For a softball team whose season-long goal has been to make the regional tournament, the Cavaliers certainly are making things difficult for themselves.
Virginia (25-20, 0-2 ACC) dropped two games yesterday to ACC rival North Carolina (32-14, 2-0) in the team's first two conference games of the season. In both games, the two teams were tied after five innings of play.
After being stifled in the day's openerby Tar Heel pitcher Crystal Cox's stellar six-hit, one-run performance, Virginia took the field a second time hoping to earn a split against a North Carolina team that swept the Cavaliers in Chapel Hill last season.
Virginia jumped out to an early two-run lead in each of the game's first two innings. The Cavaliers caught the Tar Heels by surprise in the first, when senior captain Hannah Owings swiped second base while no one in the Tar Heel infield was paying attention. Her veteran alertness paid off significantly, as sophomore catcher Jenn Wynn brought her home with a subsequent rip down the leftfield line that gave Virginia a 1-0 lead.
The Cavaliers tacked on another run in the second by way of a triple from junior Lauren Dennis that scored sophomore Sara Larquier. But Virginia's hard work would not pay off, as North Carolina stormed back in the top of the third with two game-tying runs on three hits.
All bats then fell silent as Virginia pitcher Coty Tolar and North Carolina hurler Alison Yin began striking out hitter after hitter. Tolar gave up only one hit during the three-inning stretch, while equally impressively, Yin surrendered only two. Unfortunately for Cavalier postseason hopes, the game's string of scoreless innings was broken in the top of the seventh.
Virginia's freshman pitcher took the mound, but she would not be there long. Five runs, four hits, three costly errors and a pitching change later, the Cavaliers found themselves in an inescapable hole. With Virginia trailing 7-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh, Yin finished off the Cavaliers 1-2-3, completing North Carolina's sweep of the hometown Cavaliers.
"We haven't learned anything," Virginia coach Cheryl Sprangel said. "We have played 35 some games, and we haven't learned the things we are supposed to learn yet. Maybe we're not going to learn them, I don't know."
Sprangel was not the only person displeased with Virginia's performance. The players also recognized that their goal of being invited to the regional tournament was hurt significantly by yesterday's sweep. Similar to college basketball, a selection committee chooses which teams it feels deserve to play in postseason competition based on overall record, conference record and schedule strength.
"We need to be better than .500 in the ACC and do well in the ACC tournament," Larquier said. "Then all we can do is leave it into the hands of whoever decides about regionals."
Virginia's next opportunity to right the sinking ship will be this Tuesday afternoon when they travel to Towson University for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. There the Cavaliers will prepare for their second shot at ACC foe Georgia Tech next weekend.
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