The Virginia softball team (13-25, 9-20 ACC) had a tough weekend against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (22-12, 13-10 ACC) as they were swept in a four games series.
The Fighting Irish took game one by a score of 7-1. Payton Tidd pitched seven innings of one run ball for Notre Dame, and Molly Grube took the loss for the Hoos after giving up four runs in six innings of work. Notre Dame got things going in the first with an RBI double from Katie Marino, but UVA tied it up in the third when Abby Weaver hit an RBI single. Notre Dame scored again in the bottom of the third, and pulled away in the fifth inning with four runs courtesy of a Katie Marino single, a fielder’s choice, and a 2-RBI single from Sarah Genz. Abby Sweet went 3-3 on the day for the Fighting Irish and scored three runs as the leadoff hitter. UVA mustered just three hits in the contest.
Despite outhitting Notre Dame 8 to 6, UVA was unable to pull out the victory and fell by a score of 6-3 in game two. Mikayla Houge was the losing pitcher and Notre Dame’s Alexis Hollway earned the victory. UVA jumped out to an early lead with an RBI groundout from Kate Covington, who finished 3-4 with 2 RBI. Leah Boggs hit a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 2-0, but then Notre Dame responded with a four run inning. Katie Marino hit a solo homer, Cassidy Grimm executed a squeeze bunt, Alexis Hollway had an RBI groundout, and Chelsea Purcell hit a two-out double to push the last run of the inning across. UVA responded with an RBI double from Kate Covington, but couldn’t catch the Fighting Irish offense.
Game three was a heartbreaker for the Hoos as they lost 3-2 on a walkoff in the seventh inning. Aly Rayle pitched a complete game for the Cavaliers and after six innings had only allowed one run, but in the seventh she gave up the tying and winning runs. Meanwhile, Payton Tidd won her second game of the series, after an impressive performance in the series opener. This game was scoreless until the fifth inning when UVA got on the board with a groundout by Katie Goldberg. Gabby Baylog added a solo homer in the top of the sixth to extend the lead to 2-0. Then Notre Dame would score three unanswered runs with a solo homer by Katie Marino in the sixth, an RBI single from Emma Clark in the seventh, and then the winning run came on a wild pitch. The Hoos were able to get two outs in the bottom of the seventh but Quinn Biggio, Abby Sweet, and Emma Clark strung together three two-out hits and snatched the victory away from UVA.
The final game of the series was a tough one for the Hoos, as they only had two hits and committed three errors. Mikayla Houge took the loss and Alexis Holloway dominated in a complete game victory. UVA scored their lone run in the top of the first when Ashley Jennings hit an RBI triple. However, the lead would be short-lived once Chelsea Purcell tied the game in the second with a groundout and Karina Gaskins crushed a two run homer in the third inning. In the fifth, Katie Marino and Leea Hanks each had RBI hits, and the Cavalier offense couldn’t rally off Alexis Holloway to generate a comeback.
The UVA offense was lackluster in the four game series, as they only scored seven total runs. They will look to get their offense going in two non-conference competitions during the week, one against Radford on Tuesday and one against Liberty on Wednesday.
