This weekend, Virginia softball headed down to Clearwater, Fla. for their next early season stop — the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational. The Cavaliers’ (5-5, 0-0 ACC) first matchup came Thursday afternoon against No. 23 Kentucky, where they pulled off a big upset, setting the expectations for the weekend. Virginia saw several worthy opponents at the Invitational, going 2-3, giving other big names such as No. 5 Texas A&M and Auburn a run for their money.
“That was a great start. We knew Kentucky would be tough,” Coach Joanna Hardin said postgame. “I was proud of our effort and focus. There was a lot of potential interference when you come to a big event like this, but we stayed the course and played inning by inning and out by out.”
The Wildcats (6-4, 0-0 SEC) struck first, scoring one run in the top of the first inning — their only one all game. Virginia answered in the top of the second inning, with senior utility player Sarah Coon hitting her first career triple and scoring later in the inning. As if one triple on the day was not cool enough, later on in the fourth inning, Coon hit her second triple, scoring on a wild pitch two batters later to give the Cavaliers the 2-1 lead.
Senior outfielder Kailyn Jones kept up the pressure, opening up the fifth inning with a double. Junior infielder Jade Hylton extended the lead with a sacrifice bunt down the third base line, and Jones scored thanks to an errant throw. On a groundout to second, Hylton scored the final run of the game for the Cavaliers en route to a 4-1 Virginia victory. Overall, the bullpen limited Kentucky to just two hits on the day, stopping the dominant offense that the Wildcats are known for.
The Cavaliers hoped to carry this momentum into their Friday morning game against Auburn. Sophomore infielder Bella Cabral did just this, pulling a home run to get the Cavaliers on the board in the top of the first inning. However, the Tigers (10-0, 0-0 SEC) responded immediately with a two-out rally, squeezing one run out of it.
The story of the game was the battle of the bats, with Virginia striking and Auburn constantly answering. Tied at 6-6, the game went to extra innings, where Hylton’s groundout to shortstop drove home sophomore outfielder Kamyria Woody-Giggetts. Bigham returned to the bump for the Cavaliers in the bottom half of the inning and was unable to hold the lead, as she allowed two runs to give Auburn the win. The winning run scored on a bases-loaded walk.
“I saw a ton of fight,” Hardin said of her Cavaliers. “If we continue to play at that caliber and with that intensity, I’m looking forward to these next three games and the rest of our season.”
That caliber and intensity of play undoubtedly spilled over into the first game of Virginia’s double-header Saturday against No. 5 Texas A&M. Virginia got off to a quick start against the Aggies (11-1, 0-0 SEC), with sophomore infielder Macee Eaton, senior outfielder Kelly Ayer and Hylton all contributing to the Cavaliers’ first run. Cabral’s sacrifice fly in the third inning drove in the second run of the game, giving Virginia a 2-0 lead.
Texas A&M worked its way back, forcing Virginia into an extra-innings situation once again. The Aggies scored go-ahead and insurance runs in the top of the eighth, leaving it up to the Cavaliers to erase a 4-2 deficit.
Despite a rally in the bottom of the eighth beginning with a two-out, one-run double from Cabral — falling just short of a game-tying home run — Virginia was unable to score the tying run, finishing the game with a heartbreaking strikeout. Fifth-year pitcher Savannah Henley took the loss for the Cavaliers despite recording a career-high nine strikeouts.
Perhaps the adverse effects of such a deflating loss continued into the Cavaliers’ second game of the day against San Diego State Aztecs (7-2, 0-0 MWC), where Virginia seemed to not be able to get anything going until the fifth inning. It was error after error for the Cavaliers, who allowed four runs in the top of the fourth inning. Virginia was able to get two runs on the board, but it was never a competitive game as the Cavaliers fell 6-2 to the Aztecs.
Sunday was the final day of the tournament for Virginia, and the final match was a daunting contest against a national powerhouse — No. 4 UCLA. The game started out very promising with Layne allowing three consecutive walks to the Bruins (10-1, 0-0 Big Ten) but subsequently navigating out of the bases-loaded jam.
The Cavalier offense then got the ball rolling with back-to-back singles with Eaton tripling to give Virginia the 2-0 lead. The Cavaliers went on to score three more runs in the bottom of the second thanks to another triple, this time by Hylton.
However, the tide turned in the top of the third when the Bruins got their footing and scored four, forcing Henley to enter in relief of Layne. UCLA then took the lead in the fourth inning, scoring two runs on several base hits to make the score 6-5. It was a heavyweight battle over the next few innings as Henley kept the Bruins off the scoreboard.
Entering the bottom of the seventh, with one last chance to mount a comeback, Virginia recorded an all-time program highlight. With one out, Coon walked on four straight pitches, allowing Hardin to substitute her for the speed of Woody-Giggetts. Up to the plate came junior utility player Mary Caroline Eaton, who was 0-3 on the day — until the Bruins threw her a rise ball down the middle.
On a 0-2 count, Eaton slammed a no-doubt homer over the fence to walk it off for the Cavaliers — their first walk-off since April 2023. Virginia picked up a critical win and some much-needed excitement to end the Invitational.
Although the 2-3 record for the weekend may look disappointing, it does not tell the full story. Virginia upset two NCAA Top-25 teams, including No. 4 UCLA, and went into extra innings with No. 5 Texas A&M and Auburn, both solid SEC programs.
Overall, the takeaway from this Invitational is that the Cavaliers are definitely in the driver’s seat, but they need to stop taking their foot off the gas if they want to make a playoff run this season and continue beating top-tier teams.
The Cavaliers will host the Mizuno Classic at Palmer Park this weekend beginning Thursday at 4 p.m. against Delaware. They will look to carry some momentum from a thrilling finish in Clearwater into their first home series of the season.
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