JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Virginia Tech softball went 1-1 on Day 1 of the JU/UNF Spring Break Challenge after a 4-0 win over Purdue and a 3-2 loss to North Florida Friday.
In the win over the Boilermakers (12-4), Tech (13-4) saw multi-RBI performances from Olivia Lattin and Grace Chavez, as both Hokies knocked in two runs. Lattin had a single and grounded into a fielder's choice to score her pair, while Chavez crushed a two-run bomb over the left-field wall.
Starting her ninth game of the season, Keely Rochard (8-3) got her eighth win of the season against Purdue after throwing a complete-game shutout, her first of the year. Rochard allowed just three hits and struck out nine batters.
Against the Ospreys (8-6), Al Velazquez and Kelsey Bennett drove in a run each by reaching on a fielding error and hitting a single through the left side of the infield, respectively.
GAME 1
After a scoreless first inning, the Hokies struck first in the second when Lattin hit a ball into shallow right center, over the head of the second basemen, scoring Jayme Bailey from third. Lattin picked up a second RBI in the fourth inning by putting a ball into play in the infield, bringing Kate Kobayashi home for a 2-0 lead.
Still in command of a two-run lead in the fifth, Chavez stepped up and sent a pitch several feet over the left-field wall for a two-run, insurance homer. Rochard closed out the win, retiring six of her last eight batters faced.
GAME 2
Tech jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a fielding error scored Bennett in the second inning, and Bennett singled in the third, scoring Darby Trull. However, a three-run fourth for the Ospreys would give them the lead.
Kaylee Hewitt (5-1) started the game and pitched four innings, allowing just two hits and two earned runs. After the fourth inning, Rochard came in to start the fifth and pitched two perfect innings, striking out four.
NOTES
- With her two-run blast against Purdue, Chavez hit her fourth home run of the season and 11th of her career. At the time, it was her second homer in three games.
- With 13 strikeouts Friday, Rochard adds to her already nation-leading total of 112 Ks. The righty owns an impressive 112-20 strikeout-to-walk ratio thus far.
- Bailey and Lattin each had a stolen base in the win over Purdue, marking the 10th game this season the Hokies have had multiple steals.
- Trull hit her fourth double of the season against North Florida, the 17th of her career.
UP NEXT
Tech will have another doubleheader on Saturday consisting of a rematch with Purdue at 1 p.m. ET and a matchup with Jacksonville (12-5) at 3:30 p.m.