The Virginia softball team continued to hit the ball, but couldn’t get runs home as the Cavs (2-2) dropped a pair of contests on day two of the Kajikawa Classic hosted by Arizona State on Friday (Feb. 12).
Virginia fell to Northwestern in the first game of the day by a score of 22-4 before falling to East Carolina 9-1.
The Cavaliers notched 17 hits on the day, including a pair of home runs, but couldn’t hold down the offenses for the two opponents in the back-to-back games.
Virginia will return to action on Saturday (Feb. 13), closing out the Kajikawa Classic at 11:30 a.m. ET against San Jose State.
Game 1: Northwestern 22, Virginia 4 (5 Innings)
Big middle innings by the Wildcats proved to be the difference in the first game of the day as the Cavaliers fell 22-4 in five innings to Northwestern.
Erika Osherow (Darien, Conn.) took the loss, her first of the season, to move to 2-1 on the year. She allowed 10 runs – nine earned – on 13 hits in 4.0 innings of work.
Kristen Wood (1-0) picked up the win for the Wildcats, allowing two runs – one earned – on five hits through 4.0 innings of work.
Virginia got off to a quick start against the Wildcats, with Aimee Chapdelaine (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) taking a 2-2 pitch deep over the fence in left center to put the Cavaliers on the board. Iyana Hughes (Manteca, Calif.) made it a 2-0 lead for the Cavaliers a few batters later. Hughes reached on a single to right center before stealing second. A throwing error on the play allowed her to take third before a Katie Park single brought her home.
Northwestern got a run back in the top of the second, taking advantage of a pair of singles and a fielding error to push a run home before the Cavaliers would get out of the inning with a 2-1 lead.
The Wildcats took the lead in the fourth inning, taking advantage of a miscommunication in right center that let a fly ball drop in and a fielding error to advance runners and set up scoring plays. Back-to-back hits brought the two runs home and gave Northwestern the 3-2 lead.
The Wildcats would go on to load the bases with one out, but a heads-up play on a ground ball to third got the lead runner at the plate to keep a run from scoring but kept the bases loaded. A single to left brought two more runs home as Northwestern took a 5-2 lead. A three-run home run would cap the scoring as the Wildcats moved in front 8-2 before Virginia would end the inning.
Northwestern broke things open in the fifth inning, pushing 14 runs home to take the lead out to 22-2 on the Cavaliers.
Hughes got a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth, her second home run of the season, but Virginia couldn’t put together a rally to extend the game as Northwestern won in five innings.
Game 2: East Carolina 9, Virginia 1 (6 Innings)
The Cavaliers gave up single runs in the first three innings before East Carolina would explode for five runs in the fourth in game two of the afternoon.
Allison Davis (Oak Hill, Va.) took the loss to fall to 0-1 on the season, allowing seven runs – five earned – on six hits with two strikeouts. It marked the first start of the season for Davis.
East Carolina got on the board first, pushing a single run home in the first inning after the leadoff hitter reached on a walk. She then took second on a sac bunt and a wild pitch moved her to third. An infield single brought her home before the Cavaliers would get out of the inning.
A solo homerun opened the second inning for the Pirates, as the lead moved out to 2-0 in favor of East Carolina.
A third run came home in the third inning when Virginia dove for a line drive in right field and missed on making the play, allowing the ball to bounce to the fence and the speedy East Carolina runner to round the bases for the 3-0 lead.
A second home run in the inning, this one a three-run shot took the lead out to 6-0. Following two more base runners reaching base, the Cavaliers made a pitching change to Lacy Smith (Lancaster, Pa.). East Carolina would then add one more run in the inning before Smith would get a strikeout to close the frame.
Virginia got on the board in the fourth inning, using an RBI single from Davis cut the lead to 7-1.
The Cavaliers would load the bases in the fifth inning and get two runners in scoring position in the sixth, but were unable to get runs across the plate to cut into the Pirate lead.
East Carolina then added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to close out the game.
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