Cavaliers Open NCAA Regional With No. 24 Miami Redhawks

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Virginia softball team (32-18) opens NCAA Tournament play in the Knoxville Regional on Friday against the No. 24 Miami Redhawks (48-7). First pitch is set for noon at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium at Tennessee.

Virginia is the two seed in the region, while Miami (OH) is the three seed. Host Tennessee is the top seed in the region, while Dayton rounds out the field as the four seed.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
Friday’s game against Miami (OH) is set to be streamed on ESPN+ and is available through the ESPN app and at WatchESPN.com. Live stats are also available. Links to the stream and live stats are at VirginiaSports.com. Updates are also available through the program’s official account (@UVASoftball) on X.

QUICK HITS

• Virginia makes its second-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament when it earned its bid for the Knoxville Regional this season and the Cavaliers are the two seed in the regional
• The Cavaliers finished fourth in the ACC standings this season, the highest finish since the 2010 season when Virginia finished second in the ACC and earned its last NCAA bid
• The Hoos shattered expectations with the fourth-place finish after being picked to finish ninth in the preseason vote of the league’s coaches
• UVA had two All-ACC first team honorees in Eden Bigham and Jade Hylton, while Shelby Barbee was a third team honoree and Bella Cabral was an All-Freshman selection
• Virginia won seven of eight ACC series played this season, shattering the previous mark of five ACC series won in a season set by the 2010 squad
• The Hoos set a course for a postseason bid on the back of a No. 22 strength of schedule that included trips in early non-conference play at Alabama and South Carolina
• Virginia played 17 games against teams in the NCAA Tournament field with 11 of them on the road and the neutral-site game against Clemson in the ACC Tournament
• The UVA pitching staff is third in the ACC and 30th nationally with a staff ERA of 2.45
• Eden Bigham led the ACC in strikeouts in the regular season and ranks among the top 50 nationally entering the NCAA Tournament with 163 strikeouts to date
• Bigham and Madi Harris are both top 25 nationally in strikeouts per 7.0 innings at 8.6 and 8.5, respectively, and Bigham is 24th nationally in fewest hits allowed per 7.0 with 4.4

THE SERIES WITH MIAMI REDHAWKS

• Virginia and the Redhawks have faced each other 11 times with the Cavaliers leading the series 7-4
• Every meeting in the series has come at a neutral site with Miami taking the last meeting 9-7 in 2006 in Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Virginia won six straight in the series from 1990-99, but the Redhawks have won three of the last four meetings

HOOS RETURN TO NCAA TOURNAMENT AND KNOXVILLE

• Virginia’s return to an NCAA Regional sends the Cavaliers to a familiar place as the 2010 team played in the Knoxville Regional
• That 2010 squad went 1-2 in Knoxville with an opening round win over Louisville before dropping games to host Tennessee and an elimination game with the Cardinals
• The Hoos defeated Louisville 1-0 on Friday before falling to the Vols 11-2 on Saturday and then dropping a 7-4 decision to Louisville later on that Saturday

ON DECK FOR THE HOOS

• The winner of Friday’s game will advance to play the winner of the region’s other game between host Tennessee and Dayton at 1 p.m. on Saturday
• The two teams that lose on Friday will play at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in an elimination game