UVA Softball Swept by Louisville in Final Home Series

The Cardinals swept the Cavaliers in their final home ACC series of the regular season

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

After taking a game off of No. 4 Florida State on the roa last weekend, the Virginia softball team cam back home with some momentum, but the Cavaliers were unable to get past the Louisville Cardinals and suffered a series sweep.

Game 1 (Friday): Louisville 5, Virginia 3

A five-run inningin the top of the fourth was all the offense the Cardinals needed to take game one.

Katie Goldberg hit a two-run home run to left center field in the bottom of the first inning to give Virginia a 2-0 lead and Molly Grube held Louisville scoreless for the first three innings, giving up four hits with two of them being infield hits. However, she ran into trouble in the fourth inning when she gave up a leadoff homer, a single, and a walk.

Eden Bigham came in with the Cavaliers up 2-1 and got two outs while also loading the bases. Just when Virgnia was close to escaping the jam, Louisville’s Korbe Otis hit a grand slam, giving her team a 5-2 lead.

Louisville pitcher Alyssa Zabala retired 11 straight Cavaliers spanning from the fourth to the seventh inning, not allowing Virginia to piece together a rally. Abby Weaver caught a pitch for a solo home run with two outs in the seventh inning to make it 5-3, but then the next Virginia batter couldn’t continue the late rally. Molly Grube ended up with the loss for Virginia as she was charged with three runs. The Cavaliers mustered just three hits all game, and relied heavily on the longball. 

Game 2 (Saturday): Louisville 6, Virginia 4

The Cavaliers rallied late in game two with a three-run sixth inning to tie the game, but then couldn’t stop the Cardinals from scoring two runs in the seventh to retake the lead and steal game two. 

Louisville got off to a fast start against Eden Bigham with two solo homers in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. The Cardinals added another run in the third inning courtesy of a triple, and the Cavaliers couldn’t execute with runners in scoring position in the early innings.

Savanah Henley pitched admirably in the middle of the contest for Virginia, with four innings where she gave up just one earned run. Then, it was time for the UVA bats to wake up. Tori Gilbert crushed a solo homer to get the Cavaliers on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Louisville answered in the top of the sixth with an RBI single to make it 4-1, giving Virginia six outs to work with to stage a comeback.

In the bottom of the sixth, Leah Boggs had a two-out two-run double and then Jade Hylton traded places with a double of her own, helping the Cavaliers tie the game. Both players celebrated when they reached second base, having executed in crunch time. However, Louisville wasted no time taking the lead back, putting together an infield single and a two run homer to go up 6-4. Virginia was unable to answer in the team’s last at bat, so Louisville clinched the series win.

Jenny Bressler ended up as the losing pitcher for Virginia after the seventh inning home run. The Cavaliers scattered six hits in the game, with Leah Boggs leading the way with her double, two RBI, and a run.

Game 3 (Sunday) - Louisville 9, Virginia 2

Senior Day did not go the way that the Virginia Cavaliers hoped, as Louisville piled on the runs early to build an insurmountable lead, using 14 hits along the way.

After a leadoff homer and a two-run single, the Cavaliers found themselves trailing 3-0 before even coming to the plate. However, the Hoos managed to score two runs in the bottom of the first on a single from Katie Goldberg. Originally, Abby Weaver was called out at the plate representing the second run and then Katie Goldberg was called out advancing to second base on the throw, which would have been an inning-ending double play. The umps went to the replay monitors and ended up overturning both calls, making the score 3-2, but that was all the scoring the Cavaliers would get.

Louisville pieced together five singles in the second inning to score four runs, chasing Courtney Layne from the game after she had already come in to relieve Molly Grube in the first inning. Then, Louisville scored two runs credited to Mackenzie Wooten in the third inning, going up 9-2.

While the first three Cavalier pitchers couldn’t contain the Cardinal offense, Savanah Henley had Louisville’s number once again, pitching 4.1 innings without giving up a run. Unfortunately, the Virginia offense had just two singles and a walk for the final five innings of the game. Molly Grube took the loss on the day, giving up two runs without registering an out.

Virginia falls to 29-18 on the season and 8-13 in the ACC. The Hoos will have their final ACC series of the year on the road against Syracuse next weekend. 

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