Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications
UVA Softball Drops Two of Three at Louisville in Final ACC Series
After two closely contested games, Virginia softball (27-23, 13-11 ACC) fell in the series finale to Louisville (26-21, 10-11 ACC) in the last ACC series of the season. The 13 ACC games the Cavaliers won this season tied a program record.
Friday (4/29): Louisville 5, Virginia 4
In the first game of the series, the Louisville Cardinals won on a walk-off in the seventh inning after a back-and-forth affair.
Virginia got on the board first in the top of the second. Bailey Winscott and Leah Boggs both had RBI singles to put the Cavaliers up 2-0.
In the bottom of the third, the Cardinals used four total hits, including three extra base hits, to put up three runs and take a 3-2 lead.
After Winscott and Gabby Baylog walked in the fifth inning, Katie Goldberg came up with the clutch two-out two-run triple to retake the lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Cardinals got the first two runners on base, and then a groundout moved them to second and third. From there, Kendall Smith poked a single into left field to score the tying and winning runs.
Katie Goldberg was 2-4 with two RBI and Bailey Winscott was 1-2 with two runs as the Cavalier offensive leaders. Mikayla Houge took the loss in relief after only allowing one hit in three innings of work. Taylor Roby earned the complete game victory for Louisville.
Saturday (4/30): Virginia 5, Louisville 3
This game was a thriller, and Virginia came away with the 5-3 victory to even the series.
Virginia wreaked havoc on the basepaths all game, and that started in the first inning. With two outs and runners on the corners, Gabby Baylog got herself into a pickle between first and second, and Katie Goldberg was able to score from third and Baylog made it safely back to first base as the Cavaliers stole a run.
Louisville had a big inning in the second with a home run from Hannah File and a double from Ally Alexander to take a 2-1 lead. The Cardinals added one more run in the third when a runner scored on a wild pitch.
In the fifth inning, Sarah Coon punched a single into shallow right field with the bases loaded and no outs, allowing one run to score, but the Louisville pitcher limited the damage to maintain the lead.
The final two innings were full of drama. Katie Goldberg blasted a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth, and then Tori Gilbert tripled and scored on an error after the Cavaliers initiated another rundown on the bases with runners on the corners.
In the bottom half of the inning, it looked like Louisville would cut the deficit to one on a double from Dylann Cravens, but the Cavaliers cut down the runner at home for the second out of the inning.
The bottom of the seventh came along with Mikayla Houge in the circle, just like the previous night when she gave up the winning run. After a leadoff single, the Cavaliers had two fielder’s choices to get two outs. Then there was a hit by pitch and an error to load the bases, but Houge got a lineout to second base to end the game and earn the save.
Mackenzie Wooten pitched four innings of one-run softball in the victory and Katie Goldberg was the star of the game, going 3-3 with two runs and two RBI.
Sunday (5/1): Louisville 9, Virginia 4
In the rubber match, the Louisville offense was too much for Virginia as the Cardinals had ten hits and nine runs.
Louisville got off to a hot start in the first inning with a solo home run from Carmyn Greenwood and a two-run double from Dylann Cravens to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Virginia rallied with a three-run inning of its own in the top of the fourth to tie the game. After Louisville threw one Cavalier runner out at home, Emma McBride and Arizona Ritchie came in clutch with a two-run double and a one-run single, respectively. However, the Cavaliers left three runners on base and failed to capitalize on the two Louisville errors as much as they could have.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Cardinals bounced back with a double from Carmyn Greenwood. The biggest dagger came with two outs as Korbe Otis blasted a three run home run to left field to extend the lead to 7-3.
Louisville added two insurance runs in the sixth inning. Gabby Baylog drove in a run with a double in the seventh to cut the deficit to five runs, but that was all the Cavaliers could muster.
Although the Cavaliers lost the final ACC series, there is so much to be proud of for this team. Virginia currently stands at sixth place in the ACC out of 13 teams, a major improvement from the team's 12th-place finish last season. Additionally, the five teams above the Cavaliers are all ranked in the top 25 nationally, showing that the Hoos have been competitive in a very strong ACC softball conference.
After going 15-33 overall last year with a 10-27 record in the ACC, Virginia has tied program records for total wins (27) and ACC wins (13), both coming in 2010. Virginia has one more regular season game to play at James Madison on Tuesday at 5 pm in Harrisonburg, where the Cavaliers will look to break the record for total wins.
UPDATE: UVA's game at JMU on Tuesday has been cancelled.
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