Virginia Shuts Out Longwood To Close Regular Season

FARMVILLE, Va. – The Virginia softball team (30-2) closed the regular season with a win, using an opportunistic offense to grind out a 3-0 victory at Longwood (27-18) on Thursday evening (May 2).

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first two batters of the game reached for the Hoos, setting up a score in the first inning for Virginia. With one out, an ground ball to second was misplayed, allowing Tori Gilbert to reach safely and Jade Hylton to score from second. Virginia would go on to load the bases before a wild pitch brought a second run home to give the Cavaliers the 2-0 lead.

The Cavaliers added to the lead in the sixth inning on a fielding error at third off a ball laced to third by Leah Boggs. Kelsey Hackett scored from second on the play after entering to run for Katie Goldberg who reached on a two-out single. Hackett then advanced to second on a Reece Holbrook walk to set up the score on the ball in play from Boggs.

The three runs was enough as the defense and pitching staff held the Lancers in check.

Savanah Henley (1-2) picked up the relief win as she worked 2.0 innings with two strikeouts and allowed one hit.

Maggie Chapin (6-7) took the loss as she allowed two runs, only one of them earned, on six hits. She walked two and struck out three in her 4.2 innings of work.

NOTES ON THE GAME

• With the win, UVA hit the 30-win mark for the first time since 2010 when the Cavaliers went 34-23.
• Virginia took both games against Longwood, sweeping the season series for the first time since 2015.
• The top of the lineup delivered six of the eight hits for the Cavaliers on the afternoon, but the opportunistic UVA offense scored all three runs without an RBI being recorded in the game.
• Virginia used four pitchers in the outing with Molly Grube going 3.0 innings in the start. Mikayla Houge, Henley and Eden Bigham also pitched for the Hoos.

FROM HEAD COACH JOANNA HARDIN
“I love how the pitching staff pieced together a shutout. They were hitting spots, mixing up speeds and throwing a lot of different looks. They did a great job of working together. The offense was able to score enough runs. It’s a little deceiving with the number of runs. We had really good at bats, took our walks and put a lot of barrels on balls but didn’t have a lot to show for it. I’m proud of how we responded after a tough weekend. It’s exciting to have a chance to put things together, grind it out and bring our best to the ACC Tournament next week.”

UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia will return to action at the ACC Championships next week. Matchups and seeds have yet to be determined for the event that will begin on May 10 at Notre Dame.