CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Claiming a full point in the Commonwealth Clash, No. 19/16 Virginia Tech softball defeated Virginia 9-1 on Tuesday night at Palmer Park.
Tech (20-5, 13-5 ACC) racked up 11 hits on the evening, behind three hits apiece from outfielder Kelsey Brown (.440 BA, 16 SBs) and shortstop Addy Greene (.295 BA, 7 2Bs). First baseman Jayme Bailey (.373 BA, 29 RBIs) broke the game open with a bases-clearing, stand-up triple in the fourth inning.
Pitcher Keely Rochard (16-2, 0.86 ERA) was solid once again in the circle, recording 11 strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work, while allowing just four hits, one run and a walk. Defensively, Brown made another terrific catch in left field, with running towards the wall and making a full-extension snag to keep the Cavaliers (8-17, 4-13) at bay early on.
UVA was paced by shortstop Katie Goldberg (.329 BA, 12 RBIs), who tallied a team-high two hits.
QUOTING TECH OUTFIELDER KELSEY BROWN
On Jayme Bailey's bases-clearing triple and her scoring on the play:
"Jayme had an awesome at-bat and saw a lot of pitches, which helps her and all the batters," Brown said. "Her stand-up triple made it easy on me to score. I'm happy we were all on base for that clutch hit."
On her full-extension catch in left field:
"I just read the ball as soon as it was hit and knew I had to catch it to keep them from scoring," Brown said. "Keely was working hard for us, so I wanted to do the same for her on defense."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Tech kept knocking on the door early in the game, getting at least two runners on the first three innings, but couldn't quite put consecutive hits togethers, as it scored just one run each time first three frames.
Bailey scored on a wild pitch in the first after getting hit by a pitch to reach, outfielder Ritter got hit by a pitch then scored on an error by the pitcher in the second and then she would double to right to score second baseman Morgan Overaitis, who reached on an error, in the third inning.
After loading up the bases in the fourth inning, with catcher Mackenzie Lawter getting hit by a pitch, Brown singling off a bunt and Greene singling to short, Bailey roped the ninth pitch of the at-bat right over third base that trickled down the left-field line to score all three of her teammates. The next at-bat saw third baseman Kelsey Bennett single to left to score Bailey.
Outfielder Cana Davis hit a double to right center in the top of the fifth and would get pinch ran for by Maddy Federico, who scored after a single up the middle by Lawter to make it 8-0.
With the run-rule now a possibility, UVA scored its first run on the Hokies in seven games (April 14, 2018) in the bottom of the fifth, getting a single to left field by left fielder Emma McBride (.250 BA, 3 RBIs) to make the game continue on.
Rochard would close out the sixth with a pop up, strikeout and ground out, before pitcher Mackenzie Osborne (1-0, 2.37 ERA) came in as relief in the bottom of the seventh and got a strikeout and a double play (Overaitis to Greene to Bailey) for the 4-6-3 play to end it.
NOTES
- The Hokies won their 12th straight game versus Virginia, with UVA's last win coming on March 4, 2017 in Charlottesville.
- Brown, who is now second in the ACC in batting average, tied her career high of three hits versus the Cavaliers, and actually did so last week against UVA as well, and had two runs scored and a stolen base.
- Greene had a career-high three hits and didn't even have a multi-hit game coming into this one. The freshman has had a double in three of her last four games. She also had a run scored and an RBI tonight,
- The game was second-longest of the season, taking two hours and 34 minutes, with being just one minute off tying the longest of the year, which was the season opener at Kennesaw State on Feb. 13 (2:35).
UP NEXT
- Tech will continue its road swing and will play at No. 12/14 Duke (26-3, 14-3) Friday-Sunday in Durham at Dail Softball Stadium. Two of the games will be ACC Network and two of the contests will be on ACC Network Extra.
Gallery: (3-30-2021) 2021 SOFTBALL AT VIRGINIA
