Virginia Hits Road For Commonwealth Clash Matchup At No. 15 Virginia Tech

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia softball team (30-15) heads back out on the road for a Smithfield Commonwealth Clash matchup at No. 15 Virginia Tech (35-9-1) on Tuesday night (April 23). First pitch is set for 7 p.m. at Tech Softball Park.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
Tuesday night’s contest with Virginia Tech will be broadcast on ACC Network and can be streamed through the ESPN app and at WatchESPN.com. Live stats are also available. Links to the stream and broadcast are at VirginiaSports.com. Updates are also available on the program’s official account (@UVASoftball) on X.

QUICK HITS

• The Hoos picked up a series win at No. 3 Duke over the weekend to kick of a seven-game road swing to close out the regular season with a doubleheader sweep of the Blue Devils.
• It was the sixth ACC series win of the season for Virginia and is the first time in program history for UVA to win six ACC series as well as the first series win over Duke.
• Included in those series wins are the win at No. 3 Duke and over No. 11 Clemson.
• With the wins at Duke, the Cavaliers locked up a berth in the ACC Softball Championships.
• Bigham leads the ACC in strikeouts (156) and ranks 21st nationally after striking out nine in 9.0 innings of scoreless work against No. 3 Duke in the series opener
• The UVA pitching staff ranks second in the ACC in ERA (2.18) and ranks 17th nationally.
• Bigham and Madi Harris rank in the top 21 nationally in strikeouts per seven with Bigham coming in 14th (9.2/7) and Harris at 21st (8.7/7). Bigham is also ninth nationally in fewest hits allowed per 7.0 innings pitched (3.93) and second in the ACC.
• Jade Hylton hit two home runs against Duke – including a grand slam – to extend her team-leading total to 11 home runs and her team-leading RBI to 35. She drove in six of the seven runs scored by the Hoos against the Blue Devils.
• The Cavaliers jumped up in the RPI this week, coming in at 28 with a strength of schedule of 19 following the weekend series at Duke.
• The Hoos close out their tough road trip with a midweek contest at Virginia Tech (RPI 18) before closing the weekend at Georgia Tech (RPI 63) in the final ACC series.

THE SERIES WITH VIRGINIA TECH

• Virginia and Virginia Tech have faced each other 77 times with the Hokies leading the series 53-24
• Virginia Tech won the first meeting this season by a score of 6-0 in Charlottesville on April 16
• The last time the teams met in midweek non-conference matchups instead of ACC play was 2021.

THE SMITHFIELD COMMONWEALTH CLASH

• The Smithfield Commonwealth Clash is a rivalry between Virginia and Virginia Tech across all school-sponsored sports with 21 individual event points on the line.
• The school that accumulates 11.5 points or more will be crowned the winner of the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash trophy.
• Virginia clinched the Commonwealth Clash over the weekend with points from the ACC Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships holds a 12-6.5 lead.
• Virginia captured the Clash in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023, while Virginia Tech won the Clash in 2017, 2018 and 2022. The 2020 and 2021 clashes were canceled due to the pandemic.