Despite dropping an extra-innings thriller Thursday, No. 25 Virginia bounced back Friday and Saturday in back-to-back ACC victories. The Cavaliers (33-14, 13-8) won the final pair of games in the home series against the Cardinals (23-20, 6-12), and both were not close — they won 8-2 Friday and 6-0 Saturday. Solid performances by seniors permeated the final two games, but it was junior infielder Jade Hylton’s record-tying home run that defined the series.
The second game began similarly to the first. The Cavaliers started off strong on offense with an RBI single for sophomore infielder Bella Cabral, bringing Hylton home to open up scoring in the first. A sacrifice fly from sophomore infielder Macee Eaton, tied for third in the conference for RBIs, doubled the lead from one run to two, with senior outfielder Kelly Ayer reaching home plate.
Beyond the first inning, the game looked very different than Thursday. Unlike in game one, the Cavaliers never trailed Friday and they never stopped scoring runs. The Cardinals got two runs in the third but would not score for the rest of the game. In the bottom of the fourth, Virginia broke the tie and added five runs to their lead in a monster inning which saw at-bats from the entire lineup.
It began with a Macee Eaton double — then, Eaton reached home from second on an error. After senior catcher Sydney Hartgrove reached base on a single, junior designated player M.C. Eaton smashed the ball over the fence for another two runs.
A single from senior outfielder Kailyn Jones and a walk from Hylton set the table for Ayer — she came through, serving up an RBI triple to give the Cavaliers a 7-2 lead.
Besides another run for Virginia in the sixth off an RBI single from Hylton, there was not much offense to be had after the explosion in the fourth. The offense was clearly the story of the game, but it is important to emphasize how the Cavaliers were able to preserve the lead by mitigating mistakes on defense.
After losing the first game of the series, Coach Joanna Hardin emphasized the need to eliminate walks and defensive mistakes. Virginia pitchers walked six Louisville batters in the first game and only four in the second, but the defense committed the same amount of errors — two — in both games. While play Friday was not mistake-free, Virginia showed marginal improvement and, when they did make mistakes, an ability to overcome.
In the top of the third, Louisville scored one of their two runs off of a play where Hylton gave a high toss to Cabral — the error, which was credited to Cabral, allowed Louisville freshman catcher Madison Pickens to reach home. Hylton was not phased by the slip-up, though, scooping the ball up and beaming it to third for a force-out which ended the inning.
When asked about this play and how the team handled mistakes in general, Hardin preached poise.
“Mistakes happen, and we are pursuing happiness, not perfection,” Hardin said. “When we continue to remain poised defensively, poised in the circle and offensively, we’re recovering from failure faster.”
The 8-2 victory Friday set the table for Virginia to clinch the series with a win in the third and final game Saturday, which was also Senior Day for the team.
Jones, senior infielder Sarah Coon, Hartgrove, senior infielder Reece Holbrook and Ayer each received ceremonial first pitches from family members before the game and were honored after their second-to-last time playing at Palmer Park.
The Cavaliers cruised to a win as junior right-handed pitcher Eden Bigham shut out the Cardinals for all seven innings and the bats racked up six runs. One of those six was one of the most important of the season — a solo home run off of the scoreboard in the first inning by Hylton, whose quest for the program single-season home run record has followed the team throughout the entire season after she came one short of tying it in 2024.
It was a no-doubter the moment she made contact in the first Cavalier at-bat of the game, a towering shot for Hylton’s 15th home run of the season of 2025, tying the all-time record set by two-way player Lacy Smith in her senior season in 2019.
Hylton has five games left to pass Smith during the regular season. She has already made Virginia history once this season by setting the program record for career home runs last weekend in the Syracuse series and there is little doubt that she could do it again.
The other four runs of the game for Virginia came in the sixth. In the first at-bat of the inning, Cabral slashed a ball over the left-field fence for her eighth homer of the season. After that, it was the seniors’ time to shine. Holbrook continued her career year with an RBI single to drive in another run. She has 24 hits and 12 RBIs this season, more than the other three seasons of her career combined.
After junior outfielder Kelsey Hackett walked to load the bases, Jones singled to bring Holbrook and freshman utility player Madison Greene home, extending the lead to five runs. Hylton was walked to load the bases once again, bringing Hackett to third — she crossed home plate soon after, as Ayer hit a sacrifice fly for the Cavaliers’ sixth run of the day.
In a postgame interview, Holbrook spoke about how she balances the emotions of being a senior and finishing the job in the postseason. “Just don’t really think of it … I’ll deal with the emotions later.” All together, the Class of 2025 was directly responsible for four of Virginia’s runs, and a senior was also responsible for the final out of the day — Coon caught a pop-up to end the game in a 6-0 victory and clinch the series for the Cavaliers.
Virginia will now look to carry their momentum into their road matchup with James Madison Tuesday before they head across the country for a showdown with Stanford, ranked 14th in RPI, for their final ACC series of the season.
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