Virginia set to face Louisville, Pitt in ACC pod action

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Update: Virginia’s softball game against Louisville that was originally scheduled for Thursday at NC State as part of this weekend’s ACC pod play has been canceled due to expected inclement weather in the area.

ACC pod play is set to resume on Friday (Feb. 19) when the Cavaliers (1-1) are scheduled to play Pittsburgh (0-2) in a 6 p.m. game at Duke. The game will be streamed on ACCNX and links to the stream and live stats are available at VirginiaSports.com.

Schedule

Friday – at Duke

• 6 p.m. vs. Pittsburgh

Saturday – at Duke

• 11 a.m. vs. Pittsburgh
• 1:30 p.m. vs. Louisville

Sunday – at NC State

• 11 a.m. vs. Louisville
• 1:30 p.m. vs. Pittsburgh

Follow

All the games will be streamed on ACCNX which is available through the ESPN app to viewers who subscribe to the ACC Network through their television providers. Links to all streams and live stats for all games are available at VirginiaSports.com. Fans can also get updates by following the program’s official Twitter account (@UVASoftball).

How we got here

Virginia opened the season on the road at the Red & Black Showcase last weekend with games against No. 14 Georgia, which hosted the event, and South Alabama. The Cavaliers took the early lead against the nationally-ranked Bulldogs, but a late rally by the home team pushed Georgia to a 5-2 victory in the opener. Virginia used a rally of its own in the nightcap, capitalizing on a Kate Covington (McLean, Va.) grand slam in the sixth inning as part of a six-run rally to take a 9-4 victory over South Alabama. Sunday’s games were rained out.

In the opening weekend, the trio of Covington, Donna Friedman (Orange, Calif.) and Katie Goldberg (Atlanta, Ga.) providing pop to the lineup. Covington and Goldberg both hit .500 for the weekend with Covington tallying 4 RBI with her grand slam and a double, while Goldberg added a two-run shot and scored twice. Friedman hit a home run in her first at bat, sending the first pitch she saw over the left field fence and hit for a .429 clip on the weekend. She and Covington also both scored twice on the weekend. The trio accounted for eight of the team’s nine RBI.

Virginia vs. Louisville

Virginia and Louisville have played 17 times with the Cardinals holding a 13-4 lead in the all-time series. The squads have not met since the 2018 season when Louisville claimed the three-game series with wins in the first two games of the series. The teams have met five times at a neutral field with Louisville holding a 3-2 edge in those meetings.

Virginia vs. Pittsburgh

Virginia and Pittsburgh have met 19 times in the history of the two programs with the Cavaliers holding a 10-9 lead in the all-time series. The squads last met in the 2019 season when Virginia swept the three-game series in Charlottesville. The teams are tied 2-2 in games played at neutral sites. It will be the first time for the teams to meet at a neutral site since the teams played three-games in Florence, S.C., in the 2015 season.

Inside Louisville, Pitt

The Cardinals and Panthers both enter the weekend with 0-2 marks on the season. Louisville went on the road and dropped a doubleheader at No. 8 Alabama on the opening weekend, while Pittsburgh dropped contests with Liberty and New Mexico State in a tournament played in Leesburg, Fla.

Louisville returns 14 letter winners from a year ago, including sisters Cassady and Camryn Greenwood who hit .386 and .373 last season, respectively. In the opening weekend, the Cardinals were led by a pair of transfers with Utah transfer Makayla Hurt hitting at a .667 clip and Southern Indiana graduate transfer Jennifer Leonhardt worked six innings and allowed three unearned runs against the Crimson Tide in her 6.0 innings of work.

Pittsburgh returns senior Hunter Levesque to the lineup who ended the 2020 season on an 11-game hit streak and hit at a .321 clip a year ago. Also back for the Panthers is junior Katlyn Pavlick who led the squad with 11 RBI a year ago. Pavlick led the Panthers in the opening weekend, hitting at a .500 clip with a run scored and an RBI.