UVA Softball: Season comes to an end with 5-1 loss to Tennessee in regionals

The stellar Virginia stellar senior class that got the program into three NCAA Tournaments – Eden Bigham, Jade Hylton, Kassidy Hudson, Kelsey Hackett, Courtney Layne – is, sadly, done.

The season came to an end, for the second time in three years, in a regional final in Knoxville, with a loss to a nationally seeded Tennessee team.

The 5-1 loss on Sunday will sting, because the group that got Virginia back into the national conversation wasn’t able to make more history by advancing past a regional round.

“You know this day is going to come at some point, but you try to delay it as long as possible,” head coach Joanna Hardin said. “It’s been a gift to coach this team and to coach (these seniors) for four years. The sadness is just overwhelming gratitude for the opportunities this game has given us.”

The 2026 UVA team started 31-3, battled through several injuries to get to 40 wins, beat a 43-win Indiana team twice in Knoxville.

You could see the difference between Virginia and Tennessee on the field – the UT kids look the part.

Senior pitcher Karlyn Pickens, all 6’1” of her, is a two-time SEC Pitcher of the Year, and sits at 76 mph, and approaches 80.

Pickens held Virginia to two hits, striking out nine and walking four.

She’s one of the two six-footers on the UT roster, and one of the seven on the roster taller than Virginia starting point guard Chance Mallory.

The undersized Virginia roster is not without pluck, though.

The ‘Hoos battled the Vols to the end in a 7-5 loss on Saturday, and Sunday’s game was tight into the middle innings.

Up 2-1 in the top of the fifth, Emma Clarke kept the inning alive, beating a throw to first base on what could have been an inning-ending double play, ahead of an RBI single from Makenzie Butt that extended the lead to 3-1.

Taelyn Holley, with one out in the sixth, added to the lead with towering homer to left off starting pitcher Taylor Smith, and the Vols got more insurance with a two-out RBI double from Alannah Leach that made it 5-1.

Virginia, after leaving the bases loaded in the fourth, was able to get just one runner on base in the final three innings against Pickens.