After a mercy-rule win and some light evening showers, Virginia returned to Palmer Park to play under bright blue skies in game two against Pitt. In a similar fashion, the Cavaliers (30-3, 8-2 ACC) nearly mercied the Panthers (17-15, 4-7 ACC), but fell just a couple of runs short with a final score of 8-1.
Pitt stepped up to the plate first, hoping to put a fresh foot forward after Friday afternoon’s matchup — a lead-off walk from senior infielder Tieley Vaughn seemed to be just that. Freshman pitcher Taylor Smith then settled in for Virginia, striking out the next batter.
On a 3-2 count, Smith whizzed one past the Panther’s three-hitter, going down looking. On the base path, Vaughn was a sitting duck waiting to be caught stealing by freshman catcher Hannah Weismer. In one seamless motion, Weismer gunned her down, an electric double-out to retire the side and bring the crowd to their feet.
“[We knew] for Pitt, one of their strengths is that they're No. 4 in the country in stolen bases … so we’ve definitely practiced throwing around the bases a little bit this week,” Coach Joanna Hardin said. “So we knew that was going to happen. I think Hannah was ready for it — she was primed and ready.”
Now the Cavaliers’ turn to get their bats going, senior infielder Jade Hylton opened the bottom of the first the same way Pitt did — a lead-off walk. Senior outfielder Kassidy Hudson followed in her footsteps, taking the four straight balls to put runners on first and second. With no outs, junior infielder Macee Eaton hit a hard ground ball up the middle that Vaughn was able to stop on a backhand but still managed to score Hylton.
After an out and another walk, the bases were loaded for redshirt freshman infielder Reagan Hickey who instead of hitting a grand slam, allowed a wild pitch to fly past her, scoring Hudson. Now 2-0, freshman infielder Hannah Tober had her chance to bring in some runs — although anticlimactic, a walk had the same effect as a hit.
The 3-0 lead gave Virginia a good omen going into the top of the second, Smith shutting down the Panther’s offense with three straight outs. As the fans waited for Hylton to step in the box to start the bottom of the second, the crowd turned their attention to the outfield where they were able to witness the first annual “U.Va. Sack Race” between two young fans, Lacy and Kate.
The sack race ended up being more interesting than the bottom of the second or the entirety of the third inning, both teams getting nothing done. However, Pitt changed this in the top of the fourth when senior infielder KK Esparza sent one to deep left field, falling right beneath the scoreboard as it changed to 3-1.
Despite threatening, Smith was able to hold them off, completing her day with four solid innings of work with seven strikeouts and only one hit. Although the Cavaliers did not respond in the bottom of the fourth, they did in fact in the bottom of the fifth.
“The future is really bright,” Coach Hardin said. “The more experience Taylor gets, the more confidence she is going to build. We’ve got a lot in our back pocket, which is really exciting for us.”
Hudson opened up the inning with her second walk of the day, making way for three-hitter Eaton. After four fouls, Eaton knocked a line drive down the right-field foul-line, bouncing into the corner of the park. Hudson made her way home as Eaton trucked behind her, sliding into third for her first triple of the season.
“I try to be [fast] but I am very slow,” Eaton said, laughing. “I just told myself I was going to push it and try to get myself in the best position for Kelsey.”
Senior outfielder Kelsey Hackett hacked one into right center, keeping the momentum going and easily scoring Eaton. The lineup moved swiftly after that, each player contributing with walks and pocket hits. By the end of the fifth, the score was 6-1 and it was clear that Virginia was on its way to its 30th win of the season for the third year in a row.
Senior pitcher Courtney Layne made sure the Panthers were not able to get much else done on offense, allowing the Cavaliers to get up to bat one last time in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman outfielder Jaiden Griffith led off the inning with a walk, scoring shortly after from Hylton’s first hit of the day, a double to deep center-field.
Hylton then scored on a groundout by Eaton, bringing the score to 8-1. Although Virginia tried to keep up the momentum to mercy, the team just was not able to knock in a couple of more runs. Instead, Layne held it down for the top of the seventh inning, locking in the series against Pitt.
The win marks the Cavalier’s 30th win this season and their fourth ACC Series. However, the work is not done yet as Virginia hopes to have their first ACC series sweep in Sunday’s final matchup against the Panthers at 12 p.m.
“We know every game is really important, right — to say that it's not important would be untrue,” Coach Hardin said. “I think if we just continue with execution at a really high clip, it gives us a great chance to go out and sweep tomorrow.”
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