Virginia Hosts No. 19 Virginia Tech Tuesday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia softball team (8-16) returns to action at home on Tuesday (March 30), hosting No. 19 Virginia Tech (19-5) in a 6 p.m. game at Palmer Park. The game between the two teams is designated as a non-conference contest.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
The game 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 linked at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get updates by following the program’s official Twitter account (@UVASoftball).

A LOOK AT VIRGINIA
Sophomore Katie Goldberg (Atlanta, Ga.) leads the Cavalier offense, hitting at a .317 clip with a team-leading 12 RBI and 12 runs scored this season. She is tied for second on the team with three home runs. Donna Friedman (Orange, Calif.) is second with a .299 average and is tied for second on the team with 10 runs scored and 11 RBI. Tori Gilbert (Mechanicsville, Va.) leads the team in home runs with four.

Houge leads the Cavaliers in innings pitched (45.2) and has made 10 starts in the circle with 12 total appearances. She holds a 3.68 ERA to lead all Virginia pitchers with seven appearances or more on the year and has struck out a team-leading 31 batters. She is holding opponents to a .237 batting average against. Rayle, the team-leader in strikeouts a year ago with 74, returned to the starting lineup in the last ACC weekend with two starts. She has 15 strikeouts through 15.1 innings of work and has limited opponents to a .167 batting average against in her six appearances.

THE SERIES WITH THE HOKIES
Virginia and Virginia Tech have met 69 times with the Hokies holding a 47-22 lead in the all-time series. The Cavaliers are looking to get into the win column against Virginia Tech for the first time since the 2017 season when Virginia picked up a 9-8 win in the middle game of the weekend series at home in Charlottesville.

UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia will continue to play at home this weekend with a four-game series against Boston College that begins on Thursday (April 1) and runs through Saturday (April 3) at Palmer Park. It will be the first meetings between the teams since the 2018 season.