Cavaliers Now

Virginia Softball Earns National Ranking for First Time in Nearly 30 Years

Matt Newton

Reece Holbrook, Jade Hylton, and Abby Weaver celebrate after the Virginia softball team's victory at James Madison.
Reece Holbrook, Jade Hylton, and Abby Weaver celebrate after the Virginia softball team's victory at James Madison. / Virginia Athletics

For the first time in nearly three decades, the Virginia softball team is ranked in a national poll. The Cavaliers entered the rankings of this week's Softball America Top 25 at No. 24, marking the first time the program has been nationally ranked since the 1995 season.

Virginia has won 11 of its last 13 games and four of its five ACC series so far this season, most recently taking two out of three games on the road at Notre Dame last weekend. The Cavaliers are 26-11 overall with 12 games left in the regular season. For some context on how special this season has already been, UVA won 30 games last season and it was the highest win total for the program since 2010, which was also the first and only time the Cavaliers have ever qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

Just two years removed from a stretch of nine-consecutive losing seasons, the Cavaliers are well on their way to a third-straight winning season, are ranked in a national poll for the first time since 1995, and have positioned themselves such that a strong finish to the regular season will put them in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.

At 9-6 in conference play, Virginia is tied for fifth in the ACC standings. The top 10 teams in the final standings qualify for the ACC Tournament and the top six get a first round bye into the quarterfinals of the single-elimination bracket.

Still to come on Virginia's schedule is the final home series of the season against NC State (15th) this weekend, a pair of midweek games against Virginia Tech (tied for third), and road series at the ACC's first-place team Duke and then Georgia Tech, who is tied with UVA for fifth. Those games represent big challenges, but also major opportunities for the Cavaliers to improve their positioning for the ACC Tournament and solidify their case for the NCAA Tournament.

But first, Virginia is set to open the final homestand of the regular season with its last non-conference game of the year, hosting Liberty on Tuesday night at Palmer Park. First pitch is set for 7pm and the game will be televised on the ACC Network.

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Matt Newton

MATT NEWTON

Managing Editor and Publisher, CavaliersNow Email: mattnewton@virginia.eduTwitter: @mattynewtssWebsite | LinkedIn | Instagram Matt Newton is the managing editor and publisher at CavaliersNow. He has been covering UVA athletics since 2019 and has been the managing editor at CavaliersNow since launching the site in August 2021. Matt covers all things UVA sports, including Virginia basketball and football news and recruiting, former Wahoos in the pros, and coverage of all 23 of the NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. A native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Matt grew up a huge Philadelphia sports fan, but has also been a UVA sports fanatic his entire life thanks to his parents, who are alums of the University of Virginia. Matt followed in his parents' footsteps and attended UVA from 2017-2021, graduating with a degree in Media Studies and a minor in Economics in May of 2021.