Virginia Tech Softball: Regional Final Loss Ends Hokies Season in Tuscaloosa

Nerves, anticipation, and eagerness for regional final action grew as Mother Nature derailed the early-afternoon start in Tuscaloosa for one of the power-four programs' final day of action.

It was the Virginia Tech Hokies (43-13, 18-6) saying goodbye to a historic season at the hands of the No.15 Alabama Crimson Tide (40-21, 12-12) with a valiant comeback effort, 3-2.

For fairness in the tournament, the lower-seeded Hokies played host even with the game physically taking place at Alabama's Rhoades Stadium.

Three and a half hours late, the battery of Emma Lemley and Zoe Yaeger took the field to pick apart the Crimson Tide offense--both picking up All-ACC and NFCA All-Region team nods with stellar regular season play.

Speedster Audrey Vandagriff worked Lemley early with the opening at bat, eventually flaunting her talent and leading the contest off with a triple.

Staying composed, Lemley picked up two strikeouts in the wake of retiring the next three Bama bats to the electric Tech offense up the plate. An offense that bolsters top-five ranks in both home runs and slugging percentage.

On Saturday, the Hokies faced Jocelyn Briski as they did in both regular-season matchups. Catelyn Riley got the start in the fourth contest between the two programs on Sunday.

A perfect frame from Riley in the first settled the animosity for both squads entering the second inning. That is when Tech secured its first base runner of the contest, pitching around the all-time Hokies home run leader, Bre Peck, with a four-pitch walk.

Left fielder Trinity Martin tacked on a two-out single into right field before Riley found her inning ending out on a first pitch groundball back to the circle.

The lineup rolled over in the top of the third with two outs for the only Crimson Tide batter to reach base so far, Vandagriff, who fell victim to a five-pitch strikeout for Lemley.

A two-out rally formed in the third inning for Tech when freshman Jordan Lynch singled and Yaeger doubled to put them both in scoring position--the only time all game Tech had a runner situated on third.

Another perfect frame in the fourth kept Lemley rolling, and without the leadoff triple, she had a blemish-free outing. Retiring the subsequent 12 batters in a row with five K's.

Similarly to the second and third, two more Tech batters reached in the third to n--o avail on the scoreboard. Martin picked up her second single to extend her perfect game at the plate, followed by Annika Rohs legging out an infield single for her first hit.

Offensive momentum for Alabama finally came in the fifth, ending the 12-batter streak without a baserunner streak with a single from Salen Hawkins--which quickly turned into a two-on-no-out scenario with a perfectly executed drag-bunt from Brooke Ellestad.

The first run of the contest came without a hit. Back-to-back walks suffered by Lemley brought Hawkins across the plate to open up the scoring.

The lasting impact of the storming of Tuscaloosa morning was put to full effect in the fifth. With two outs, slippery grass in the outfield allowed for a softly hit fly ball to fall and cash in two more runners by way of Lauren Johnson.

Tech now had nine outs to score at least three runs to extend its season further, and leading off the bottom of the fifth was the ACC Player of the Year, Cori McMillan.

Riley was holding her home turf strong with the Crimson Tide faithful fans cheering her on, shutting down the top of the Hokies' lineup to respond to her offense's run top half.

With two perfect games on the season--stringing three-up-three-down innings was no secret to Lemley throughout the season. With Tech needing one more from its ace to keep the game within arm's length, Lemley delivered a six-pitch sixth inning.

A devastating unassisted triple play flipped the game into the seventh inning. Lyla Blackwell stood at first in a pinch run scenario after Kylie Aldridge singled to lead off the sixth. With one out, Hokies first baseman Emily Legette turned her on a bitch, drilling a line drive directly at Abby Duchscherer, carrying her momentum directly into tagging Blackwell for the force out.

Lemley left her all out in Tuscaloosa, going the full seven innings while striking out seven Bama bats on 116 pitches. All there was for Lemley to do now was situate herself on the top step of the dugout to cheer her offense on.

Tech had a runner on first for the second straight inning, this time for second baseman Rachel Castine. Falling into a 0-2 count is never desirable for a hitter, yet Castine beat Riley's challenge pitch--sending a two-run home run over the left field fence to give the Hokies life with two outs remaining on their season.

With the game nearly being knotted up, Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy turned to Briski in the circle, who has a 2-1 record against Tech this season, to get the save.

Needing two outs, Briski faced batters to conquer her goal, forcing Lynch to pop out to send the Crimson Tide on to the Super Regional in Norman to face the Sooners.

The Hokies' powerful offense of the regular season was bested by the pitching staff of Bama in Tuscaloosa, falling victim to a regional exit in the last three seasons for the Hokies.

The Tech Softball program says goodbye to four players leaving on the season: Cori McMillan, Emma Lemley, Trinity Martin, and Bre Peck. Leaving lasting impacts during their time spent in Blacksburg for the next generation of Hokies softball greats to play in their footsteps.

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