Despite inclement weather conditions which caused cancellations and postponements, the Virginia softball team finally finished its two final home games against No. 22 Georgia Tech this past weekend at The Park - although the two-game sweep suffered by the Cavaliers hardly helped brighten the team's soggy spirits.
Play for Friday's game was suspended with heavily favored Georgia Tech (39-8, 13-1 ACC) leading Virginia by a single run after two rain-soaked innings, providing an opportunity for both teams to start fresh during the Saturday doubleheader.
"I don't think any team had any momentum [Friday], the weather conditions were so bad," coach Eileen Schmidt said. "I thought it was just kind of a free pass for both teams to get something started [Saturday]."
One team certainly got something started Saturday - though it was not the Cavaliers (21-25, 4-12 ACC). Georgia Tech came out strong during the first game and posted six runs against sophomore pitcher Melanie Mitchell in the top of the third inning to set the tone for the rest of the game, an 8-0 shutout in favor of the Yellow Jackets.
"From their offensive standpoint, I thought their game plans were good because it felt like they were keying in on a certain pitch and they did a good job of attacking that," Schmidt said.
Meanwhile, Virginia's bats lacked the same rhythm throughout the day. The Cavaliers failed to score a single run against Georgia Tech until the bottom of the sixth inning in the second game.
Sophomore outfielder Taylor Williams walked and then reached second on a fielder's choice groundout by junior outfielder Giannina Cipolloni. Junior third baseman Rachel Harvey then smacked a solid line drive that just grazed over the left fielder's glove and scored Williams. Georgia Tech still held a commanding 6-1 lead, however, and the Yellow Jackets all but put Virginia away after freshman catcher Alysha Rudnik crunched a two-run home run - her third of the game and sixth of the year - to stretch the lead to nine runs.
Virginia managed to tack on a consolation run in the bottom of the seventh. Junior shortstop Kennedy Byxbee singled up the middle and freshman second baseman Marcy Bowdren followed with a two-out single through the pitcher's legs to put runners on first and second. Williams then blooped a single to center to score Byxbee, and Cipolloni walked to load the bases, but senior catcher Alison Pittman popped out to right to conclude a 9-2 Yellow Jacket win.
"Our offense was just not as productive as we have been in the past or as we needed to be," Bayxbee said. "Georgia Tech's No. 1 in the ACC and they proved that this weekend. They were just the better team than us [today]."
Being the last home games for the Cavaliers this season, the squad's seniors - Pittman, first baseman Lauren McCaskey, and outfielder Cynthia Javaras - were honored after the second game.
"We really respect our leaders," Byxbee said. "Pit, Javi, and Lowe are all three great players, but they're also really good people off the field as well. Today was really special just to honor them because we owe a lot of our team [to them]."
Virginia concludes its regular season schedule with seven straight road games, starting with a doubleheader at Radford Wednesday night.
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