Virginia Tech Yields ACC Series to Georgia Tech in Hard-Fought 9-7 Sunday Loss

The Hokies dropped their second conference series of the season.

Annika Rohs stands before the pitch at short. | Virginia Tech Hokies.

BLACKSBURG, Va. — For the second time this season, Virginia Tech softball dropped an ACC series.

The Hokies (38-8, 12-6 ACC) fought through all seven innings, attempting to muster a comeback in each frame. Yet, it never came.

"First inning was tough to come back from — we got three spot," said Virginia Tech head coach Pete D'Amour after the game. "Credit to Georgia Tech... we fought back at the end."

The Yellow Jackets (29-23, 10-11) forced a rubber match yesterday with a 6-2 victory where both sides of the plate put in work against the Hokies. That momentum carried over early into Sunday's affair.

Final: Yellow Jackets 9, Hokies 7#Hokies pic.twitter.com/8R8DiPYq65

— Virginia Tech Softball (@HokiesSoftball) April 19, 2026

Virginia Tech starting pitcher Emma Mazzarone, who threw six innings and allowed two runs against Georgia Tech on Friday, succumbed to a two-out rally in the first. Third baseman Gracyn Tucker opened by poking a single up the middle, and first baseman Addison Leschber followed suit with a four-pitch walk.

Yellow Jackets catcher Reese Hunter worked herself into a 3-0 count before watching the first strike find the zone. On the 3-1 count, she lofted Mazzarone's delivery over the right field fence.

The Hokies responded with two solo blasts of their own in the second and third, from Michelle Chatfield (eight HRs) and Jordan Lynch (15 HRs).

Lynch's shot in the third only made it a 4-2 contest. Georgia Tech sophomore Alyssa Willer had homered at the top of the frame, launching her second homer in as many games against Virginia Tech. Lynch's homer came off relief pitcher Kenley Hilleary; starter Sydnie Watts exited after the Chatfield blast.

Hilleary allowed the homer to Lynch and an RBI-triple to leadoff batter Addison Foster, which fell under the mitt of Holly Medina in center as she overran the softball. That play brought in Rohs from first, who had just drawn her second of a four-walk afternoon.

"That was amazing, she saw a lot of pitches," Foster said. "She got it flipped right around to the top of the lineup."

For Foster, it was her first RBI in five games. She had previously garnered a five-game streak of tabbing an RBI.

After Foster's triple, Watts reentered the circle as Lynch had already homered off Hilleary. In one pitch, Watts snuck out of the two-out jam with Foster being stranded on third. Virginia Tech struggled both Sunday (1-for-7) and on Saturday (0-for-5) with runners in scoring position.

Redshirt freshman Bree Carrico, who allowed three runs in her three-inning start on Saturday, relieved Mazzarone in the third after a leadoff walk. A subsequent two-out infield single brought Paige Vukadinovich in for Georgia Tech's fifth run of the afternoon.

The Yellow Jackets jumped right on Carrico, with their first four plate appearances all reaching base, including an error by Lynch at third on Carrico's first opponent. After the error, back-to-back RBI base knocks from Medina and Tucker skirted the Yellow Jackets' lead to seven.

She worked into the fifth, before once again allowing back-to-back RBI hits, this time from the opposite ends of the lineup, with the nine-hole, Raegan Wall, laying down a textbook bunt to bring in Vukadinovich from third. Willer tabbed her second RBI of the contest after with her own triple into right field, which just missed the mitt of a jumping Gaby Mizelle in right.

Freshman Avery Layton entered after, and shut down Georgia Tech in her two and one thirds inning of work, not allowing a single hit, and just two walks to open the top of the sixth. Virginia Tech traiuled 9-3 when Layton entered in the top of the fifth.

The Hokies threatened three different times in the bottom of the fifth with bases loaded, all against Yellow Jackets' ace, Madalyn Johnson (3.31 ERA, 143.2 IP), after she entered the circle when Watts suffered a leadoff walk to Nora Abromavage, followed by a double from Kylie Aldridge.

The only success Virginia Tech had in the three bases loaded scenarios was off the bat of Chatfield, who powered a groundball through the 5-6 gap in the infield. The Hokies worked through five at-bats before the first out of the frame, a 6-3 double play smacked from Mizelle.

After the fifth, Virginia Tech batters went five-up, five-down until two outs in the seventh, when the rally caps got serious. A gutsy walk drawn from fifth-year senior Rachel Castine through multiple two-strike deliveries started the rally. Then, Mizelle kicked it into full gear.

"She progresses at the plate," Foster said about Mizelle. "She's always looking for improvement."

She connected on Johnson's 2-2 delivery, sending a two-run blast over the left center fence, complimenting her grand slam from Friday nicely as the Hokies looked to complete a seven-inning-long comeback.

"She's a mentally strong kid, she'll get better," D'Amour said about Mizelle. "She's having a good year as a freshman."

After Mizelle's blast, Rohs drew her fourth walk of the contest. Foster was then pegged in the helmet, and Lynch stepped up as the potential go-ahead winning run.

Lynch fell behind 0-2 in the count. However, two foul balls kept her alive in her two-strike approach, before she ultimately slapped the game-ending grounder to Emma Simon at short.

Virginia Tech dropped its first series since its opening conference matchup against Duke. The Hokies stay at home to face Liberty in a midweek matchup.

The Flames fell to Virginia Tech 9-0 in Lynchburg on April 15, and now, the Hokies will look for the sweep on Wednesday, April 22, at 6 p.m. ET. Coverage is available on the ACC Network Extra.