In one of the craziest ACC games in tournament history, No. 5 seed Virginia Tech defeated No 4 seed Louisville 10-8 on Thursday afternoon.
The game set ACC tournament records for combined runs (18) and hits (26) and kept the 513 attendees on the edge of their seats. The Hokies (37-17) now move on to the tournament semifinals to face regular season champion Florida State (48-8) on Friday morning at 11:00 am.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a post season with as many runs as the game today,” Tech head coach Pete D’Amour told Tech Sideline after the game.
Thursday’s game started calmly with Louisville taking an early 1-0 lead after two innings. Cardinals starter Alyssa Zabala, who had surrendered only 11 home runs in 116 regular season innings, was in control from the jump, striking out four of the first seven hitters she had faced.
As the Hokies came off the field in the bottom of the second, D’Amour gathered his troops around him and told them “to stop swinging under the rise balls, get on top and square her up.”
The Hokies just did that in their next at-bats. Kylie Aldridge ripped a double to the wall and Kelsey Brown reached on a throwing error before Cameron Fagan blasted a three-run shot over the left field fence. Addy Greene followed with a solo blast. In a blink, it was 4-1.
In the fourth inning, the Hokies continued to pour it on with Bre Peck and Kelsey Bennett hitting back-to-back solo bombs to extend the VT lead to 6-1.
“[Zabala] got me in my [first] at-bat [in the second],” Peck said after the game. “I had a good idea what I was going to get [in the fourth] and I was ready for it.”
The Cardinals responded with a two-run home run by Hannah File in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 6-3. But Peck got one run back with an RBI fielder’s choice in the fifth and Kelsey Brown drove in two more runs in the sixth with an RBI double to center give the Hokies a 9-3 cushion.
However, Louisville made it interesting in the bottom of the sixth inning. After starter Emma Lemley retired the first two Louisville hitters, pinch hitter Makayla Hurst hit her first home run of the season, a two-run shot to make it 9-5. After a walk to lead-off hitter Korbe Otis, D’Amour replaced Lemley with freshman Lyndsey Grein.
However, the Cardinals put together four consecutive singles to make it 9-8 and moved the tying run to third base. The next pitch bounced off of Aldridge’s glove behind the plate, and though Sarah Gordon attempted to score from third, she was called out when Aldridge quickly recovered and tossed the ball to Grein who was covering home.
The play was reviewed but there was not enough evidence to reverse the call and the inning ended with the Hokies leading 9-8.
Bennett added an insurance run with an RBI single in the seventh to extend the lead to 10-8 and Grein shut down the Cardinals in the bottom of the inning to preserve the win.
The game was the 16th instance this season that Virginia Tech recorded double-digit hits in a game. Every Hokie starter had at least one; Peck, Bennett and Aldridge had two each. Cameron Fagan led the team in RBIs with three. What’s more, the four home runs pushed the team’s season total to 96, one shy of the single-season record of 97 set in 2019.
Even more remarkable, a number of Hokies were not feeling well, including Fagan, Peck, Lemley and Brown.
“We do have quite a few players under the weather, D’Amour shared. “We have a tough group. Sickness isn’t going to keep anybody from playing this time of year.”
Lemley picked up the win today, her 20th of the season, despite giving up six earned runs in 5 ⅔ innings. She struck out six.
“I have confidence in our pitching,” D’Amour said. “Having a short memory, winning and doing better the next game is what postseason is about.”
The Hokies now turn their attention to Florida State, the regular season ACC champion and winners of seven of the last eight tournament championships. Three weeks ago, the Seminoles swept the Hokies in Blacksburg by scores of 4-1, 6-3 and 16-7 (five innings).
“We played FSU tough a few weeks ago,” D’Amour said, “and we’re playing better now than we were back then. We just need to go out and play hard and loose.”
Box Score: Virginia Tech 10, Louisville 8
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Can’t believe we were on the positive side of a review for any VT sport. That lady may have been safe at home but I’m not complaining.
ZERO errors…hmm. I’ll take that kinda play all day and twice on Sunday.
Awesome A. This isn’t last year where VT was guaranteed a win or two w/Keely on the mound (I know, I know you’re never “guaranteed” a win, ….but….) A 4-5 game is exactly that, an even match up and even playing hard and well won’t guarantee anything. I think it helped VT playing a team that hadn’t seen VT before (yeah, it works both ways but thinking clean look, nothing mental going on) Good win, break even for the tournament I think, but of course, I hope we take it to the Seminoles. Confidence in Grein grows which is needed when it may take two pitchers to win the game. Does she start against FSU? She had a good game against them a couple weeks ago. Had no idea VT led the nation in HRs, that’s pretty cool. Arthur getting some on screen time…
Almost forgot, VT plays much better in the grey and black unis! ;^)
Go get em tough Hokie ladies!