Virginia softball falls in ACC Tournament to Florida State 5-3

Virginia softball misplaced 5-3 to Florida State of their first spherical recreation of the ACC Event on Thursday. The Cavaliers (27-24, 13-11 ACC) had been the sixth seed of the event whereas the Seminoles (50-5, 19-5 ACC) had been seeded third.

Though Florida State jumped out to a 5-0 lead, Virginia would whittle it down to only two within the seventh inning earlier than finally operating out of outs and failing to finish the rally.

For the primary three innings, each junior right-hander Molly Grube for Virginia and senior right-hander Kathryn Sandercock for Florida State had been dialed in. Every solely allowed one hit heading into the fourth inning.

After Sandercock compelled three Virginia groundouts within the prime of the fourth, the Seminoles got here as much as bat seeking to break the impasse.

Florida State hit two doubles off Grube within the fourth inning and scored two runs, claiming a 2-0 lead heading to the fifth. Grube would finish the inning and provides the mound to sophomore right-hander Mikayla Houge within the fifth inning. Grube pitched 4.0 innings, permitting 4 hits, two earned runs and one stroll whereas hanging out two batters.

Senior outfielder Tori Gilbert opened the highest of the fifth inning for the Cavaliers with a double to left discipline. Sandercock, nonetheless — who has been principally untouchable this 12 months, posting a 1.41 ERA and permitting 41 whole runs on the season — shut the Cavaliers down within the fifth, recording three straight outs and stranding Gilbert in scoring place.

The Seminoles added to their lead within the backside of the fifth. Junior outfielder Kaley Mudge grounded out to carry freshman infielder Amaya Ross residence, making the rating 3-0 Florida State.

After the Cavaliers couldn’t get any offense going within the prime of the sixth, Florida State continued to stretch its lead. Two Seminoles hit solo residence runs off of Houge, making the rating 4-0 and 5-0 respectively. After the second residence run, Houge was pulled in favor of senior right-hander Aly Rayle, who closed out the sixth inning in reduction. 

With their backs in opposition to the wall, Virginia knew they needed to make one thing occur within the prime of the seventh inning. All the way down to their final three outs, the Cavaliers opened the inning with a single from freshman utility participant Sarah Coon, who was named to the ACC All-Freshman group earlier this week.

Gilbert doubled to left discipline to maneuver Coon to 3rd base. Freshman outfielder Kailyn Jones drove Coon residence and moved Gilbert to 3rd base within the course of, reducing the Seminole result in 4. After a groundout for the primary out of the half-inning, senior infielder Arizona Ritchie singled to drive Gilbert residence and reduce the result in three runs.

Sophomore infielder Abby Weaver reached base on a fielder’s selection, however freshman utility participant Kelly Ayer, pinch operating for Ritchie, was tagged out.

All the way down to the ultimate out, sophomore catcher Leah Boggs smashed a double into proper middle discipline which scored Jones from third base. Nonetheless, a flyout from junior infielder Katie Goldberg ended the sport as Florida State held on and gained 5-3.

Sandercock improved to 29-1 on the 12 months, whereas Grube was credited with a loss and moved to 2-4. 

In an interview after the sport, Coach Joanna Hardin famous how proud she was of the group.

“We’re out of the event, however we’ve constructive momentum and you’ll see that contemplating we performed FSU simply 4 weeks in the past and the end result immediately was very totally different,” Hardin mentioned. “I really like teaching this group, am happy with this group and wouldn’t commerce them for any participant on any record from every other group. I really like these ladies and we’ll get pleasure from being collectively for the remainder of the season — nonetheless lengthy we’ve left.”

Whereas the Cavaliers weren’t chosen as an at-large group for the NCAA Event, Coach Hardin and the group have made distinctive strides this 12 months and appear to have modified the trajectory of Virginia softball headed into the longer term. The Cavaliers could have one final probability to point out the progress they’ve made on this 12 months’s Nationwide Invitational Softball Championship, the place they had been chosen as the highest seed. Virginia’s first recreation within the event is slated for Saturday at 10:30 a.m. with the opponent to be determined.