May 31, 2008

Virginia Tech's season ends with 2-0 loss to top-seeded Florida

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The Virginia Tech softball team once again came out on the short end of an offensive struggle, falling to top-seeded Florida, 2-0, in an elimination game at the Women's College World Series at Hall of Fame Stadium on Saturday.

Two days after dropping a 1-0 decision to Texas A&M in a pitcher's duel, hits were again hard to come by for the Hokies, who had only two in the nine-inning, up-and-down contest. Tech finished its season 49-19, while Florida improved to 68-4 and advanced on to tonight's contest with UCLA in the next round of the loser's bracket.

"I think we've had a great year - we've had some big wins and we've obviously done the best that we've done in [the seniors'] four years here," Tech pitcher Angela Tincher said after the loss. "We battled back in Knoxville and Ann Arbor, but unfortunately, we didn't get the big runs that we needed today. We made a big effort in the seventh inning, but unfortunately, they did, too, and they came through."

Florida's big effort came in the top of the ninth with the game scoreless, as Ali Gardiner and Francesca Enea reached on a pair of two-out singles. Kristen Adkins came on to pinch-run for Gardiner at second and Tiffany DeFelice battled Tincher - who threw 160 pitches in the game, more than twice what she threw on Thursday - in a 14-pitch at-bat that ended with her getting hit by a pitch. Then with the bases loaded, Mary Ratliff - who had struck out in her first three at-bats - sent a double past a diving Misty Hall into center field to plate Adkins and Enea for the game's only runs.

The 19 strikeouts tied Tincher's second-highest total of the season and she fanned every Gator who batted at least once, including seven at least two times. With her fourth strikeout of the game - the first out of the second inning - Tincher passed Southern Miss' Courtney Blades for second place on the NCAA's all-time list for strikeouts in a single season. She finished the 2008 season with 679 and concluded her career with 2,149, a figure that ranks third in NCAA history.

The Hokies nearly ended the game in the bottom of the seventh, but a timely double play by the Gators pushed the game into extra innings. Tech's Erin Ota led off the inning with a high fly ball to center field, one that Waleszonia misplayed and allowed Ota to scoot all the way to third. Nelson then intentionally walked third baseman Charisse Mariconda and Hall to load the bases with no outs, but to also set up the force play at home. The gamble paid off, as the Gators enticed Tech's Kelsey Hoffman into a 5-2-3 double play and ended the threat by throwing out Jess Everhart on a grounder to second.

"I'm extremely proud of this team and how well they represented the university," Thomas concluded. "We don't have any team national championship banners at Tech, but there are certain teams that are always held in high regard, like the 1973 NIT championship men's basketball team and the football team that played for the title in 2000. I think this team right here will go down as one of the greatest in Virginia Tech history, and I'm proud to be associated with these ladies."