Hoos Feel Right at Home in Columbia

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — It may not qualify as a second home for the Virginia Cavaliers, but Carolina Softball Stadium in Columbia, S.C., is a venue with which they have more than a little familiarity.

UVA launched its 2022 and ’24 seasons in Columbia, and the Wahoos were back there this February for another season-opening tournament hosted by South Carolina. And so when the NCAA tournament field was revealed Sunday night, nobody at Palmer Park complained about the Hoos’ draw.

Virginia (37-17) is seeded No. 2 in the double-elimination regional that starts Friday in Columbia. South Carolina (40-15) is seeded No. 1, North Florida (45-13) is No. 3, and Elon (33-19) is No. 4.

“I think that was our No. 1 [choice], and we got our No. 1, so we’re pretty excited for that,” senior third baseman Sarah Coon said Wednesday before the Cavaliers bused to Columbia.

“I think a big thing for us is we’re comfortable there,” head coach Joanna Hardin said. “We’ve been there multiple times … so we are familiar with Columbia, we’re familiar with the facility, we’re familiar with just how to get in, how to get out, some of those things that I think when you’re going to a new facility [can be challenging].”

In the regional’s first game, Virginia meets North Florida at 3 p.m., with South Carolina and Elon to follow at 5:30 p.m.

UVA’s first two games this season were against South Carolina at the Gamecock Invitational. In the first, the Hoos led 6-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. In the second, they led 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth. In each game, however, the Gamecocks rallied for a walk-off victory.

“We kind of beat ourselves in those,” Virginia catcher Sydney Hartgrove said Wednesday.

“We know we had a lot left in the tank,” Coon said, “and we know we kind of lost those games ourselves. They didn’t really beat us.”

The Hoos would like nothing better than a rematch with South Carolina. They know, however, that can’t afford to overlook the ASUN champion Ospreys and their two-way star, Allison Benning.

“We’ve talked about how North Florida is very good,” Hartgrove said. “They have 45 wins. It takes a lot to win 45 games in a year, I don’t care where you come from.”

Hardin agreed. Any team that wins 45 games is “no joke,” she said. “At this point, everybody that’s playing this weekend has earned the right to play and everybody’s really good and everyone’s going to bring it.”

Benning, a senior, is hitting .409 with 19 home runs this season, and she’s drawn 70 walks. In the circle, she’s 24-5 with a 1.51 earned-run average, and she’s struck out 169 batters in 153 innings.

“We’re going to have to manage Benning,” Hardin said.

North Florida is making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Ospreys are “going to come out with energy,” Hardin said. “They’re going to come out excited and so we’re just going to have to keep momentum on our side.”

Virginia has advanced to the NCAAs for the second straight season (and third time in program history). A year ago, as the No. 2 seed at the four-team regional in Knoxville, Tenn. Virginia went 2-2, defeating Miami-Ohio twice and losing to host Tennessee twice.

From that experience, Coon said, she and her teammates learned “how capable we are of continuing our season after regionals. I think last year we weren’t exactly sure what we were capable of until we got there. But this team, I think we have a lot more depth and a lot more to us. I think we can go a lot further.”

Tennessee fans turned out in force to support the home team in Knoxville. “I think that’s probably the loudest atmosphere we’ve ever played in,” Coon said.

Even so, the Cavaliers managed to keep their composure. “I was very impressed with how our team handled the regional last year, because you don’t know what to expect,” said Hardin, who’s in her ninth season at UVA.

“I didn’t know how we would handle that. It was a new experience for all of us. And it was business as usual. There was excitement. The schedule got messed up, and we just kind of rolled with it, and so I thought they handled it like professionals.”

Most of the players in the Hoos’ lineup this year were in prominent roles last season, too, “so for us it’s very much business as usual, I think,” Hardin said. “Part of that is because we have experience before, and part of that is because these girls have been watching the postseason their whole life. They know what the drill is, and there’s an expectation [to reach the NCAAs every year].”

The Cavaliers’ seniors— Hartgrove, Coon, Kelly Ayer, Kailyn Jones, Reece Holbrook and Savanah Henley—will miss graduation on Grounds this weekend, but that’s a tradeoff they’re happy to make.

“One hundred percent,” Ayer said this week on the Wahoo Central Podcast. “I’d rather be playing in postseason, honestly. It’s such a cool experience, and it’s a dream come true.”

At Disharoon Park, not from Palmer Park, UVA head baseball coach Brian O’Connor has built a dynasty, and Hardin had him to speak to her team Wednesday morning.

“He shared some words of wisdom for championship teams,” Hardin said.

Her players know not to take this experience for granted, Hardin said. “We talk very openly [about the fact] that 80 percent of teams this week are preparing for exit meetings. They’re not playing. And so we take a lot of pride in earning a position to be playing this weekend. So that to me is joy in the journey, competing, practicing this week.”

Hardin noted, though, that it’s important to strike the proper balance. It’s not enough for the Hoos simply to make the NCAA tournament. They’re looking to win, she said, “in the same way North Florida is coming out to win, and so is Elon and so is South Carolina. So it’s not lost on us that this is a great opportunity, a [reward for the] body of work that we put together for the whole season. Our team has fought through a lot of adversity. We have come from behind. We’ve come back after tough losses. And so we’re very capable. And I think that that is something that we have in our back pocket that we refer to when the going gets tough.”

The key for her team Friday, Hardin said, will be executing its game plan. “And so we want to stay aggressive on the base paths. We want to make sure we’re aggressive on defense and clean on defense. Our pitching staff is going to have to execute into the zone, and I’d love to see us be relentless on the offensive side and really, really push the envelope and force North Florida to make plays.”

If the Hoos get another opportunity to defeat the Gamecocks, their two meetings in February won’t have much bearing on the rematch, Hardin said.

“South Carolina is a totally different team, and we’re a totally different team,” she said. “And so I think that they’re going to be sharp and excited, we’re going to be sharp and excited, and it’s really going to come down to execution.”

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