Virginia Tech Softball Comes Alive at Tail End of Series Loss to Duke

With the game squared at five, Virginia Tech was on the verge of coming all the way back from a 5-0 deficit to take the lead. Addy Greene swung over a hip-high pitch with the bases loaded, bouncing it back to Duke’s Jala Wright (7-4) in the circle. The collective groaning from the crowd quickly turned to jubilation as Wright skied the ball over Gisele Tapia’s head, clearing the bases and giving the Hokies their first lead of the entire series.

It was a lead that the No. 12 Hokies never relinquished, defeating the No. 13 Blue Devils in the third game of a weekend series, 13-8, that ended in favor of Duke, 2-1.

While the bats came alive for the Hokies (27-8, 9-3 ACC) in the closing game, it was a weekend where they couldn’t get anything going offensively at all. They lost 7-1 on Saturday and 5-1 in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader.

After Cassidy Curd (8-0) gave up just one hit on Saturday, a solo homer, Duke (28-8, 10-5 ACC) started Wright in the second game of the series. She was just as phenomenal.

She allowed just one hit through the first five innings, nailing Tech repeatedly with blistering speed, inducing strikeouts and easy groundouts for her infielders. Meanwhile, her offense backed her up, repeatedly getting contact off Lyndsey Grein (6-3).

Grein pitched to contact and, although she allowed a couple hits, including an RBI double to Ana Gold in the third inning that put Duke up 1-0 first, she didn’t give her opponent much to work with.

However, the tight match was blown wide open in the top of the fifth when Molly Jacobson entered in relief, an idea that worked in theory.

“Duke had seen a steady diet of rise balls for 11 innings,” Tech head coach Pete D’Amour explained after the game. “Theoretically, if [Jacobson comes] in and pounds the knees, you get a bunch of drop balls and ground balls, but it just didn’t happen.”

Jacobson let up a double and single to begin her stay but was forced into a difficult position by freshman catcher Kylie Aldridge. D’Auna Jennings, who had singled, attempted to steal second. Aldridge flung a ball way off-target, completely away from second base, allowing a run to score and letting Jennings reach third.

Tapia sacrificed herself on a bunt to score Jennings, marking Jacobson’s only out. With the bases cleared and Tech down 3-0, Jacobson surrendered back-to-back homers to Gold and Aminah Vega to extend the lead to five.

Her short stay ended afterwards, with Grein returning to the middle to finish out the game. She did well to finish, forcing the final eight outs with a fielding error from Teagan Thrunk as the lone blemish.

Meanwhile, Tech struggled to find an answer for Wright. Meredith Slaw’s pinch-hit home run was the only score of the game for the home team. There was still a bright spot for the Hokies, though — Grein’s performance.

“She threw really well,” D’Amour said of Grein. “It was the best she’s thrown in a long time. That’s a good sign.”

Once the Blue Devils had clinched the series, they eyed a road sweep of a top-15 conference opponent, and they looked poised to do so early.

Jennings and Tapia singled early in their counts after an opening pitch groundout from Deja Davis. With runners on the corners, Gold grounded out, but it advanced the runners 60 feet, scoring Jennings and putting Tapia on second.

With one run already across, Vega delivered again with a double that batted in Tapia. Then Claire Davidson took advantage of an infield single in the direction of Rachel Castine, in place of Thrunk, to get on base and score Vega. It was an uncharacteristic start for Emma Lemley (17-3), who isn’t used to playing from behind right from the get-go.

As Duke reverted to its Saturday lineup with Curd dealing in the circle, she continued her success, blanking the Hokies through two.

Duke extended its lead to five with a two-run bomb from Gold in the top of the third. Having been outscored 17-2 over the weekend up until that point, it was possible that Lemley wouldn’t pitch the full game. However, those ideas were put to bed in a hurry through the bottom of the third.

Castine, who was chosen in place of Thrunk as part of D’Amour’s ongoing experimentation for the best lineup combination, put the Hokies on the board with a solo shot to left center, her first of the year.

Though Curd came back by striking out Aldridge and forcing Kelsey Brown into a groundout, a walk to Cameron Fagan and a single from Grace Chavez ended Curd’s stay in the circle. The Blue Devils turned to Lillie Walker, who pitched 2⅓ hitless innings on Saturday and entered the game with a 0.85 ERA.

Her stats were quickly ruined by Jayme Bailey, who clobbered the first pitch she saw to left center and brought the Hokies within one, 5-4. That margin was quickly erased by Emma Ritter, who hit a rocket to the same spot as Bailey, tying the game at five. Walker got out of the inning, but her day was over just as quickly as it started.

Lemley continued the momentum swing in favor of the Hokies with a pair of 1-2-3 innings before the game opened up in their favor. The bases-clearing throwing error from Wright, who entered in relief of Walker, gave Tech a 8-5 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

Duke rallied in the top of the sixth with a pair of doubles and a triple that brought back two of the three runs given up, but Lemley was able to strike out pinch hitter Kristiana Watson to strand the runner on third.

With an 8-7 lead, the Hokies looked to add some insurance runs, and they got off to a good start. Castine drew a lead-off walk that led to Walker getting hooked for the utility player Davidson. Davidson, who had spent the bulk of the afternoon in the outfield, was now tasked with preventing any further runs from the Hokies.

She recorded the first out from Aldridge off a sacrifice bunt that advanced Castine to second. Castine made way for pinch runner Jenna Pearson, setting up a potential scoring opportunity with Peck, who pinch hit for Brown.

Peck delivered, doubling to right center. However, disaster nearly struck as Pearson tripped over the third base bag when she headed towards home plate. Stranded between the bases, the throw was cut off by Vega. But she did not realize that Pearson had fallen and was continuing home, so she threw it late, overshooting Kelly Torres behind the plate.

That error allowed Peck to reach third in place of Brown, who reentered and reached home on the next at-bat off a single from Fagan. The Hokies led 10-7 but weren’t done yet.

Bailey singled and advanced from a wayward throw, putting her and Fagan in scoring position. It didn’t matter where they were though, as Ritter hit a no-doubter dead center to double the lead and blow the game open.

“I’ve been kind of struggling recently,” Ritter told reporters afterwards. “I’ve been trying to work the middle of the field a little bit, simplify it, see more pitches, but also be more aggressive in the box.”

Despite Vega’s moonshot in the top of the seventh to cut the score to 13-8, the lead was insurmountable for the Blue Devils.

While Tech lost the series, the dead-rubber victory was a consolation against a top-15 that it can take forward into its Tuesday doubleheader vs. Longwood at Tech Softball Park. 

Box Score:  No. 13 Duke 5, No. 12 Virginia Tech 1
Box Score:  No. 12 Virginia Tech 13, No. 13 Duke 8