Virginia Softball Moves to 4-0 With Wins Against Lamar and Houston

The Virginia softball team (4-0) picked up two more wins on Saturday at the Houston Invitational, defeating Lamar 4-1 and Houston 14-7.

Virginia 4, Lamar 1

Behind two strong performances from a pair of newcomers in the pitching circle, the Cavaliers suppressed Lamar's offense for the second time in the last three days. Freshman Eden Bigham pitched a no-hitter in UVA's 3-0 win over Lamar on Thursday. On Saturday, Bigham came into the game in the sixth inning and picked up a save after UNLV transfer Jenny Bressler worked through the first five innings, giving up just one earned run on six hits.

The game remained scoreless through the first four innings until the top of the fifth inning. Sydney Hartgrove started a two-out rally with a single into left field and then Lauren VanAssche singled to center field to move Hartgrove to third base. Jade Hylton then delivered a third-straight single for Virginia, bringing in Hartgrove and breaking the scoreless tie.

In the bottom half of the inning, Lamar loaded the bases with one out and then scored with a sacrifice groundout to tie the game.

Virginia bounced back quickly in the top of the sixth inning to reclaim the lead. Sarah Coon drew a leadoff walk on four pitches and freshman M.C. Eaton hit her second home run of the season. Tori Gilbert followed that up with a single, but then Kailyn Jones lined into a double play. That cleared the bases for Gabby Baylog, who then hit UVA's second home run of the inning to put the Cavaliers up 4-1.

Eden Bigham replaced Bressler in the sixth inning and secured the save, but not without some drama. In the bottom of the seventh, Bigham walked two batters to bring the tying run to the plate, but the freshman then calmy retired the next two batters on a popout and a strikeout to end the game.

Virginia 14, Houston 7

On Saturday night, the Cavaliers and Cougars continued a game that originally began on Thursday night, but was then suspended due to a lighting issue at the stadium with UVA leading 8-1 in the third inning.

Two days later, play resumed and Houston took full advantage of the reset in momentum, scoring five runs in the bottom of the third inning to create a brand new ball game.

Freshman Courtney Layne "started" for Virginia, replacing Jenny Bressler, the original starter for UVA from Thursday. Layne struggled from the jump, giving up a walk and then three-straight singles as the Cougars quickly brought three runs across the plate. Layne struck out the next batter and got the second out of the inning on a fielder's choice, but then LA Matthews delivered a two-run double to left field. Suddenly, UVA's 8-1 lead became 8-6.

Mackenzie Wooten came in and finished the third inning and got the first two outs of the fourth inning before running into trouble, giving up a walk and then back-to-back singles as Houston cut the deficit to just one run at 8-7.

Tori Gilbert hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning and then Virginia poured in five more runs in the top of the seventh. Gabby Baylog drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Leah Boggs hit an RBI double into the right-center field gap. Tori Gilbert stole home during the inning and Boggs came in on a single from Reece Holbrook.

Savanah Henley closed out the game in the pitching circle in the bottom of the seventh, striking out the final batter swinging to seal Virginia's 14-7 win.

Now 4-0 on the season, Virginia plays one final game in the Houston Invitational against Nebraska on Sunday at 11am.

To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN