Virginia Continues ACC Play At No. 13 Duke

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia softball team (6-9, 2-7 ACC) returns to the road this weekend, continuing ACC play at No. 13 Duke (15-1, 4-1 ACC) in a four-game series.

The series begins on Friday (March 12) with a single game at 5 p.m. and continues throughout the weekend with a doubleheader that begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday and a single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
Every game of the weekend series will be streamed on ACCNX which is available through the ESPN app to customers who have the ACC Network through their television provider. Live stats will also be available for all four games. Links to both the broadcast and live stats are available at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get updates by following the program’s official Twitter account (@UVASoftball).

THE SERIES WITH DUKE
Virginia and Duke have faced each other six times in the history of the two programs since Duke began competing in softball in the 2018 season. The Blue Devils swept the first series in Durham in the 2018 season before taking the series in Charlottesville in 2019. The Cavaliers won the middle game of the 2019 series by a score of 2-1 in that weekend.

A LOOK AT THE HOOS OFFENSIVELY
Virginia enters the weekend series at Duke with four regular starters hitting .333 or above and are led at the plate by Tori Gilbert (Stafford, Va.) who is batting at a .343 clip with seven runs scored, four RBI and a pair of home runs. She is joined by Donna Friedman (Orange, Calif.) who is hitting at a .340 clip, while Savana Avilla (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Katie Goldberg (Atlanta, Ga.) are hitting .333 each. The four players have combined for 24 of the Cavaliers’ 53 runs scored, six of the team’s eight home runs and 23-of-48 RBI as a unit.

AVILLA HEATS UP AT THE PLATE
Avilla has started to heat up at the plate for the Cavaliers. She has hit safely in eight of the last nine games and carried a seven-game hit streak into game three of the weekend series with Clemson a week ago before seeing it snapped. In that seven-game hit streak, she hit .473 (9-for-19). Currently, she holds an active streak of reaching base in nine straight games.

VIRGINIA IN THE CIRCLE
The Cavaliers have sent seven players to the circle this season as versatility in styles has been something the Virginia program has been able to turn to this season. Freshman Madison Harris (Forest, Va.) and sophomore Mackenzie Wooten (Windsor, Va.) have each made nine relief appearances with 14.0 and 14.2 innings of work, respectively. Harris is 2-3 with a save, while Wooten is 1-1 with a save in those appearances. Freshman Mikayla Houge (Collins, Iowa) has made a team-leading six starts and leads the team in strikeouts with 24 behind a 12 strikeout performance against Pitt in ACC pod play.

UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia returns to action at home next weekend with a four-game series against NC State at Palmer Park.