No. 10 Virginia Tech completed the weekend sweep NC State on Sunday with a 10-1 run-rule victory. Combined with Friday’s 7-0 win and Saturday’s 7-3 victory, the Hokies started 3-0 in ACC play for the second straight season.
“I’m always apprehensive when our first home games of the year happen to be conference games,” Tech head coach Pete D’Amour told Tech Sideline. “There’s a ‘newness’ to playing at home when we’ve played three weeks worth of games on the road. But we handled everything fine. … We were a little too aggressive at the plate this weekend, but maybe that’s what this team is. We take hacks early in the count and we’re hitting for power, which is our goal.”
Sophomore Emma Lemley made her appearance in the circle for Tech (14-4, 3-0 ACC) against the Wolfpack (5-13, 0-3 ACC). And for the third straight game, she picked up the win to move to 9-1 on the season.
Lemley threw 16 innings over the weekend, allowing only one run and striking out 24 with only two walks. On Sunday, she had success with her change-up and drop ball, which was a planned strategy.
“We worked on some different things this week because you can’t just always throw it hard,” she said after Sunday’s game. “That’s especially true when you’re facing batters for the seventh time.”
“Emma continues to improve,” D’Amour added. “Her drop ball and change-up were extremely effective at times this weekend. And Lyndsey (Grein) kept us in the ball game Saturday. Other than the one “so-so” inning, she was really good.”
Offensively, Cameron Fagan got the Hokies on the scoreboard in the third inning with a beautiful squeeze bunt and then ended the game in the sixth with a two-run bomb to center. Jayme Bailey also homered for the Hokies – a two-run shot in the fourth to give the Hokies a 3-1 lead.
In the sixth inning, the Hokies took advantage of a lack of control by Wolfpack pitching, scoring one run after four consecutive walks. They picked up additional runs on singles by Teagan Thrunk and Emma Ritter and a groundout by Kylie Aldridge. Fagan’s bomb ended the game as it gave the Hokies an eight-run lead after five innings.
Sunday capped off a good offensive weekend for Virginia Tech, who scored 24 runs and hit six home runs. The Hokies are now averaging over 6.2 runs per game while allowing 2.8.
Addy Greene led the weekend’s home run derby, hitting two bombs on Saturday, stretching her team-leading total to six. She hit .500 for the weekend (4-for-8), and D’Amour said her offensive output is a result of a lot of hard work.
“Addy deserves some recognition for her play, not only this weekend but all year,” D’Amour said. “She has made herself into a really good outfielder. Offensively, she is having as good of at-bats as anyone we’ve seen in the country. The year she’s having isn’t by accident.
“She’s as diligent as anybody with our daily hitting drills and is as even-tempered as any player on our team. We have a lot of hard workers on this team and Addy is certainly one of them.”
The Hokies continued their solid defense over the weekend and didn’t commit an error while making several highlight plays. Catcher Kylie Aldridge threw out a would-be base stealer on this throw Sunday.
“I can’t say enough about our defense,” D’Amour said. “We’re as solid defensively as anyone.”D’Amour continued to liberally substitute this weekend as 18 different players saw action. He appreciated the options at his disposal.
“The depth of this team showed again this weekend,” he said. “We have two really good defensive catchers and a slew of dangerous hitters ready to come in to pinch hit. I’m fortunate we are this deep.”
The Hokies are back at Tech Softball Park on Tuesday against Mount St. Mary’s in a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. ET. It’ll be televised on ACC Network Extra. The Mountaineers venture to Blacksburg with a 3-8 record but upset Ole Miss Sunday afternoon in Oxford, 4-1.
“I’d like to thank everyone who came out to watch this weekend,” D’Amour said, “and I hope they’ll come back. This team is fun to watch.”
Box Score: No. 10 Virginia Tech 10, NC State 1 (in six innings)
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