Virginia Tech Softball Dismantles NC State 10-0 in Five Innings

BLACKSBURG, VA—On both sides of the diamond, the Virginia Tech Hokies dispatched of the NC State Wolfpack in five innings, 10-0, in the Hokies return to Tech Softball Park.

Feels so good to be home 🤗#Hokies | @DeltaDentalofVA pic.twitter.com/d19niOaa8s
— Virginia Tech Softball (@HokiesSoftball) March 20, 2026

The Hokies (26-4, 2-2 ACC) returned to Tech Softball Park for the first time in 2026, as they took on their second conference contest of the season.

After the Hokies dropped their opening ACC series, Tech unleashed 10 runs on the Wolfpack (19-11, 1-3) in just four trips to the plate.

The natural momentum was there for the Hokies offense, as southpaw starter Emma Mazzarone tossed four hitless innings contrary to her offense eating at the plate.

“I was in the strike zone a lot more today,” said Mazzarone. “First shutout, so that was good too.”

Mazzarone’s strikeout rate has surged in her junior campaign, as the North Carolina native punched out eight different Wolfpack bats, all of which were swinging besides the final strikeout that ended the contest in the top of the fifth against NC State catcher Ellington Whitaker.

“Depending on the batter, I’m just going to straight drop or straight rise for most of them,” Mazzarone exclaimed on what her approach was against the Wolfpack.

The strikeout against Whitaker ended a slight jam for Mazzarone, after only allowing a single base runner through the first four frames. Two hits from infielders Hannah Church and Morgen Talley, and a two-out walk drawn from senior Teagan Thrunk loaded the bases for the Wolfpack, but Mazzarone worked through Whitaker in just four pitches to end the contest.

All while Mazzarone was working, her offense was putting up stellar numbers. It started slow in the bottom of the first, with a leadoff double from Addison Foster, and then a two-out RBI double from Zoe Yaeger that sliced high into right field that saw the two juniors trade places on the diamond.

NC State’s starter Rylee Wyman faced her last batter in the bottom of the second, after the Hokies loaded the bases for sophomore third baseman Jordan Lynch, who delivered a bases-clearing two-out double that bounced off the warning track on the fly.

Lynch is one of seven Tech batters to eclipse 20 RBIs on the season, as her five-RBI outing moved her 27 on the season, which is third on the squad, only trailing Yaeger (36) and fellow sophomore Nora Abromavage (34).

“I thought we came up in big moments, with runners in scoring position,” Lynch said.

All five of Lynch’s RBI’s came with two outs against the Wolfpack, as she smacked her third triple of the season to end the five-run third inning down the right field line to score both Foster and fifth year senior Rachel Castine, who were both standing in scoring position.

“I knew they were going to throw a lot of strikes,” Lynch said. “So I went up there just thinking ‘get a strike that I can drive’ and that’s what I did.”

Three base knocks in a row kicked off the bottom of the third frame running, with designated player Kylie Aldridge smacking the third hit of the sequence, a two-RBI single that she returned to sender up the middle of the diamond.

“We were on time the whole game,” Hokies head coach Pete D’Amour said. “Get a strike and hit it hard, if it goes up the middle I don’t care, if it goes pull, I don’t care, if it goes oppo, I don’t care, as long as you’re trying to hit the ball hard.”

The final run for the Hokies came off their only home run of the contest, which was an absolute moonshot off Aldridge’s bat for just her second slam of the season, into the trees that stand past the padded wall in right field.

Tech dropped back-to-back games against the Blue Devils last weekend, in its Friday and Saturday slates. Since, the Hokies have gotten back to their winning ways, picking up four straight victories with three of such being five inning run rule victories.

Tech can now win its first conference series of the season in game two against NC State, on Saturday, March 21, at 2 p.m. ET. Coverage will be available on the ACC Network and the ESPN app.