Florida State came to Charlottesville riding a seven-game win streak. The Seminoles left with a 10-game streak after taking three straight games from Virginia (7-16, 2-4 ACC), during which the Cavaliers never led and only managed to tie the score once, by a combined score of 22-5.
In the first game, Florida State (21-9, 4-2 ACC) jumped all over junior pitcher Karla Wilburn on its way to a 9-1 victory. Wilburn did not make it out of the second inning while giving up five runs, two earned, four hits and one walk.
Freshman Allee Rife did not fare much better in relief. The lefty gave up four runs, two earned, nine hits and four walks over five and one-third innings.
Offensively, the Cavaliers managed only one run on five hits, when freshman Alison Pittman knocked junior Carly Winger home in the second inning. Virginia struck out eight times and left seven runners on base against FSU senior Tiffany McDonald.
Although the Cavaliers managed to score more runs in the second game, a late rally by the Seminoles left the final score at 8-3.
Sophomore Abby Snyder belted a solo home run, and Winger continued her offensive contribution by batting in two runs. Overall, though, the Cavaliers managed just four hits in the game.
Senior Whitney Holstun started for Virginia and pitched well through the first five innings, giving up only one run in the first. Holstun encountered problems in the sixth inning, however, and left the game that inning after recording one out but giving up four runs, three earned.
Wilburn finished the game for Virginia, but once again had trouble with a potent Florida State offense. In just 1.2 innings, she gave up three hits, three earned runs and two walks.
The Cavaliers came in Saturday with a new attitude.
"We knew we had to turn it around," senior Meghan O'Leary said. Friday "We came out a little flat. ... We knew we had to come out energy high. ... We came in mentally strong and hoping we'd turn it around."
Things started strong for the Cavaliers, who held the Seminoles to three runs through the first four innings behind the strong pitching of Wilburn and Holstun.After giving up 15 runs Friday, Virginia pitchers gave up only five runs in the loss.
Florida State scored one run each in the second, third and fourth innings and looked poised for a big inning in the fifth with runners on first and second with no outs.
After a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, Holstun got out of the inning with a foul pop-up and fielding a grounder that back came up at the pitcher's mound.
"We were in it at the beginning of the game," coach Eileen Schmidt said. "We got ourselves out of a lot of big innings defensively and pitching-wise too."
Virginia looked ready to make a comeback in the bottom of the fifth. With runners on second and third and one out, Winger hit a deep fly ball to right field that looked to be a sacrifice as freshman Jennifer Bowles tagged up to score.
The Seminoles appealed to third base, though, and the umpire ruled Bowles left early. Instead of a run scored, Virginia had hit into a double play.
"We get real anxious, and we try so hard," Schmidt said. "We want it so bad that we end up jumping at balls at the plate instead of staying smooth with our swing or leaving early because we know we want to score."
Florida State tacked on two runs in the seventh inning, including a home run, to seal the win against the Cavaliers. Though the team came back out Saturday with a better intensity level, Schmidt said, it did not catch any breaks; the test will be to see if the team can remain positive.
"I thought we handled some situations pretty well defensively," Schmidt said. "We've had good things each inning to really build on."
Virginia will now turn its thoughts toward a Wednesday doubleheader against Radford.
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