Hokies knock off Duke in ACC Softball Championship, 4-0

ATLANTA - Sophomore Carrie Eberle tossed a four-hit shutout and struck out six batters in No. 10 Virginia Tech's 4-0 win over No. 7 Duke in the first round of the ACC Softball Championship on Wednesday afternoon at Mewborn Field.

The Hokies (23-29) will move to tomorrow night's quarterfinal game at 5 p.m. against the No. 2 seed Pitt (31-17-1). The game can be seen on regional sports networks and on the WatchESPN platform. Evan Hughes will again be on the call on HokieSports.com.

At the plate, Sierra Walton went 2 for 4 with an RBI single and Olivia Lattin went 1 for 3 with a solo home run. Eberle and Taylor Clark both registered RBI doubles. The team effort lifted Virginia Tech to its first win in the ACC Tournament since a 10-4 victory over Syracuse on May 8, 2014.

After Eberle worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the first, Lattin led off the top of the second with her sixth home run of the season. Caitlyn Nolan followed up Lattin with an opposite field double. Whitney Metz replaced Nolan at second as a pinch runner and she scored easily on a double from Clark that made it 2-0 in favor of the Hokies.

Leading off the top of the fifth, Caroline Schoenewald laced a ball to right field that ricocheted off the glove of the right fielder, allowing Schoenewald to reach third safely. Duke was able to get the next two batters to ground out but Walton came through with a hard hit grounder that got away from the shortstop and allowed Schoenewald to score, making it 3-0 Hokies.

Eberle continued to deal and work through tough situations in the late innings. After a clean bottom of the fifth, Duke threatened in the sixth by putting two runners on with two down and the tying run at the plate. But Eberle settled in and was able to get the next batter to groundout for the final out to preserve the three-run lead.

The next inning, Darby Trull, who came off the bench to play left field in the bottom of the fourth, led off the frame with an infield single. After Schoenewald moved Trull to second on a sacrifice bunt, Eberle helped her own cause by rocketing an RBI double to the right center field gap that plated Trull and extended the Hokies' lead to 4-0.

Eberle sealed the complete game by retiring the side in order in the seventh, registering her 12th win of the season.