcher Kerry Hickey - the current Co-ACC Pitcher of the Week - paces the Terrapins in the circle and has combined with freshman pitcher Ashley Czechner for 14 complete games and six shutouts this season.
"They have a good complement with [Hickey] and [Czechner]," Virginia coach Eileen Schmidt said. "You have a spinner that has a lot of movement, and a kid that throws gas. You need to have different approaches towards those two, so we have to make sure that when they switch up pitchers we switch up our approach."
After losing their first three ACC games of the season last weekend against Boston College, the Cavaliers view this weekend's showdown as a chance to get back on track within their conference. They hope Thursday's win will give them the momentum necessary for a successful series.
"We're going to take what we had in this Georgetown game and bring it into the Maryland series," Cipolloni said. "And I think we're going to do a really good job competing-wise. Everyone looked confident [Thursday] and we had that swag back. So I'm really excited for this weekend; we should do a really good job."
The teams meet for a doubleheader Saturday and a lone game Sunday, with each set of games beginning at noon.
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