Hokie ClubCHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A day after sweeping a pair of games to open the season, the Virginia Tech softball squad struggled in dropping a pair of games at the Chattanooga Challenge Saturday. The Hokies opened the day with a 15-0, five-inning loss to Tennessee Tech before falling to the host Chattanooga Mocs, 8-0 in six innings.
In the opener, Tennessee Tech strung together timely hits along with some costly Hokie errors to pull off the big win. The Eagles picked up a pair of unearned runs in the second inning and scored five more in the third to put the pressure on the Hokies. They scored five more in the fourth and tacked on three more in the fifth for good measure.
Abbie Rexrode (L, 1-1) wasn’t as sharp as she was in her debut Friday, allowing 15 runs (six earned) on nine hits with six strikeouts and five walks in five innings. She got no support at the plate as the Hokies managed just four hits, two from Charisse Mariconda and one apiece from Jenna Rhodes and Richelle McGarva. She got even less help from her defense as the Hokies committed a school-record tying seven gaffes in the field, leading to several big innings for the Golden Eagles.
In the second game, Tech kept things close early on, but a bad fourth inning proved to be too much. Lauren Flores led off the inning with an infield single and moved to second on a passed ball and to third on another passed ball. She came in to score on a wild pitch to give the Mocs a 1-0 lead. A pair of walks and another single plated another run before successful suicide squeeze play made it 3-0. Jenny Martin continued the onslaught with a three-run round-tripper to give the Mocs a comfortable margin and then an RBI double made it 7-0 in favor of the home team.
Kenzie Roark (L, 1-1) was in control early on, but the fourth inning turned the tide. She ended up giving up eight earned runs in 5.2 innings on eight hits with five strikeouts and four walks. The Tech bats were again silent, producing just three hits (Erin Ota, Jessica Everhart and McGarva).
Everhart picked up three more walks on the day to run her season total to nine through four games.
Tech (2-2) will finish up action at the Chattanooga Challenge on Sunday, taking on the Mocs of UTC at 1 p.m.