ATHENS, Ga. — In one of the biggest regular-season wins in Virginia Tech softball history, the No. 21 Hokies went into Athens and knocked off No. 3 Georgia 5-4.
The Bulldogs (9-1) had rolled No. 8 Oklahoma State (7-4), No. 19 UCLA (7-2) and No. 11 Florida State (20-10, 5 innings) in the last 7 days but couldn’t keep the Hokies (10-2-1) on Friday evening.
“We came to Athens to feel the atmosphere like we felt tonight,” Tech head coach Pete D’Amour told Tech Sideline after the win. “These are the types of games you have to experience if you want to move on in postseason. We had a lot of kids contribute tonight. The pitching was great and we made our swings count.”
The Hokies lost no time jumping on Georgia starter Lilli Backes. Addy Greene blasted a first-inning home run to right center and Cori McMillan followed with a shot of her own in the second inning to give the Hokies a 2-0 lead. It was McMillan’s third home run of the day and her fourth dinger in three games.
Emma Lemley got the start in the circle for the Hokies and responded with one of her strongest outings of the year. Through four innings, Lemley only surrendered a single run, had walked none and had thrown 44 strikes out of 64 pitches.
“I love the environment,” Lemley said. “I love it when the crowd is so loud I can’t hear myself. Everything felt good tonight.”
However, a couple of walks in the fifth, along with a sacrifice bunt, set up a two-run single by Sydney Kuma to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. But freshman Emma Mazzarone entered to the game to record the final out of the inning and then proceeded to pitch a scoreless sixth.
The Hokies snatched back the lead in that frame. A single by Bre Peck was followed by a walk to McMillan and Emily LeGette laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to put both of them in scoring position. Pinch hitter Trinity Martin then responded with a single to right field to put the Hokies back in front 4-3.
The hit capped off an emotional few days for Martin, whose mother was bucked off a horse earlier in the week and broke her pelvis.“I was just thinking about my teammates,” Martin said after the game. “They were pulling so hard for me, even when I wasn’t at my best. I was going to give it my all knowing they were going to love me regardless of the outcome. I was just playing for these girls and for my mom back home. I know she was cheering for me from Virginia.”
Greene added her second home run of the game in the seventh to give the Hokies a two-run cushion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ybJV7v6Elw&t=11s
“This team is so amazing,” Greene said afterwards. “We work so well together. If one person doesn’t do it, the person behind them will pick them up. I guess today was my turn.”
In the bottom of the seventh, D’Amour turned to Lyndsey Grein to get the final three outs. After surrendering a solo home run to Emily Digby that cut the Tech lead to 5-4, Grein proceeded to strike out three of the top four hitters in the Georgia lineup to get the save.
“Emma Lem and Maz just worked their tails off in that game and I just wanted to do my best for them,” Grein said afterwards. “They put in such hard work, I just wanted to do my best for them and finish it.”
In Virginia Tech’s first game of the day, the Hokies registered 10 hits in their 8-0 run-rule win over Radford (6-3) in six innings. McMillan, who transferred from that program, drove in four of the runs with a solo homer in the second and a three-run blast in the third to break the game open.
“I woke up just telling myself to just slow everything down and put the ball in play,” McMillan said. “I sure didn’t expect all of that, but it felt good. I really needed all that.”
Kylie Aldridge, Greene and LeGette all drove in runs with singles and Bre Peck added a solo shot in the sixth to push the margin to run-rule territory.
In the circle, Cassie Grizzard had her best outing as a Hokie, scattering three hits and striking out seven.
“One thing that may be overlooked today was the complete game shutout that Cassie gave us,” D’Amour said. “She threw a great game as well.”
The Hokies will resume play in Athens at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday with a rematch with the No. 3 Bulldogs, followed by a game with Dartmouth at 5:30 p.m. ET. The Big Green dropped its season opener to Radford on Friday, 4-1.
“It was a great day today,” D’Amour said. “We’ll get some rest and do it again tomorrow.”
Box Score: No. 21 Virginia Tech 8, Radford 0 (6 innings)
Box Score: No. 21 Virginia Tech 5, No. 3 Georgia 4