There’s simply no sugarcoating it: Tuesday’s clash between No. 7 Tennessee (31-5) and No. 14 Virginia Tech (31-10) was complete and utter domination by the Volunteers. They came to Blacksburg and shut the Hokies out 11-0 in a run-rule victory.
The Hokies knew they had a tall task ahead of them, going up against one of the best programs in the nation.
“They’re probably one of the best, if not the best, team we’ve played so far,” coach Pete D’Amour said.
The Lady Vols boast a devastating combination of offensive firepower, punishing speed on the basepaths and lights-out pitching, and they used all three in their resounding victory.
Emma Lemley (19-4), who’s been Tech’s ace all season, didn’t look like it Tuesday evening. She struggled to gain any control of the game once it had begun.
After walking Kiki Milloy, who bats .420 on the season and is a perfect 29-for-29 on stolen bases, Milloy used that speed to steal second and induce a poor throw from Kylie Aldridge, allowing her to take third.
An embattled strikeout and hit-by-pitch left runners on the corners for Zaida Puni to smash her first of four knocks into the outfield. Milloy scored to put Tennessee up 1-0. A sac fly from Rylie West was hit well enough into the outfield to allow McKenna Gibson to tag up and double the lead.
With two outs, Lemley had an opportunity to escape, but instead extended the inning with a four-pitch walk to Mackenzie Donihoo. This allowed Giulia Koutsoyanopulos to hit a bases-clearing double to the center field wall.
Down 4-0, Lemley answered back with a strikeout, but not before she had tossed 44 pitches in the first inning.
All the Hokies mustered in response was a Cameron Fagan infield single on the second at-bat of the game off of Ashley Rogers (12-1). It was their only hit of the afternoon.
It didn’t get much better for Lemley. An early single from Amanda Ahlin and another struck batter put two base runners on with no outs in the second. Though Lemley conjured up a strikeout, she was undone by a three-run shot by Gibson, putting the Lady Vols up 7-0 and ending her day.
With just 1⅓ innings pitched, she gave up seven earned runs on four hits, throwing 58 pitches, in an extremely uncharacteristic outing.
Lyndsey Grein entered in relief and pitched admirably to the top-10 opponent. She loaded up the bases with a single and a pair of walks, but induced a groundout from Katie Taylor to strand them all.
The next nine batters failed to reach base, but Tennessee broke that streak in the top of the fourth with a single and double to lead off the frame.
Grein’s composure was tested, and she began her fight back by fielding a return grounder to get the first out. A brilliant bunt by Donihoo loaded the bases, but Grein recorded another out with Koutsoyanopulos hitting a sacrifice chopper to Fagan for the putout at first.
Although one run got across, Grein still had two runners to protect against, but she could not do so. Taylor doubled into center to wipe the bases clean again and push the lead to 10.
The lone bright spot offensively for Virginia Tech was Bre Peck drawing a walk with one out in the fourth, its first base runner since the first inning. However, the Hokies still couldn’t get anything going with the bats.
Molly Jacobson entered for VT to close the game out and got through with relative ease, surrendering just one unearned run after Fagan bobbled a grounder from Milloy.
Up 11-0, Karlyn Pickens was called upon to finish the job for the visitors, which she did without issue, working through three Hokie pinch hitters quickly and concluding the run-rule win.
Tech faced an uphill battle all game, and seeing Rogers, who had an ERA of 0.77 entering Tuesday’s contest, didn’t help.
“She’s a good pitcher,” D’Amour told reporters afterwards. “To come into this game and think you’re getting eight runs off her anyway is a tall task, so when you get down four, the wind was out of our sails early.”
Despite a performance where it was difficult to find an upside, D’Amour still saw it as an opportunity to motivate his team to greater heights.
“The biggest positive for us is that we’ve got good teams coming in here and it’s just a reminder for us that we gotta keep getting better,” D’Amour stated. “Florida State’s no joke. Clemson’s no joke. Notre Dame’s not. So, we can’t just lull ourselves to sleep and just come out here and try to play.”
“This is a mid-week game, it’s non-conference. We just gotta get ready for Notre Dame because they’re gonna be ready for us.”
The Hokies have an opportunity to bounce back this weekend at South Bend, where the Fighting Irish (24-11-1, 7-7-1 ACC) have been toeing the .500 line all season.
Box Score: No. 7 Tennessee 11, No. 14 Virginia Tech 0
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Looks like this team was and is over rated. Could say the same for the baseball team. Pitching is just above average and bats are inconsistent. Bracing myself for a middle of the pack finish in the acc and no post season. Being ranked at the beginning of the year seems to be a sure way of ensuring Va Tech teams crash and burn. The exception would be field and track; maybe wrestling as well.
This years version doesn’t seem to be close to last years team…..too bad.
You know you’ve arrived when you can build on the previous season….we’re close but not quite there yet.
Wishing them the best though!
Thanks Chip.
Annnnnd Chip didn’t write it. Thanks Ishan.
And he did a fine job covering a rough night at the office.
Yeah, Ishan’s headline is kinda demoralizing to read — “Tennessee Trounces Virginia Tech Softball In Run-Rule Domination”
But it certainly is a true statement. Oh well, on to the next game.
I make the headlines, by the way 😉