A combination of Jocelyn Briski’s pitching and cold bats doomed No. 17 Virginia Tech softball to a 9-1 run-rule loss to No. 21 Alabama on Sunday.
“We got on our heels early today and never recovered,” Hokies head coach Pete D’Amour said. “Alabama was aggressive today and we were trying to play catch up. We need to get back to being the aggressor from the first pitch the next time we play.”
Briski, the Crimson Tide’s starter in the series finale, entered the game with a 1-5 record and 3.57 earned run average this season. She had surrendered four earned runs in games against Arizona and Liberty earlier in the month. However, against the Hokies (12-3), she allowed just two hits and one run in 4 ⅔ innings, striking out five and walking two.
Through four innings, Briski was nearly perfect; her only blemish in that span was a third-inning walk to Lyla Blackwell.
In the fifth, Tech’s offense jumpstarted. Trailing 7-0, center fielder Bre Peck began the inning with a double, ending Briski’s no-hit bid. After Peck advanced to third on a wild pitch and designated player Kylie Aldridge walked, Blackwell hit a double, bringing around Peck for the Hokies’ lone run of the game.
Not that it really mattered; at that point, Alabama (10-6) was in full control. The Tide notched two runs in the first inning, three in the third, two more in the fourth and a final two in the fifth.
To start the game, first baseman Abby Duchscherer hit a double to score left fielder Audrey Vandagriff. Later in the frame, shortstop Brooke Ellestad hit an RBI single. Catcher Marlie Giles singled to score pinch runner Kinley Pate and designated player Alexis Pupillo in the third inning, then center fielder Kristen White hit a single to the pitcher to add one more. In the fourth, Vandagriff scored on a wild pitch then Duchscherer scored on an RBI single. The fifth inning brought Alabama into run-rule territory after right fielder Larissa Preuitt hit a two-RBI single.
Alabama was ready for Hokies starter Emma Lemley, who tossed all seven innings and 84 pitches of Friday’s 2-1 win. Sunday, though, was night-and-day; the Crimson Tide grabbed six hits and five runs — all earned — off her. Emma Mazzarone relieved Lemley with two outs in the third; she allowed five hits and four runs while walking three batters.
Alabama adjusted to what it saw on Friday and utilized the two days in between to prepare. Limited to one run in its first of the five-game tournament in Tuscaloosa, the Tide scored 48 runs in the final four.
Virginia Tech is now 2-3 this season against ranked teams. It defeated the Crimson Tide on Friday and then-No. 21 Northwestern a week ago, powered by Lemley’s second perfect game of the season. The Hokies’ dropped Sunday’s game after last weekend’s two losses to then-No. 7 LSU.
Tech will face another ranked foe in Lynchburg on Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET against No. 25 Liberty. The Flames defeated Alabama 7-6 over a week ago and also have wins over Louisville and Rutgers.
After the Hokies’ first midweek game of the season, they will host Villanova, Penn State, James Madison and Radford at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem from Feb. 28 to March 2. The city, which hosted Tech in the Atlantic 10 and Big East Tournaments in the 1990s and early 2000s, has not been the site of Virginia Tech regular season softball since 2005.
Box Score: No. 21 Alabama 9, No. 17 Virginia Tech (5 innings)