Softball: Hoos eliminated with 6-5 loss to North Florida in Columbia Regional

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

It was a full-circle moment for No. 25 Virginia on Saturday as the Cavaliers ended their season where it began in NCAA Regional action. The Cavaliers defeated Elon by a score of 12-0 in game one of the day before falling to North Florida, 6-5, in an elimination game.

It was Virginia’s second straight NCAA Regional appearance and third in program history.

VIRGINIA 12, ELON 0
The Hoos opened the game with a leadoff home run from Jade Hylton as the junior shortstop sent the second offering she saw over the fence in left center.

Virginia broke things open in the fifth inning, pushing five runs home to take the lead to 6-0. With runners at the corners and one out, Kassidy Hudson singled through the left side to bring the first run home. A walk of Hylton loaded the bases for Kelly Ayer, who singled to right to bring home a run and keep the bases loaded. Bella Cabral’s sac fly to right in the next at bat made it a four-run lead. Macee Eaton’s double to left center pushed two more runs home and capped the rally.

Macee Eaton added two more in the seventh inning with a two-run shot to left field to start a six-run rally. Three batters later, freshman Madison Greene singled through the left side to bring two more runs home and leave runners at second and third. A wild pitch scored Kelsey Hackett and moved Greene to third. A sac fly from Ayer three batters later put Virginia up 12-0.

Eden Bigham (18-9) picked up the win, scattering three hits across 5.0 innings with one walk and three strikeouts.

Taylor Cherry (6-5) took the loss for Elon (33-21), allowing the one run on one hit with a strikeout in 1.1 innings of work.

BOX SCORE

NORTH FLORIDA 6, VIRGINIA 5
The Cavaliers (38-19) struck first in the second game of the day, this time on a Bella Cabral single to left that brought Jade Hylton home from second.

North Florida responded with a single run in the home half, but Virginia again answered with a three-run home run from Hylton in the second inning.

Cabral extended the lead in the sixth inning with a solo shot off the pitch clock in left center to make it 5-1 for the Hoos.

North Florida (47-14) mounted a rally in the sixth, using three straight singles to start the inning and push a run home before the Hoos went to the bullpen. Bigham came to the circle with two on immediately got a sac fly to right as the Ospreys cut the lead to 5-3. A wild pitch brought the runner at third home as North Florida cut the lead to 5-4.

A solo home run to open the bottom of the seventh tied the game before a two-out single up the middle walked things off for North Florida five batters later.

Eden Bigham (18-10) took the loss, allowing two runs on two hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 1.2 innings of relief work.

Taylor Cook (3-1) picked up the win in relief, allowing one hit with one walk in 1.0 innings of work.

BOX SCORE

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Jade Hylton’s leadoff home run against Elon put her atop the Virginia single-season list for runs scored (61).
• Hylton homered twice on the day to push her season total to 19 home runs and career total to 43.
• Macee Eaton pushed her season RBI total to 63 with her four-RBI performance against Elon.
• Bella Cabral hit her 10th home run of the season with her solo shot in the sixth inning.
• It was the 18th one-run game of the season for the Cavaliers.

FROM HEAD COACH JOANNA HARDIN

“Tip your cap to North Florida; they came out and got the job done. This is tough. You come into this situation and you don’t know when you’re season will end and that’s the beauty of being in the postseason. We’re not ready for it. No one is ready for it. I’m proud of the team. They came out really intent and competitive. I asked them to spill their guts on the field and they did that and that’s all you can ask. This hurts and they’re hurting.  I’m really proud of our senior class. They’ve done a great job of elevating our program. I’m really proud. I’m really gut-wrenched. You can have the highest of highs and lowest of lows in this game, but we’re really appreciative of the opportunities we had to compete this season.”