Virginia Cavaliers softball — Photo courtesy of Olivia Taylor/Virginia Athletics Communications

Virginia Softball Comes Up Just Short of Series Win at Virginia Tech in Heartbreaking 5-4 Loss in Extra Innings

Katie Goldberg homered in the top of the eighth, but the Hokies responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to win the series in walk-off fashion

Author:
Matt Newton
Updated:
Apr 17, 2022 2:31 AM EDT
Original:
Apr 16, 2022

For just a brief moment, it seemed the Cavaliers were destined to shock the Hokies for the second day in a row and clinch Virginia's first series victory against Virginia Tech since 2011. The game went to extra innings tied up at 3-3 and then Katie Goldberg delivered a clutch home run in the top of the eighth to give UVA a 4-3 lead.

Needing just three outs to win the series, the Hoos were unable to close the deal as Meredith Slaw delivered her fourth RBI of the game on her second homer of the day to tie the game. Then, an error and a walk put a runner in scoring position and Mackenzie Lawter hit a walk-off single as No. 2 Virginia Tech escaped with a 5-4 victory over Virginia to clinch the series on Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg.

After dropping Game 1 on Thursday, the Cavaliers stunned Virginia Tech in a 5-3 upset on Friday to snap a 14-game losing streak to the Hokies and pick up their first win in Blacksburg since 2012.

In the rubber match on Saturday, the Hoos came out of the gates hungry for another win over their archrivals. Virginia struck first in the top of the second inning as a Virginia Tech error allowed Reece Holbrook to get on base to start a two-out rally. Arizona Ritchie followed that up with bunt single and then Holbrooke scored on an RBI single from Bailey Winscott.

In the following inning, the Cavaliers strengthened their lead off the bat of freshman Sarah Coon, who blasted a two-run home run off of Hokie starter Keely Rochard to make it 3-0.

Junior Morgan Murphy started in the circle for UVA and gave the Cavaliers three scoreless innings to start the game, but then gave up a solo home run to left center from Meredith Slaw to get the Hokies on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Murphy was pulled for Molly Grube, who finished the inning. Grube stayed in the circle in the fifth, but gave up a two-run single, again to Meredith Slaw to tie the game at three runs apiece.

Neither team managed much offense in the sixth and seventh and the deciding game 3 of this series went to extra innings.

Katie Goldberg led off the inning for the Cavaliers, working the at-bat against Rochard to a favorable 2-0 count before hammering a ball over the left field wall for a home run to give Virginia a 4-3 lead.

Rochard got the next two batters out, but the Cavaliers were still eager to get some insurance, as Lauren VanAssche singled and Arizona Ritchie hit a double down the left field line to put runners on second and third with two outs. Crucially, Rochard was able to get Winscott to ground out to end the inning and keep the UVA lead at just one run.

That ended up proving pivotal as the Hokies managed to tie the game on just the second pitch of their at-bat as Meredith Slaw, the hero of the game for Virginia Tech, hit her second home run and fourth RBI of the game to quickly bring the Hokies even at 4-4.

Alexa Milius reached on an error and represented the winning run on first base with no outs. UVA lifted Grube from the game in favor of Madison Harris, who proceeded to walk Morgan Overaitis on four pitches to move Maddy Federico, who pinch ran for Milius, into scoring position at second base.

Harris got Jayme Bailey to strike out looking for the first out of the inning, but then Mackenzie Lawter came up to bat and poked a 2-2 pitch up the middle and the speedy Federico came around to score the game-winning run.

It was a heartbreaking finish for the Cavaliers, who came so close to pulling another upset over the second-ranked team in the nation.

Virginia falls to 23-21 overall and 9-9 in ACC play. Up next, UVA returns to Charlottesville for a three-game ACC series next weekend against Pittsburgh at Palmer Park.

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