No. 15 Virginia Tech Softball Punches Back In 9-7 Marshall Win

After taking its licks in the second inning, No. 15 Virginia Tech softball roared back to defeat Marshall, 9-7.

“It was an ugly win, but that’s what it takes,” Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour told Tech Sideline after the game. “We got out of there with wins and will move on to this weekend.”

Although she only walked one batter, Hokies starter Emma Mazzarone struggled with command. Of her 47 pitches, only 25 were strikes. She faced 10 batters in the second, surrendering five singles, a walk and a hit batter. 

Entering the second frame, Tech led 4-0 on two singles and a fielder’s choice. After the next half inning, the Thundering Herd (21-24) built a 5-4 lead.

But then the Hokies (37-9-1) punched back. Right fielder Cori McMillan homered to left field in the bottom of the second to build a 6-5 lead. An inning later, designated player Trinity Martin and left fielder Addy Greene followed with homers of their own. From there, they had an insurmountable 8-5 lead.

“We never make games easy,” McMillan said. “We always have to do something to make it interesting. I knew our pitchers would have our backs if we had theirs, so I just did the best I could to back them up.”

B2 | HAAAAMMER TIIIIIME🔨

Cori McMillan rockets a two-run home run, putting the Hokies back in the lead💪 pic.twitter.com/lLp22rwVT8

— Virginia Tech Softball (@HokiesSoftball) April 24, 2024

McMillan went 4-for-4 with two homers — the aforementioned one, plus one in the fifth — and four RBI.

“I was looking for the first pitches at anything close,” she said. “They were just putting it where I liked it.”

After not homering in the first six games of the season, McMillan has 18 this season, including three in the past two days. The Radford transfer ranks second on the team in home runs behind first baseman Michelle Chatfield (19).

D’Amour attributed McMillan’s success to her bat speed.

“Elite bat speed gives you the chance to hit balls,” he said. “When you have bat speed like she does, she just touches it and it’s gone.”

Martin’s homer in the third was her third home run in three games. She singled and reached on an error on Wednesday, too.

B3 | BYE BYE BABY🤯

Solo home run from Trinity Martin💪 pic.twitter.com/STbLkdHDps

— Virginia Tech Softball (@HokiesSoftball) April 24, 2024

Grein relieved Mazzarone in the third inning and surrendered just one earned run in the last five frames. The sophomore allowed three hits and struck out five in her seventh relief appearance of the season.

“We kind of knew if Maz needed help, someone was going in,” Grein said. “That was kind of the objective that we had. Relief, in general, is a free adrenaline rush; your name gets called out of a hat, and then you’re up.”

Tech batted in its 372nd run of the season on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record (368 RBI in 2019) in just 47 games.

Bub Feringa and Savannah Rice saw time in the circle for the Thundering Herd. Feringa picked up the loss in 2 ⅔ frames, allowing eight runs — five earned — and six hits. Rice’s time in the circle was smoother; she gave up one run and three hits.

With two midweek wins, the Hokies have now won 11 consecutive games entering their final ACC series of the season against Syracuse. Wednesday’s win was ugly, as D’Amour said, but they left Tech Softball Park with another tally in the win column.

“We never worry about getting down,” McMillan said. “That’s one of the things I love most about this team is whenever we’re down, we’re not worried about it. We just look at it as not that big of an obstacle. I’m really proud of our team for coming back and we didn’t allow that to break us down.”

Virginia Tech will travel to upstate New York for its first of three games against the Orange on Friday at 3 p.m. ET.

Box Score: No. 15 Virginia Tech 9, Marshall 7