Virginia Softball Eager to Open Fifth Season at Palmer Park
Joanna Hardin's Virginia softball team is no stranger to having to wait a little while before finally getting to play its first home games of the season. In each of the last two seasons, the Cavaliers played 10 games before their home opener in late February. The season before that? Virginia played a staggering 21 games away from Charlottesville before finally opening its home slate on March 8th, something that was very common in the first four years of UVA softball under Joanna Hardin.
"My first four years, we traveled the first four weekends of the year and it's a grind and we call ourselves road warriors," Hardin recalled earlier this week. "So to be home now... they don't have to make up tests and rearrange their schedules. There's definitely a comfortability with being home sleeping in your own bed."
That they have to wait a few extra weeks, and sometimes more, before getting to play in front of their home fans for the first time makes it seem like the season is starting all over again when the Cavaliers return home to play at Palmer Park for the first time.
That anticipated home opener comes at last for UVA softball this weekend, as the Cavaliers host the Rawlings Classic with Delaware, Lehigh, and Iowa State playing a combined 10 games at Palmer Park on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Virginia's schedule for the weekend is as follows (all games on ACCNX):
Friday at 3:30pm: Virginia vs. Delaware
Friday at 6pm: Virginia vs. Lehigh
Saturday at 12:30pm: Virginia vs. Lehigh
Saturday at 3:30pm: Virginia vs. Iowa State
Sunday at 1pm: Virginia vs. Delaware
Through the first two weekends of the season, Virginia has a 6-4 record, taking care of business against some inferior opponents but suffering each of its four losses to ranked opponents in true road games, twice at No. 23 South Carolina and twice at No. 12 Alabama. Those two defeats to the Crimson Tide last weekend came by a combined three runs, 3-1 and 3-2, evidence that the Cavaliers are capable of going punch for punch with some of the best teams in the country.
"I learned that we're resilient. I think we fought back. And some of those games are close games and regardless of who you're playing, anybody can beat anybody," Hardin said when asked what she learned about her team in the first two weeks of the season.
Hardin was pleased to see her pitching staff hold a high-powered Alabama offense to just six total runs in two games, a much-improved performance after issuing too many walks in the first tournament of the season, but thought the UVA bats let some opportunities slip through their fingers in both games.
"I think our pitching staff did an excellent job transitioning from the first week to the second week in our numbers and every category: strikes thrown, stranded runners, everything really improved," Hardin said. "I'm grateful that we've learned some of those things about our team and excited to see them turn it around and start gelling a little bit more at the plate."
This weekend's home opener also marks the fifth season Virginia has played at Palmer Park since it opened back in 2020. It's clear from speaking to Joanna Hardin that she holds a deep appreciation for how far this program has come since moving from the unsatisfactory conditions at the Park at North Grounds to the state of the art facility that now houses the Hoos at Palmer Park.
"I don't think it will ever get old for me. It is not lost on me where we've come from," Hardin said this week. "This is the first year of our team in our program where there's nobody on the current team that played at the previous facility at the Park... Palmer Park is an absolute blessing and it will never grow old and I will never forget where we came from and the growth of this program."
Hardin made sure to mention the namesakes of Palmer Park - former UVA softball standout Lisa Palmer and her mother Frances, as she spoke about her excitement for playing another season at Palmer Park.
"I will always be really grateful to Lisa and Fran and our administration and all the people that put in effort and the time for us to be here. It's amazing," said Hardin. "I pinch myself often thinking how lucky and how blessed I am that I get to be here with these teams and these girls and at UVA at a time like this. It's a really special place and Palmer Park is really special."
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