Virginia opens North Carolina series with 5-4 win

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia softball team opened the weekend series in dramatic fashion, pushing a run home in the seventh inning to take a 5-4 victory at North Carolina on Friday at Anderson Softball Stadium.

Due to inclement weather in the area, the weekend schedule was altered and game two of the originally scheduled doubleheader was postponed on Friday night. The teams will now play a single game on Saturday and a doubleheader on Sunday. Games will begin at noon on both days.

Abby Weaver (Roanoke, Va.) reached on a fielding error to open the seventh inning before taking second on a wild pitch and moving to third on a sac bunt. She then came home on a ground ball deep to second from Katie Goldberg (Atlanta, Ga.) to give Virginia the one-run lead.

Clare Zureich (1-4.) picked up the win in relief for the Cavaliers. Zureich (Cary, N.C.) worked the final 1.1 innings and retired all four batters faced. She got a pop up to end the sixth after North Carolina tied the game and then retired the side in order, striking out two, in the seventh.

Gabby Katz (0-1) took the loss, allowing five runs – two of them earned – on five hits with two walks in the complete-game.

Virginia (12-19, 8-14 ACC) struck first as Goldberg delivered her two-run shot to straight-away center, scoring Weaver. The Cavaliers then took the lead out to 3-0 as a Emma McBride (Magnolia, Texas) capped a two-out rally with an infield single to score Arizona Ritchie (Stafford, Va.).

North Carolina (10-14, 6-8 ACC) erased the lead, using a pair of runs on a pair of errors in the second inning to push two runs home before adding a third run in the third inning to tie the game.

Each team would score again as Virginia reclaimed the lead when McBride scored in the fifth, but North Carolina answered with a run in the sixth.

The Cavaliers moved in front for good in the seventh inning when Weaver scored on a Goldberg ground ball to second. Zureich then closed things down in the seventh.