DURHAM, N.C. — In a reversal of fortunes, No. 6 seed Georgia Tech defeated No. 3 seed Virginia Tech 6-2 Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, dashing any hopes the Hokies had of hosting a NCAA Tournament Regional in Blacksburg.
The Hokies (39-12-1), who have a current RPI of 17, were hoping a run in the ACC Tournament would propel them to one of the 16 regional hosting sites. But such thoughts fell to the wayside due to an anemic offensive display and a home run barrage from the Yellow Jackets (32-22), a team that is fourth in the country in home runs per game.
The same teams had met just three weeks ago in Blacksburg and Virginia Tech swept all three games: 8-4, 10-4 and 11-2. However, it was the Georgia Tech that was in control Thursday night, blasting three home runs and holding the Hokies to just three hits, all by All-ACC First Team pick Emma Ritter.
The Yellow Jackets got on the board in the second inning after stringing together a single, a walk, a sacrifice bunt and a groundout to take a 1-0 lead.
The Hokies tied the game in the third when Ritter tripled to right field and scored on a sacrifice fly from Addy Greene.
Georgia Tech regained the lead in the fourth when Jayden Gailey, who went hitless in Blacksburg, smacked her fifth home run of the year off of Virginia Tech starter Lyndsey Grein. Those were the only two runs that Grein surrendered in her 4 ⅔ innings of work.
Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour told Tech Sideline that he started Grein against Georgia Tech because “it was a good matchup for her” and “we knew we were going to have to win three games this week.”
Grein was replaced by freshman Emma Mazzarone, who got out of a jam in the fifth but then surrendered a three-run pinch-hit home run to Grace Connelly, her first ever collegiate home run. Emma Lemley entered in the sixth but yielded a solo home run in the seventh to Tiffany Dominque.
Trailing 6-1, Ritter hit her 14th home run of the season in the final frame, but it proved to be too little, too late.
https://twitter.com/HokiesSoftball/status/1788756891306524903
However, Ritter’s home run, triple, and single on Thursday set a new Virginia Tech career record of 415 total bases, breaking the previous mark of 412 held by current student assistant Jayme Bailey.
Afterwards, Ritter pointed to her leadership role as a senior.
“We’re still the same team that we’ve always been,” Ritter said. “One game doesn’t determine your skill level. We still have a lot to play for — we’ll be good.”
“No need to push the panic button,” D’Amour added. “We didn’t produce tonight when it mattered, but we also had a poor ACC Tournament in 2021, but then we went to Arizona for regionals and hit the cover off the ball.”
That year, the Hokies fell to Clemson in the conference tournament before sweeping the NCAA Regional in Tempe in three games and outscoring opponents 24-7.
Virginia Tech will find out its postseason destination on the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
“We’ll go home, practice and see where we’re headed Sunday night,” D’Amour said.
Box Score: Georgia Tech 6, Virginia Tech 2