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30 CAVALIER CORNER cavalier profile ALY RAYLE Second-Year • Softball After starting the 2019 season 13-9, Virginia softball suffered a midseason swoon, going 4-21 and finding them- selves on the outside looking in at a chance to play in the ACC Tournament. But the team rebounded and closed the season with five straight wins, including a three-game sweep of NC State, to earn a berth in the conference tournament. Leading the way was first-year pitcher Aly Rayle. "The NC State series was a highlight, especially coming at the end of our sea- son," Rayle recalled. "We were struggling and took a little downturn, so we came together and made the decision to fight for the end of our season and fight to make the ACC Tournament." Rayle appeared in all three games, starting and winning the first two and coming in relief in the third to earn the win. She tossed 16 1 ⁄3 innings, allowing just six runs on nine hits, while fanning 22 Wolfpack hitters. The righty from Herndon, Va., went 10-13 overall while accounting for 45 per- cent of the Hoos' victories last season. She tied for 15th in the ACC in wins and 16th with five complete games. Despite a solid rookie campaign, Rayle enters 2020 laser-focused on making a major leap from her 2019 performance. A key area is throwing her pitches in dif- ferent sequences and trying to keep op- posing hitters off-balance. "I'm working on rise-ball execution and trying to take batters by surprise; throw- ing pitches they're not expecting from me," she said. That's a scary prospect for opposing hit- ters. Batters hit just .285 against her last season, good enough for seventh in the ACC, and she posted a 78-30 strikeout-to- walk ratio. Her 78 strikeouts ranked 19th in the conference. Rayle said the need to consistently take different approaches to pitching colle- giate hitters was the biggest adjustment for her from high school and travel ball. "In high school and travel you could beat batters in the same place, but at this level you have to adjust," Rayle ex- plained. "Getting different effective ve- locities, different eye-levels, inside-out- side movement, you have to adjust more. You can't beat them with your best pitch every time." — Greg Waters Photo courtesy UVA