Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications
Virginia Softball Wins Four Out of Five Games at UNCG Invitational
The Virginia softball team (9-6) traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina to compete in the UNCG Invitational and played five games over three days. The Cavaliers certainly brought their bats with them, as they put up 39 total runs and went 4-1 in the five games played.
Friday (2/25): Virginia 10, Towson 2 (5 innings)
Virginia was efficient at the plate in a Friday afternoon game against Towson, scoring ten runs off of just six hits. Of those six hits, five went for extra bases with three doubles, a triple, and a home run.
Leah Boggs was 2-2 with a double and a home run, three runs scored, and three RBIs. Kelly Ayer added a double and three RBIs. The Cavaliers drew five walks and also had two hit batters to provide baserunners, and then the extra base hits brought in runs.
Mikayla Houge picked up her fourth win of the season with four innings of two-run ball, and Mackenzie Wooten closed out the game with a perfect fifth inning. Both teams were error-free on defense.
Friday (2/25): Virginia 5, Bucknell 1
UVA jumped out to a hot start in this matchup with a three-run first inning courtesy of a two-run homer from Katie Goldberg as well as an RBI single from Leah Boggs. Lauren VanAssche and Sarah Coon added doubles in the inning and scored on the RBI hits.
Bucknell managed a run in the top of the third off of a Chase Knapp solo homer, but Virginia responded with RBI singles from Kelly Ayer in the fourth and Sarah Coon in the fifth. After Aly Rayle got things going on the bump with 2.1 innings of work, Savanah Henley earned her first win by allowing just two hits in 3.2 innings. Sarah Coon was 3-3 with two runs and one RBI to pace the Cavaliers.
Saturday (2/26): Virginia 12, Towson 4 (5 innings)
The Cavaliers earned a second run-rule victory against the Towson Tigers on Saturday. While Towson took a 2-0 lead in the second inning off of a two-run single, Virginia responded with a three-run inning to take the lead. Donna Friedman and Arizona Ritchie both hit RBI fielder’s choices and Lauren VanAssche added an RBI single.
Towson added another two-run single in the top of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. However, this is when Virginia’s bats really came alive. The bottom of the fifth featured six hits and an astonishing nine runs.
In the fifth inning, Sarah Coon hit a two-run double and then chaos ensued. The Cavaliers ran wild on the basepaths through stolen bases and were opportunistic in taking extra bags on hits. There were also four walks in the inning, two of them coming with bases loaded. Finally, Sarah Coon came back up to the plate and delivered a second two-run double, which triggered the run rule and served as a walk-off hit. Savannah Henley picked up the win in relief for the Cavaliers.
Saturday (2/26): Virginia 8, Loyola-Chicago 0
The hot bats continued for Virginia against Loyola-Chicago. The Cavaliers registered 13 hits and scored runs in four different innings. Leah Boggs had an RBI single in the first inning and a fielder’s choice in the third inning, while Tori Gilbert and Bailey Winscott also delivered RBI singles.
The seventh inning included four runs on three hits, with the highlight coming from an Abby Weaver double. The Cavaliers took advantage of the extra chances the team was given through errors or passed balls to extend the lead. Mikayla Houge pitched six innings with five strikeouts and allowed only two hits. Madison Harris closed out the win in the seventh inning,
Sunday (2/27): UNC-Greensboro 6, Virginia 4
After winning four straight games in the UNCG Invitational, the Cavaliers came up just short against the host, UNC-Greensboro, in the finale on Sunday. The Hoos got off to a fast start in the top of the first when Lauren VanAssche and Sarah Coon hit back-to-back homers as a 1-2 punch. Both players had phenomenal weekends from the top of the lineup.
In the bottom of the third, UNCG put up five runs, using four doubles in the inning to move runners around the bases. The Spartans added one more run on a Makenna Matthijs solo homer in the bottom of the fourth.
Katie Goldberg brought her team within striking distance after a two-run shot in the top of the fifth, but the Cavaliers squandered opportunities in the sixth and seventh innings with runners in scoring position and fell 6-4.
Morgan Scott earned the win for the Spartans, and Mikayla Houge took her first loss of the season, giving up three runs on four hits in 2.1 innings of work.
After a successful 4-1 tournament, the Cavaliers will head to Lynchburg to take on Liberty on Tuesday in a single-game matchup. Virginia then travels to Knoxville to compete in the Tennessee Invitational and will play South Alabama, Dartmouth, and Tennessee before entering bracket play.
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