KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 24 Virginia softball team (40-14) used three home runs, including a grand slam from Alex Call, to power past Indiana (43-16) in an elimination game Saturday (May 16) at the NCAA Knoxville Regional.
With the win, the Cavaliers will now face host Tennessee at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the regional championship game. It is a rematch of Saturday’s first game of the day between Virginia and the Lady Vols that was won 7-5 by Tennessee.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cavaliers struck first in this matchup with a three-run first inning. After Jade Hylton walked to open the game, she stole second and scored on a double to left from Bella Cabral. Reagan Hickey then homered to right center for Virginia to take the lead to 3-0.
Indiana quickly tied it, scoring on a throwing error off a fielder’s choice before a two-run home run knotted things at 3-3 with one out in the first.
Virginia vaulted back in front in the third with a grand slam from Alex Call, but Indiana pushed three runs home in the home half to cut the lead to one.
The Hoosiers tied things up in the fourth with a run on a fielding error at second on a pop up, but Virginia moved back in front in the fifth with a two-run home run from Madison Greene that put the Hoos up 9-7.
Eden Bigham (15-5) picked up the win, working 2.1 innings in relief with one unearned run allowed on two hits with one strikeout. Taylor Smith picked up her first save, working the final 1.2 innings and striking out two batters.
Brooke Mannon (7-5) took the loss, allowing two runs on three hits with three walks and seven strikeouts through 4.1 innings of relief work.
NOTING THE HOOS
- Virginia hit the 40-win mark for the first time since the 2002 season when the Cavaliers won 45 games.
- Alex Call’s grand slam in the third inning was her second of the season and seven of her eight home runs this season have come with runners on base.
- Virginia set a new single-season mark for home runs with 71 this season, breaking the previous best mark of 69 set a year ago.
FROM HEAD COACH JOANNA HARDIN
“There are not a lot of words left at this point of the weekend and day. They’ve shown resilience, fight and competitive greatness. It’s fun to see them compete the way they are right now. I love that I get to coach this team and love we get to fight to see another day together. I think they really want to extend their season and play as long as they can together. You see it in how they attack offensively and defensively.”