In a game featuring multiple plays at the plate, Kelsey Brown and McKenzie Lawter saved the biggest one for last and preserved #3 Virginia Tech’s 4-3 win Friday night over Louisville.

Brown fielded a base hit by the Cardinals’ Korbe Otis and threw a rocket to Lawter, who applied the tag to get Jenna Servi at the plate for the final out of the game.

“Kelsey made a great throw, so she made it easy on me,” Lawter told the Roanoke Times’ Mark Berman after the game.

The final play was the third play at the plate of the game and the first one that ended in a favorable outcome for the Hokies.

In the second inning, Darby Trull was called out at home with the Hokies leading 1-0. Many observers (and some camera phone footage) appeared to show Trull beat the tag, but an official video review did not provide sufficient evidence to overturn the call on the field.

In the fifth inning, Jayme Bailey was called out at home on a squeeze play although the VT coaches argued that the Louisville catcher was blocking the plate before receiving the throw which would qualify as obstruction.

Offensively, the Hokies pounded out 9 hits on the night. Meredith Slaw continued her hitting rampage, driving in two runs, and Darby Trull registered two hits during the contest. Ally Repko drove in what proved to be the winning run with a pinch hit double in the sixth inning.

Although the Hokies struck out only once, Hokies Coach Pete D’Amour noted opportunities for improvement.

“We had some good at bats tonight and some not so good at bats,” he told Techsideline after the game. “Roby is a good pitcher - we just need to be a little more selective tomorrow.”

In the circle, Keely Rochard started and went the distance to record her 19th win of the season. Although she gave up 8 hits and 3 runs, she struck out 12, and threw 77 strikes in her 106 pitches.

“Keely threw lights out and then got into a little lull at times,” said D’Amour. “We need to do a little better at working ahead in the count as the weekend progresses.”

The series continues with a Saturday game at 2:00pm. The game is scheduled to be shown on ACCNX.

Hokies Twitter caught the final play of the game in the link below






[Post edited by VTChip at 04/23/2022 12:25AM]