No. 13 Virginia Tech staged a remarkable comeback Friday night in Charlottesville but eventually fell 6-5 in extra innings to Virginia in the second game of the Commonwealth Clash.
Leah Boggs scored the winning run for the Cavaliers in the eighth, dashing home on a misplayed throw to give UVa the win.
The final play dashed Tech hopes for a comeback for the ages. Trailing 5-1 entering their last at bat, the Hokies (30-9, 10-4 ACC) used three singles to load the bases before Jayme Bailey greeted UVa ace Eden Bigham with a towering blast to left field to tie the game. Prior to the seventh, the Cavaliers (26-12, 7-7 ACC) had limited the Hokies to four hits and stranded eight baserunners.
“It took us a while to get the bats going tonight,” Tech head coach Pete D’Amour said after the loss. “It took us too long to make adjustments to their first pitcher [Molly Grube]. We had four walks and had our chances, but we couldn’t find a big hit until the seventh.”
Lyndsey Grein got the start for the Hokies and pitched well enough to win with a couple of breaks. The first UVa run was scored on an infield blooper by Boggs that fell in front of Cameron Fagan and was as a base hit. A second run was driven in by a sacrifice fly. But Rachel Castine cut the UVA lead to 2-1 with an RBI single in the fourth.
The Cavaliers increased their lead to 5-1 in the fifth courtesy of a wild pitch and a fielding error. Molly Jacobson relieved Grein in the fifth and pitched 2⅔ scoreless innings before Boggs’ game-winner.
Kelsey Brown again paced Virginia Tech offensively, recording three hits in five chances. In her last four games, she is 11-for-15 with eight runs, raising her batting average to .459. Emma Ritter went 2-for-2 with two walks. However, the Hokies stranded nine baserunners.
“Once again, we never felt like we were out of the game, even in the seventh,” D’Amour said. “Lyndsey continues to improve and Molly kept us in it. We’ve got to figure out a way to pull a win out tomorrow.”
The final game of the series will take place Saturday with the winner gaining the point for the Commonwealth Clash. The game time has been changed to 2 p.m. ET and will be shown on ACC Network Extra.
Box Score: Virginia 6, No. 13 Virginia Tech 5 (eight innings)
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