Virginia And Notre Dame Open Series With Friday Doubleheader

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia softball team (13-9, 0-0 ACC) continues to play at home this weekend, opening ACC play with a three-game series against No. 24 Notre Dame (16-4, 0-0 ACC) at Palmer Park.

SCHEDULE CHANGE
Due to inclement weather expected in the area on Saturday, the schedule for the three-game series has been changed. The Hoos and Irish will now play a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 2:30 p.m. Game two is set for a 5 p.m. first pitch. The series will conclude on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Tickets for Saturday’s game will be honored for either game on Friday. Fans with tickets for Saturday’s game that cannot attend because of the rescheduled time can either: (a) exchange their ticket in advance for a General Admission ticket to any other regular season game by calling the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 542-8821 during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm., or (b) bring their ticket to the gate for General Admission seating at any remaining regular season home game, subject to seat availability at the time of arrival.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
The entire weekend series will be streamed online with Sunday’s game also being broadcast on ACC Network. The streams are available through the ESPN app and ESPN.com. Live stats are also available for all three games. Links to the streams and live stats are available at VirginaiSports.com. Fans can also get updates by following the program’s official Twitter account (@UVASoftball).

QUICK HITS
• UVA continues a five-game home stand against Notre Dame after playing the first 21 games on the road
• Katie Goldberg is coming off a 3-for-3 performance with 3RBI vs. Maryland on Tuesday
• The run-rule win over Maryland was the fourth of the season – the most for UVA since four in 2019
• Freshman Sarah Coon continues to lead UVA at the plate with a .379 average and is tied for the team lead in runs scored (17) and second in RBI (16)
• She is also tops in the ACC in doubles (8) and ranks 15th nationally after Tuesday’s game
• The Hoos have been efficient at getting free bases, ranking third in the ACC in both walks (73) and hit by pitch this season (8) – the 73 walks ranks 23rd nationally after Tuesday
• UVA is coming off a powerful weekend at the plate with nine home runs at UT tournament

THE SERIES WITH NOTRE DAME
• Virginia and Notre Dame have faced each other 24 times in the series with the Irish leading 21-3
• The three wins came for the Hoos in a sweep of the 2017 series on the road
• Notre Dame has won seven straight in the series, including all four games of last season’s series at home

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE HOOS
• Virginia opened the home slate on Tuesday night with a 10-2 run-rule victory over the Maryland Terrapins
• The Hoos got two runs in the first inning then put together a seven-inning second to break open the game
• Freshman Kelly Ayer delivered the walk-off hit in the fifth inning to lock up the run-rule victory
• The Hoos tallied the 10 runs on nine hits and drew six walks in the outing to help power the offense

HOOS CARRYING HIT STREAKS INTO WEEKEND
• A trio of Hoos carry hit streaks of more than one game into the weekend after the Tuesday game with Maryland
• Gabby Baylog has a five-game hit streak heading into the weekend, while Arizona Ritchie and Tori Gilbert have a hit in four straight games

HOOS CARRYING STREAK REACHING BASE SAFELY
• Sarah Coon has been tough to keep off base, despite having a 10-game hit streak snapped at Liberty (3/6)
• The freshman enters the weekend series with a streak of 17 straight games reaching base safely to lead UVA
• The next closest Hoos are Gabby Baylog who has reached base in seven consecutive games and Arizona Ritchie who has reached in five straight games