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March 23, 2007

Charlottesville, Va. - Riding a six game winning streak, the Maryland softball team heads south to Charlottesville to open their conference schedule with a weekend series with rival Virginia. The Terrapins finished sixth in the Atlantic Coast Conference a year ago with a 7-13 record, including a 3-9 finish on the road.

The Terps were a young team a season ago, and in the first year under Head Coach Laura Watten. This season the team has higher expectations, and the Terps believe an NCAA tournament berth is within reach.

"When you get into conference play, everyone plays at a different level," Watten said. "As long as we get out and play at our level we should be okay." The Terps last captured the ACC regular season crown in 1999 with a 6-2 record.

Maryland was slow out of the gates in ACC play a season ago, dropping all three games in its opening ACC series versus Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The Terrapins will look to avoid a similar start this year, and may be catching Virginia at the right time. The Cavaliers had lost 11 of their past 12 games before sweeping Radford in a doubleheader on Wednesday. They currently stand at 10-19.

Despite the Cavaliers struggles this season, Maryland Coach Laura Watten said the Cavs should not be taken lightly. "They're a strong team, and well coached," she said.

Virginia won the season series 2-1 a year ago in College Park, and owns a big time edge in the all-time series with a 26-9 record against the Terps.

Saturday's doubleheader with Virginia will mark the first of eight consecutive road games for the Terps. Maryland is 2-0 in true road games so far this year, but only seven and eight in games played at neutral sites.

Like the Terps, the Cavaliers are led by a second year coach in Karen Johns. The former head coach of Florida has a 221-157 career record.

Johns brought in an impressive first recruiting class led by catcher Kelly Haller. She has been a freshman sensation for the Cavaliers. She leads UVA in several offensive categories, and is clearly Virginia's most powerful weapon. The Leesburg, Va. native leads her team in batting average (.430), hits (34), doubles (6), home runs (8), RBIs (30) and total bases (64). In the Cavs two game sweep of Radford on Wednesday, she had four hits, two homers, and six RBIs.

Freshman Nicole Koren has the lowest ERA of any Cavalier starter at 4.40, but she's 0-5 from the pitcher's circle. Karla Wilburn is 6-9 with an ERA of 5.82. The sophomore has 52 strike outs on the year.

Look for Maryland re-write the record books this weekend in Charlottesville. The Maryland team record for most stolen bases in a season, set at 46 in 2003, is well within reach. The Terps currently stand at 42, and will have three games versus Virginia to improve on that number. Shortstop Amber Jackson leads the team 14 stolen bases.