A Commonwealth Clash always carries high stakes, but this weekend’s softball matchup at Palmer Park in Charlottesville between No. 12 Virginia Tech and No. 21 Virginia will have even more.
Just three of the all-time matchups between the in-state rivals have taken place when both teams are ranked — all of which came in 2025. That number will double this weekend.
The schedule for this weekend’s games follows:
- Friday, April 10: 6 p.m. ET, ACC Network Extra
- Saturday, April 11: 2 p.m. ET, ACC Network Extra
- Sunday, April 12: 4 p.m. ET, ACC Network
Tech sits at No. 12 in the ESPN/USA Softball rankings, and No. 11 in D1Softball, Softball America and NFCA. Virginia is No. 21 in ESPN/USA Softball, No. 19 in D1Softball, No. 21 in Softball America and No. 17 in NFCA. Through Wednesday’s games, VT is 18th in the RPI, while UVa is 26th.
The Cavaliers (32-6, 9-5 ACC) just suffered a sweep against No. 16 Duke, while the Hokies (34-5, 9-3 ACC) are coming off a home series win against Clemson. Before the most recent weekend, though, Virginia had won four consecutive series.
The two teams play every year, either as a conference series or — if the ACC doesn’t schedule the matchup — as a set of non-conference midweek games. Last season, they met at Tech Softball Park; the Hokies won the first two games (8-4, 6-1) but lost the finale (9-2).
They last met in Charlottesville in 2023, when they split two eight-inning games and Tech decisively won the rubber match.
All time, the Hokies are 56-25 against the Cavaliers, including 39-15 as conference opponents. Tech has a 25-10 all-time record at Palmer Park.
Virginia holds a 1-4 record against teams in the RPI’s top-25, where the Hokies sit. The Cavaliers are 7-2 against teams ranked 26th through 50th, and a perfect 24-0 against teams worse than that. Virginia Tech is 5-3 against top-25 schools, 5-0 against those ranked 25-50 and 24-2 against worse teams.
In the circle, the Cavaliers have found most of their innings from two arms: seniors Courtney Layne and Eden Bigham. Layne, who overlapped with Tech pitcher Bree Carrico at Appomattox County High School, has a 10-3 record and 1.96 earned run average across 82 innings.
In 2024 against Hofstra, Bigham tossed Virginia’s first perfect game in over 30 years. This season, she has a 11-1 record and 3.10 ERA in 72 ⅓ frames.
Plus, Virginia has five hitters with over 90 at-bats and batting averages over .300: Macee Eaton (.464), Bella Cabral (.411), Jade Hylton (.383), Kelsey Hackett (.357) and Jaiden Griffith (.311). Eaton and Cabral are tied for a team-high 10 home runs.
Eaton’s batting average is good for seventh in the ACC. She trails Hokies third baseman Jordan Lynch, who is sixth at .469.
The Hokies will counter in the circle with redshirt freshman Bree Carrico (whose 1.39 ERA leads the ACC) and Emma Mazzarone (who sits seventh with a 2.49 clip).
Joanna Hardin is in her 10th season as Virginia’s head coach and has led her team to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.