No. 18 Virginia Tops Pitt, 4-1

Sunday, March 29

12 PM

Pitt

17-16, 4-8

Virginia

31-3, 9-2

Pittsburgh

Virginia

3/29/2026 2:10:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Pitt and No. 18 Virginia battled through a tightly contested pitcher's duel early on, but the Cavaliers came up with the 4-1 victory, Sunday afternoon at Palmer Park.

Kyra Pittman set the tone early, retiring Virginia in order in the first inning. She worked around a one-out walk in the second, recording back-to-back strikeouts to keep the game scoreless through two innings as both teams struggled to generate offense.

The game developed into a pitcher's duel, with each side managing just one baserunner through the first two and a half innings. Jaiden Griffith recorded the first hit of the game with a one-out single in the third.

Virginia broke through later in the inning, loading the bases with a single, an error and an intentional walk. Bella Cabral delivered a bases-clearing double to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead. Pittman limited further damage by striking out the next batter to end the inning.

Pitt responded in the fourth with leadoff from Tieley Vaughn and then she later scored on a sacrifice fly by KK Esparza to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Virginia turned to reliever Eden Bigham, who worked out of trouble in the fifth. Pitt put two runners on with a walk from Camryn Murphy and a single by Mackenzie Reese, but Bigham recorded consecutive strikeouts and induced a pop-up to end the threat.

The Cavaliers added an insurance run in the fifth after loading the bases, scoring on a ground ball to extend the lead to 4-1.

Pitt returns to Pittsburgh to face off against Penn State, Tuesday at 6 p.m.