After a seven-and-a-half-hour bus ride, the Cavaliers arrived at the Orange’s Skytop Stadium for a Saturday double-header and Sunday closer. In their 24 hours of softball, Virginia (27-3, 6-2 ACC) clinched another ACC series, winning the first game 7-1 and the second game 9-4 before the final game against Syracuse (11-12, 0-5 ACC) was canceled due to inclement weather.
After a series of walks, the first inning of game one presented an exciting opportunity for the Cavaliers — bases loaded and one out. However, Virginia was not able to execute an exciting first inning. All that came from the bind was a productive groundout from senior outfielder Kelsey Hackett to score senior infielder Jade Hylton.
The bottom of the first seemed to be what was the start a slow game, senior pitcher Eden Bigham throwing 23 pitches, but the top of the second changed the pace when freshman catcher Hannah Weismer hit her seventh home run of the season. Initially Weismer was not a starter this season, but with her ability to string together quality at-bats, she has been able to solidify her position in the lineup.
After Bigham had a much more efficient inning of work in the bottom of the second, the Cavaliers were back on offense. On a 2-0 count, junior infielder Bella Cabral smacked a line drive into left-center field that just continued to rise all the way over the fence. The bomb was Cabral’s 10th of the season, and not only brought the score to 3-0, but also moved her up to third place in the ACC home-run competition. However, the inning was brought to a quick end when Syracuse sophomore infielder Erika Zamora had a diving line-drive stop at third base, shifting momentum.
Zamora then came up in the bottom of the third to score the Orange’s first and only run, a home run that fell right over the center field wall. Syracuse was not in the game for long though since Virginia came out in the top of the fourth, having four consecutive singles to get back the run Bigham had just given up. Junior infielder Macee Eaton’s deep outfield single scored another two, her 44th RBI of the season, and Cabral’s single blew the game wide open to make it 7-1.
The remaining three innings flew by quickly, the Cavaliers threatening a few times but not being able to knock anyone in. The Orange tried to get something going at the plate, but Virginia held them down. By the game’s finish, Bigham only had one hit and 108 pitches, while Syracuse senior pitcher Madison Knight had 13 hits and 148 pitches, limiting her chances to be brought in for game two.
After a 30-minute break, both teams took the field again, the Cavaliers finding themselves in a similar first inning situation like game one — this time, they capitalized. A wild pitch scored the first run of the game, followed by two walks to instantly put Virginia up 3-0. Syracuse then changed their pitcher to senior pitcher Jackie Pengel. Despite Pengel getting the first out of the game, she immediately loaded the bases again, bringing freshman Reagan Hickey to the plate.
On a 2-1 count, Hickey barreled one over the stadium wall, her first grand slam of her collegiate career and the first hit by a Cavalier this season. A huge smile was painted across her face as she ran around the bases, Coach Joanna Hardin giving her a proud high five.
“Offensively, we took advantage of some mistakes on the Syracuse side,” Coach Hardin said. “[We] got the big fly from Reagan in the second game that was a key hit with runners in scoring position.”
After the Orange’s defense worked to get the other two outs, freshman pitcher Taylor Smith got the start, having a quick 1-2-3 inning to retire the side. Back to work just 11 minutes later, the Cavalier’s offense tacked on another two runs, making it 9-0.
Although at this point it looked like Virginia was going to mercy-rule Syracuse, the Orange’s defense was able to hunker down and stall the Cavalier’s offense. In the bottom of the third, Knight homered to left-center field to get their first run on the board, and in the bottom of the fourth, freshman infielder Kendall Gaunt hit a deep-shot three-run homerun to left-field, shrinking the gap to 9-4.
Despite the Syracuse offense starting to heat up, senior pitcher Courtney Layne was able to prevent any more damage, trusting her infield to find outs when needed. However, things did get scary in the bottom seventh when the Orange had runners on first and third with one out. Even with their threat, Layne grinded out the last three outs, finalizing the score at 9-4.
Virginia hoped to sweep the series on Sunday afternoon, but due to a wintery mix passing through upstate New York, the final matchup was canceled.
Even though the Cavaliers were not able to finish out the series against Syracuse the way they would have preferred, this weekend can still be considered highly successful. Picking up two more wins is extremely important in a conference such as the ACC, and especially important for national rankings.
Virginia returns to action Wednesday at 8 p.m. against Liberty for a midweek showdown.
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