Hokies Clinch ACC Title Behind Lemley’s Shutout and Hot Bats

The #2 ranked Virginia Tech softball team (38-6, 20-2) is the 2022 ACC regular season champion.

Behind a 3-hit shutout from Freshman Emma Lemley and a 10-hit, 9 run offensive explosion, the Hokies run-ruled Boston College 9-0 in six innings Saturday afternoon. The win gives the Hokies 27 wins in their last 30 games and their second regular season ACC crown in the past 3 years.

“Winning the regular season means more to me than winning the conference tournament and it always has,” Coach Pete D’Amour told Techsideline after the game. “You’re looking at a body of work that’s roughly 23/24 games instead of three games. We’ll still give our best effort in the tournament, of course and we’ll do our best to win that one too.”

Lemley was in total lockdown mode on Saturday, limiting the Eagles to just 3 hits while striking out 7. Her performance followed a similar outing by her teammate and mentor Keely Rochard in Friday night’s game (a 3-0 VT win).

“Emma has thrown well all year,” said D’Amour. “Her ‘bad’ outings have for the most part been at home. The rhythm, routine, structure, and preparation on the road is completely different than at home. It takes time to adjust to it. Emma figured it out against Louisville. She’s been lights out on the road all year.”

The Hokies offense exploded on Saturday with 10 base hits, six of which went for extra bases.

The Hokies struck early, scoring two runs in the first inning, the first on a BC error and the second on a Mackenzie Lawter double. VT added two more runs in the third – one on a Cameron Fagan solo home run and the other on a Meredith Slaw sacrifice fly.

Virginia Tech moved the game into the run-rule category in the sixth inning, scoring 5 runs with two outs for the final margin.

Pinch hitters Ally Repko and Alexa Milius both drew walks before Addy Greene, another pinch hitter, drove both of them in with a double to right center. After a Fagan walk, Emma Ritter blasted her 6th homer of the season to score Green and Fagan to make it 9-0.

Saturday’s offensive performance was a stark contrast to Friday night’s affair when the Hokies stranded 12 runners on base. D’Amour, however said the Hokies approach at the plate stayed the same.

“The difference today in regards to not leaving runners on is pretty simple,” said the VT skipper. “We had key hits in big situations. It’s unrealistic to think our offense or any offense is going to cash in with runners in scoring position 100% of the time, especially as the season progresses and the pitching gets better..Today we were able to get a few more key hits. Nothing else really changed.”

The series concludes Sunday at 11:00 with a game that will be shown on the ACC Network. But Virginia Tech fans need not worry about their team getting complacent.

“I don’t worry about our team staying focused,” said D’Amour. “We like to win, it’s more fun when you win, and we have two more games we have an opportunity to compete in. We won’t be out chasing butterflies in the outfield tomorrow, if the scoreboard is on, we’ll compete.”