After sweeping Notre Dame over the weekend, the Virginia softball team picked up right where it left off, and collected a win against George Washington in its last home game of the season.
The Cavaliers (21-29, 8-13 ACC) beat George Washington (24-22, 7-10 Atlantic 10) with a score of 8-0 in a game that ended in the fifth inning due to the run rule. The win marked the seventh-consecutive victory for the Cavaliers, and it is the 100th career win for Coach Joanna Hardin.
“It’s just starting to come together for us,” Hardin said. “They’ve worked out some challenges, hitters are seeing the ball really well, and they’re sticking to a plan. We’re playing with confidence but also staying calm and focused … We’ve just stayed true to who we are, and this is a little fruit of their labor.”
The Cavaliers got on the scoreboard right away, as junior first baseman Danni Ingraham picked up an RBI single to drive in senior catcher Katie Park in the opening inning of the game.
In the next inning, Virginia picked up three runs to open up the lead to 4-0. The first run of the inning came when senior shortstop Madison Labshere hit a sacrifice fly to send senior outfielder Iyana Hughes across the plate. Then, senior third baseman Kaitlin Fitzgerald hit an RBI single, which was followed by an RBI triple from Ingraham to wrap up the three-run inning or the Cavaliers.
Virginia followed up its three-run second inning with another three-run inning in the third to bring the Cavaliers to a 7-0 lead. Hughes and Park recorded the RBIs for the inning.
A walk-off double by Ingraham to score sophomore pinch-runner Tia Mitchell brought the game to 8-0, and capped off the win for the Cavaliers.
Meanwhile, from the pitching mound, sophomore pitcher Erika Osherow threw a superb five innings, and kept George Washington from getting a single run on the scoreboard.
This strong performance from Osherow comes after she was just named ACC Pitcher of the week, marking the first time since 2013 that a Virginia player has been named pitcher of the week.
“Erika has been throwing well for the last three to four weeks,” Hardin said. “She has matured and grown and the award is a nice recognition. It was also just a nice shout-out to Virginia softball.”
The Cavaliers now head to Louisville for the final regular season series of the season.
“Our challenge this weekend is to not press, and to stay true to who we are,” Hardin said. “Basically, to do what we’ve been doing, if we can just take what we get and let the game come to us I think we’ll be fine, and clean defense is going to be huge. Louisville is a good team so we’re excited for a good challenge ahead of us.”
The first game of the series is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m., and will be followed by a 1 p.m. Saturday game and a noon game Sunday to wrap up the series.
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