Story Links
The University of Virginia softball team split its first two games in the Sonic Challenge Friday (February 20). UVa opened the tournament with a 6-5 eight-inning win over Bradley at Frost Stadium, but fell to Western Kentucky 5-2 at Hargraves Field. The Cavaliers now stand at 3-2 on the season.
Virginia recorded 10 hits in the victory over Bradley, while second-year pitcher Erin Horn (Tallahassee, Fla./Leon) got her second win of the season, allowing only one unearned run on one hit in three innings of work.
Bradley got on the scoreboard in the top of the first with a two-run homer. Virginia struck back in the fourth inning with a base hit down the right field line by third-year left fielder Lauren Dennis (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon), which plated third-year catcher Jenn Wynn (Herndon, Va./Herndon) who led off the inning with a double to right.
Bradley took a commanding lead in the fifth by adding two more runs making the score 4-1. In the bottom of the second inning, second-year center fielder Jessica Taylor (Philadelphia, Pa./Germantown Academy) scored on a fourth-year first baseman Hannah Owings’ (Issaquah, Wash./Kentlake) sacrifice fly. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Wynn doubled to right and crossed the plate on Owings’ two-run homer, which tied the score at 4-4.
The score remained tied after seven innings. In the eighth, Bradley (2-5) regained the lead, 5-4, on a fielding error by the Cavaliers. In the bottom half of the eighth, first-year right fielder Lara Rodriguez (Oak Hill, Va./Oakton) was placed on second to begin the inning. She moved to third on first-year second baseman Elea Crockett’s (Tucson, Ariz./University) sacrifice bunt. After fourth-year shortstop Heather Field (Lincoln, Calif./Lincoln) walked, second-year second baseman Sara Larquier (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) doubled to right scoring both Rodriguez and Field with the tying and game-winning runs.
Owings led Virginia with three RBIs, while Wynn was 2-3 with a walk. Fourth-year starting pitcher Joanna Barstad (Canby, Ore./Canby) allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits in five innings of work. She struck out five while walking three.
The Cavaliers suffered a 5-2 setback to Western Kentucky (2-0) Friday afternoon at Frost Stadium. First-year third baseman Amy McKean (Kent, Wash./Kentlake) accounted for UVa’s two runs with a two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning. It was her first collegiate home runs. McKean was 2-3 in the contest, while Larquier and Wynn both had two hits for Virginia as well.
Western Kentucky score single runs in the bottom of the second and third innings, then broke the game open with three runs in the fourth.
The Cavaliers will play Villanova and Samford on Saturday (February 21) in the second day of the Sonic Challenge.