Virginia Continues Road Play At Tennessee Invitational

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia softball team (9-7) continues road play this weekend with five games at the Tennessee Invitational, kicking things off with two games on Friday (March 4).

The Cavaliers open the tournament against South Alabama and No. 18 Tennessee on Friday before concluding round-robin play Saturday morning. The tournament will then shift to bracket play Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
FRIDAY
vs. South Alabama – 12:30 p.m.
at No. 18 Tennessee – 5:30 p.m. – SECN+

SATURDAY
vs. Dartmouth – 10 a.m.
vs. TBD (Bracket Play) – TBA

SUNDAY
vs. TBD (Bracket Play) – TBA

HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
Live stats will be provided for all games over the weekend, while only games involving Tennessee will have a stream through the SEC Network+. Links to the live stats and live stream are available at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get updates by following the program’s official Twitter account (@UVASoftball).

QUICK HITS
• Virginia plays on the road for the fourth straight weekend this weekend at Tennessee.
• The five-game weekend continues a season-opening stretch of 21 consecutive road games.
• The Cavaliers have been aggressive and efficient on the basepath going 28-for-33 in steal attempts and passing last year’s steal total (27) just 16 games into the 2022 season.
• UVA’s 13 home runs and 85 runs scored are also over halfway to the totals from 2021.
• Mikayla Houge’s 41.1 IP leads the Hoos in the circle. She has also allowed only five walks while striking out 22 in that time with two complete games on the way to a 5-2 mark.
• Since her return to the lineup last weekend, Madison Harris has worked 6.0 scoreless innings in relief across four appearances for the Cavaliers.
• Lauren VanAssche hit her first collegiate home run last weekend to leadoff vs. UNCG.

HOO TO WATCH
• Sarah Coon has been hot for the Hoos the past two weekends, leading UVA at the plate.
• She hit .467 (7-for-15) at Charleston Southern’s tournament with two HR and seven RBI two weekends ago.
• She hit home runs in back-to-back games on Saturday with solo shots in a 9-4 win over Sacred Heart and in a 5-2 loss to Charleston Southern.
• Last weekend she hit .667 (10-for-15) with a home run and 7 RBI at UNCG’s tournament.
• She is hitting .426 on the season with 15 RBI, 14 runs and a .787 slug percentage.

VIRGINIA AGAINST THE TENNESSEE INVITATIONAL FIELD
• Virginia will square off against two teams it has faced before in South Alabama and Tennessee when the Cavaliers take the field this weekend in Knoxville.
• The Cavaliers are 1-0 all-time against South Alabama having played each other in 2021.
• Virginia is 2-9 against Tennessee in the all-time series and last faced the Lady Vols in two games in 2019.
• UVA has never faced Dartmouth on the diamond and will face off against the Big Green for the first time Friday.

LAST TIME OUT AGAINST SOUTH ALABAMA
• UVA and South Alabama have faced each other once, meeting on opening day last year at Georgia’s tournament.
• The Cavaliers claimed a 9-4 victory over the Jaguars thanks to a six-run sixth inning that included a grand slam from Kate Covington.

LAST TIME OUT AGAINST TENNESSEE
• Virginia and Tennessee last met in the 2019 season with two games in Knoxville at the Tennessee Classic.
• The Lady Vols claimed the first game 11-1 before taking the second game 6-2.
• Haley Busby homered in the first game for the Cavaliers’ run in the third inning.
• Lacy Smith scored both runs in game two with a first-inning home run and then an unearned run in the sixth.