The Virginia softball team (13-9, 3-0 ACC) won a pair of midweek games, 6-0 Tuesday over Charlotte and 10-1 Wednesday over Furman.
Game 1: Virginia 6, Charlotte 0
The Cavaliers traveled to Charlotte, N.C., to face the 49ers (8-12, 1-2 C-USA) Tuesday at Sue M. Daughtridge Stadium and came up with a shutout win. Senior pitcher Allyson Frei and freshman pitcher Clare Zureich held Charlotte to just one hit in seven innings.
Virginia started out strong and put three runs on the board in the first inning. Senior pitcher and infielder Lacy Smith singled to center field, and senior catcher Olivia Gott followed with a walk. A ball hit by freshman catcher Donna Friedman cleared the left field fence and brought in three runs, giving the Cavaliers an early lead.
Sophomore outfielder Kate Covington blasted her fifth home run this season to drive in senior outfielder Erika Osherow, who led off in the fourth with a double. Virginia scored their final run in the sixth with an RBI single by sophomore infielder Hayley Busby.
Standing Out
Frei threw an impressive game, allowing no hits in the first four innings. Zureich gave up one hit in her three innings of relief, earning her first career save with six strikeouts — a career high for the freshman.
Game 2: Virginia 10, Furman 1
Virginia traveled to Greenville, S.C., to face Furman (7-16, 0-0 SoCon) Wednesday at Pepsi Softball Stadium and beat the Paladins 10-1. This marks the Cavaliers’ eighth-straight win.
Smith and Gott hit a pair of back-to-back doubles in the first inning to put Virginia on the board 1-0. Busby followed with another double in the third to start the inning. Smith stayed hot at the plate with a home run to drive in Busby, racking up two more RBI. Osherow continued the rally with a home run of her own to center field, scoring two to make it a 5-0 game.
Furman scored their only run in the bottom of the third. Furman senior infielder Sarah Windham doubled to right field and scored on a triple in the next at-bat by sophomore infielder Cammy Pereira.
The Cavaliers scored another two in the fourth. Freshman outfielder Tori Gilbert came up with her fifth hit of the season with a single to the left side. A couple of fly-outs and a single to left-center by Smith combined to score two for the inning.
In the final inning of the game, Virginia reached double digits with two more hits, a single by Friedman and double by junior infielder Ashlee Davis.
Freshman pitcher Aly Rayle pitched four innings, allowing one run on four hits and earning the win for Virginia in a five-inning run rule.
The Cavaliers play next against Georgia Tech Friday afternoon at Mewborn Field in Atlanta.
Standing Out
Smith was named ACC Player of the Week Tuesday. In last weekend’s series against Pitt, she went 5-for-9 at the plate with four RBIs and a home run. Smith went 3-for-3 against Furman, and the game marked her 12th-straight game with at least one hit. Her home run puts her at nine for the season, just four shy of Virginia’s all-time record.
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