March 25, 2007

Final Stats

Charlottesville, Va. - Amber Jackson belted a grand slam to highlight a 10-run eighth inning Sunday as the University of Maryland completed a sweep over Virginia with an 11-1 victory in the Terrapins' first Atlantic Coast Conference softball series of the season.

For most of the afternoon, the Maryland bats were unusually quite, but the Terps exploded in the top of the eighth inning to break open a 1-1 tie. With the win, Maryland won the season series with Virginia for the first time ever.

The Terps also earned their first sweep of an ACC opponent since the conference adopted the current three-game scheduling format in 2005.

Maryland recorded an incredible five grand slams in three games, and outscored Virginia 36-5 for the weekend.

Lindsay Klein led the Terps all weekend with her powerful bat and clutch hitting. She stepped up again in game three to put her team on the board first at the top of the second inning with a solo home run that gave Maryland a 1-0 lead. It was her third home run in as many games. The senior recorded nine RBIs on the weekend, almost twice as many the entire Cavalier team.

Maryland escaped disaster in the first and second innings, after Virginia twice loaded the bases. The Cavaliers grounded out to Jennings to end the first, and Jennings struck out Kelly Haller, the Cavs' top offensive weapon, to retire the Virginia threat.

Abby Snyder evened the score for Virginia when she ran home on a wild pitch by Abbey Welch, in the fourth inning.

The game remained tied at one though the end of the seventh inning, and the Terps found themselves headed into extra innings.

"They came out ready to play, and had some great catches," said Terrapin Coach Laura Watten. "We stayed with our game, kept our composure and didn't break. They left 12 runners on base, meaning we played great defense to overcome their scoring opportunities."

The Terps needed only one extra inning to find their form from Saturday. Alex Schultz doubled to center field to start the eight inning and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Abbey Welch.

Then, in a play reminiscent of the final pitch of Maryland's win over Texas, the Cavaliers elected to intentionally walk shortstop Amber Jackson, but Whitney Holstun lost control of her fourth pitch and Schultz ran home to give the Terps the lead.

Jenny Belak singled up the middle to bring home Jackson, and the rout was on. Maryland would score ten runs in the inning.

Jennifer Wellborn singled to center field to score Belak and Jennings. The Terrapins final four runs came when Jackson blasted a homer over right center field for her fourth grand slam of the year.

"We're focusing on the little things, like winning every inning instead of the finish line," said Coach Watten.

The Terps will need to maintain that focus with a doubleheader at Georgetown and a series at Florida State up next this week. The Seminoles currently stand at 23-14 overall, and 2-4 in the ACC.