Abby Weaver Brings Balance For NCAA-Bound Virginia Softball

Sit with Abby Weaver for five minutes at Palmer Park and it's easy to see what she brings to that dugout for the Virginia softball team. Equal parts intense and energetic, Weaver carries the still infectious optimism of a rookie that she isn't with the confident determination of the veteran senior that she very much is.

Seriously positive, and at the same time, positively serious. It's a potent blend that helps set the tone for the Cavaliers, who have orchestrated one of the best seasons in their history while securing just the second NCAA Tournament bid ever for the program. The Hoos face Miami of Ohio on Friday at noon in the opening game of the double elimination Knoxville Regional.

"I think it's sustained her through some really tough years," Virginia coach Joanna Hardin said of Weaver's positive attitude. "I think especially with their first year and the challenge that that was and I think that's why she's still standing pretty strong. I think it's also what has kept us through some of the lows. So she's positive, but realistic too and I think that's what's really unique about Abby and really our senior class, they can see the good, they can see what's going well, but they also really want to win so they're extremely competitive. They were the first class that holistically ... were like we're here to win and we're here to change it. That's the positively serious side too. She's like here on a mission and to do a job. She strikes that balance pretty well. We're going to see the good and see what's going well, but we're also going to like go to win and if things aren't going well, I'm going to call it out and make sure we can make the adjustments to win."

During Weaver's four years in Charlottesville, that's certainly something that has changed. After a 15-33 season followed the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Hoos have rattled off three straight winning records. First 28-26. Then 30-22. And now 32-18. Before that, the last time the program put together back-to-back winning records came in 2009 and 2010, that latter year being the only other time UVA earned an NCAA Tournament bid.

The growth there did not come without growing pains. Last spring, Virginia appeared to be on the verge of the NCAA Tournament conversation too. The team had just knocked off then-No. 4 Florida State 6-5 in mid-April to reach 28-14 overall, matching the previous season's win total with weeks still to play. While the Hoos did sprinkle in two more non-conference wins against JMU and Longwood, they also proceeded to lose seven straight ACC games to close the conference season. They then lost a rough 8-2 game to Syracuse in the ACC Tournament too.

Those four losses to Cuse from April 28 to May 10 ultimately sealed the team's fate. No chance to dance.

It also set the outline for the calendar year that followed. Coach Hardin referenced changes to the program's approach, which came with changes to the assistant coaching roles too. Jeff Tylka came in to coach the hitters and Jamie Allred joined to guide the pitchers. More importantly, perhaps, the players returning for the Wahoos collectively decided they were tired of being close.

That included Weaver and that positively serious mindset.

"I think the amount of work was the same. I think the intentionality behind the work was a lot different," Weaver said. "We came into practice quite literally preparing for a Regional every single day instead of just trying to get better. We were preparing for our goal instead of let's be the best players we can be and because that was our goal, we were able to have those tough conversations really early in our season."

A tough conversation, in fact, may have been part of what kept this season from collapsing under that increased pressure again.

Virginia completed the first weekend of March with a 13-5 record on the year. Four of those losses at that stage of the season had come against then-top 25 ranked teams in South Carolina and Alabama, who both made the NCAA Tournament bracket. The Hoos also had just secured a win in their first ACC series of the season to reach 13-5 on the year. But an 8-2 victory Saturday against Boston College in Charlottesville was sandwiched by a 0-1 loss in game one and a 1-0 win in game three.

They met their objective - win the series - but something about how that weekend went didn't set well. They didn't let it sit there unaddressed, though. They shared their thoughts and came away with what Weaver described as "let's all flip the switch instead of I'm going to flip my switch" in that meeting.

"I think we all knew we hadn't shown who we are yet - I still believe we haven't shown everything that we are yet and haven't shown our full capacity of how good we are," Weaver said. "I think it was after our Boston College series, we all sat down in the meeting room and had a family talk and said let's get it out there. That was even though the result is what we wanted, we got the series, the way we played softball is not UVA softball and the way we should have done it. I think we've started right then and continued to have those conversations when there's been a lull in our performance."

Unlike 2023's swoon, UVA won all but one of the rest of its ACC series on the season. That included winning two games at then-No. 11 Clemson in late March to sort of provide proof of progress. Then what may have been the pivotal moment came in another road series a month player.

Virginia made the trip to then-No. 3 Duke, the eventual ACC Tournament Champions, around the same time as that FSU series from the year prior. A brutal 1-0 loss in a 12-inning marathon on Friday night tested the team's resolve. The Cavaliers responded with two one-run wins, 4-3 and 3-2, in a Saturday doubleheader to take the series. They knew that was a big series and they came away with a big result. And a big boost of confidence.

"We were just ourselves," Weaver said. "We didn't have to be anybody other than ourselves and I think that just gave us confidence."

UVA followed that up with a series win at Georgia Tech, which was enough to grab a spot in the NCAA Tournament field. That's a long ways from where Weaver and company started their journey as Hoos.

When Weaver attended camps at Virginia, they were held at the program's old home. The Park is located on the far side of the law school and fans didn't come out in droves. Weaver committed when the program still projected its future to be in that location and didn't know that Palmer Park, the palace by comparison, would be where her career would finish. Then her class worked through the pandemic, came into a post-pandemic reset for athletics, and had to figure out how to turn around a program that had enough hard times as it was.

Weaver's been in the center of the climb. She's increased her statistics year to year and has set career marks this season in multiple categories. In 46 games this year, she has set 31 hits, 21 RBIs, 19 runs scored, and 4 doubles as new personal bests. She's also tied her best season with 5 stolen bases. Defensively, she's put up a career best 52 putouts too. She has a .982 fielding percentage.

Obviously, she'd like to add a few numbers to the tally this weekend now that the dream of playing in the NCAA Tournament is a reality.

"I think we got to see the best and the worst, I guess," Weaver said. "My class has been through it all, COVID, we were at The Park, then we were moving here, and everything was so different and new, and new coaches sometimes, and it's all crazy. I think this class has really just persevered through everything. We've had our eye on this goal for four years and I'm really happy that we finally got to it, getting into a Regional. So it's really exciting."

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