Just around the halfway mark of the 2026 NCAA softball seasons, No. 18 Virginia has not broken its stride after a 21-1 start.
While the Cavaliers did not put together their best team outings, day three offered a bright spot — Virginia was one of just three teams with a top-ten finisher, as Bacardi cracked the top ten for the first time in her career.
The NCAA Championships began March 19 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland with 330 total wrestlers representing schools across the country. While Washleski was making his second appearance — his last coming in 2024 — Porter and Morgan were making their first career appearances.
The Cavaliers will look to carry Sunday's momentum forward as they push deeper into a demanding stretch of conference matchups.
This weekend, the Cavaliers continued their stellar start.
“Our other guys showed no urgency,” Garland said. “The ACC tournament is right around the corner. Our staff will do everything we can from now until then to help our guys improve.”
The new lineup struggled, resulting in a 16th-place finish out of 17 teams with no players cracking the top 40 on the leaderboard.
It was a stark contrast to last year's showing, where the team's lone highlight was a memorable hole-in-one. This time, Virginia dominated from wire to wire, shattering personal bests and rewriting the record books.
The question is not whether Virginia can win these games, but whether this young team has learned enough from their opening weekend to ensure they will.
Virginia's retooled pitching staff only took one loss and added plenty in the offseason.
