CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 12 Virginia softball team (31-3, 9-2 ACC) heads out on the road this weekend to face No. 23 Duke (25-11, 10-2 ACC) in a three-game series at the Smith Family Stadium. The series begins on Thursday (April 2) at 6 p.m. and runs through Saturday (April 4).
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
All three games of the weekend series will be streamed on ACCNX which is available through ESPN.com and the ESPN app. Live stats are also provided and linked at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get updates by following the program’s official account on X (@UVASoftball).
NOTING THE HOOS
- Virginia enters the weekend looking for a fifth-straight series win in ACC play after taking the series over North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Syracuse and Pitt through the first half of conference play
- The Hoos are coming off a sweep of Pitt last weekend and improved to 19-1 in home games with the sweep
- Virginia remains at No. 25 in the RPI and are 7-3 against teams in the RPI top 50 and 15-3 vs. the top 100 - nine of the next 10 games for the Hoos come against teams in the top 21 of the RPI
- Jade Hylton is closing in on another career record for the Hoos as she has 174 runs scored in her career and needs five more to take over the top spot in the Virginia record book held by Heather Field (2001-2004)
- Macee Eaton has etched her name into the record book twice already with her 51 RBI so far this season ranking 5th in the UVA single-season list after setting the single-season mark of 63 RBI a year ago
- Eaton - who leads the team at the plate with a .491 average and fifth fourth in the ACC - is also climbing the UVA career record books with 130 RBI (6th) and with 38 multiple-RBI games (T3rd with Hylton)
- Bella Cabral enters the weekend ranked eighth in the ACC in home runs (10) and is now 10th on the career list for home runs at UVA with 26 home runs
- Cabral and Eaton are both hitting above .400 on the season to pace a Virginia offense that is hitting at a .327 clip on the year and ranks fourth in the ACC in home runs (46) and sixth in the league in RBI (221)
- The pitching staff continues to deliver for the Hoos, ranking first in the league in ERA (2.48) and leading the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.89) and WHIP (1.13) and hits allowed per 7.0 innings (5.20)
- Courtney Layne leads the ACC in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.47) and WHIP (0.88), and ranks second in ERA (1.53), while four Virginia pitchers rank in the top 11 in the ACC in fewest hits allowed per 7.0 innings
THE SERIES WITH DUKE
- Virginia and Pittsburgh have faced off 16 times with the Blue Devils leading the young series 13-3
- The Hoos won the last meeting, taking the series over then No. 3 Duke 2-1 in the 2024 season
- Duke won a 12-inning opener 1-0 before Virginia claimed a Saturday doubleheader to win the series
- Two of Virginia’s three wins in the series have come at Duke as the Blue Devils lead 8-2 in home games
• This marks back-to-back series at Duke for the Hoos and three of the last four in the series played at Duke