Highlight Hoos 2021-2022: Leah Boggs | UVA Softball

Boggs was a spark plug for the Cavaliers behind the plate this spring

Courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

With the 2021-2022 Virginia athletics season officially completed, we enter the college sports offseason optimistic for things to come for the Cavaliers next season. But with the fall seasons still a couple of months away, we have time to take a look back at some of the incredible athletic accomplishments achieved by UVA student athletes during the 2021-2022 sports year in a series called Highlight Hoos.

So far, we've covered Diana Ordóñez (Virginia women's soccer), Mia Barnett (Virginia cross country and track & field), Leo Afonso (Virginia men's soccer), Brooklyn Borum (Virginia volleyball), Amber Ezechiels (Virginia field hockey), Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass (Virginia swimming), Dontayvion Wicks (Virginia football), Jay Aiello (Virginia wrestling), Jayden Gardner (Virginia men's basketball), Rachel Clark (Virginia women's lacrosse), and Matt Moore (Virginia men's lacrosse). 

Today, we recap the strong sophomore campaign of Leah Boggs, who was a spark plug for the Virginia softball team, which won 28 games last season, the most wins in a single season for the Cavaliers since 2010. 

Boggs’s stellar sophomore season helped pace the Cavaliers both from behind the plate as the team’s main catcher and at the top of the batting lineup, where she became the team’s leadoff hitter towards the end of the season.

In 53 starts, Leah Boggs played 40 at catcher, 12 in the outfield, and one as the designated player. Known as a fiery player with a lot of passion, she frequently celebrated the strikeouts of the Cavalier pitchers as the ball hit her mitt.

Boggs was a member of the NFCA All-Region First Team as the catcher on the Mid-Atlantic team, joining players from Virginia Tech and Notre Dame along with a few other schools to round out the team.

Behind the plate, Boggs threw out 16 runners out of 45 total attempts, good for a 36% caught stealing percentage. Boggs’ 16 runners caught stealing was tied for eighth-most in the country this season.

On offense, Boggs hit .289 with a .326 on base percentage and a .472 slugging percentage. She had 24 RBI, 23 runs, and four home runs, and was 9-12 in stolen bases.

While she was a threat on offense for the entire season, Boggs really turned it on at the end of the season when she moved to the top of the lineup. Boggs reached base in 15 consecutive games to end the season and frequently came up with a clutch hit, including a two-run double in the ACC quarterfinals against Florida State and a two-run single against Central Arkansas in the NISC, with both of those hits coming in the seventh inning.

As the Cavalier softball team looks to build on its successful campaign in 2022, the team will look to Leah Boggs as a catalyst to make that happen next spring. 

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