Zoe Yaeger was sure the ball would land foul.
Trailing by two in the fourth inning, Virginia Tech’s catcher sent a rise ball down the left field line, which hooked and barely cleared the foul pole. Instead of a long strike, her hit gave the No. 12 Hokies a 3-2 lead over No. 16 Stanford en route to their 4-3 victory at Tech Softball Park on Friday.
“I thought it was going to go foul and I was gonna be really upset,” Yaeger said. “So, I’m glad it went out.”
As she sprinted around first base, Yaeger raised her arms and allowed herself to yell. She beamed as she rounded third and let Kylie Aldridge and Jordan Lynch — the other two runs she scored — mob her as she crossed the plate.
In her previous at-bat, Yaeger fouled out to left field on an inside pitch. She said she entered her second plate appearance preparing for the same thing.
“I was like, ‘In the next at-bat, if she throws me that again, I need to be on time for it,’” Yaeger said, “and I was.”
As for the celebration?
“I blacked out.”
B4 | just got goosebumps... from a ?????? ????? ?
Hokies 3, Stanford 2 pic.twitter.com/LZjXIOzkUI— Virginia Tech Softball (@HokiesSoftball) March 28, 2025
Emma Lemley tossed the first six innings in the circle and threw 118 pitches for the Hokies (26-5, 6-1 ACC). She did not have her best command, but surrendered just four hits and two runs; she walked four batters and struck out three.
Sophie Kleiman relieved her in the seventh and faced seven hitters. Though she obtained the first two outs, she allowed three hits and a run and left the bases loaded. All of a sudden, Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour reinstated Lemley.
D’Amour said he removed Lemley because she had faced the Cardinal (24-4, 8-2) three times through its batting order and wanted Kleiman’s look against Stanford’s left-handed hitters. Lemley mostly throws rise balls high in the zone while Kleiman tosses drop balls low in the zone, so D’Amour wanted the change.
“Sophie didn’t do bad,” D’Amour said. “She gave up a couple hits, but that happens.”
Lemley re-entered against Stanford left fielder Caelan Koch. She tossed two consecutive balls, then worked the count full, until Koch nicked a grounder to shortstop Annika Rohs, who tagged the runner going to second base.
In the dugout between innings, Lemley stayed loose. She threw in the bullpen and remained mentally ready to pitch.
“At first, I was talking to our bullpen catchers and I was like, ‘I know if the bases get loaded, he’s gonna put me back out there,’” Lemley said. “I was just trying to not hype it up so much. The energy from our fans, I think it carried me through that last at-bat.”
Yaeger accounted for three of the Hokies’ runs while Rohs drove in the other. In an 0-2 hole in the sixth inning, Rohs took two pitches to even the count, fouled off another two, then hit an RBI groundout to score Lynch.
“We tweaked her swing last week and she’s more balanced with good bat speed,” D’Amour said. “She didn’t swing at a lot of balls. … She just grinds at bats and makes pitchers work.”
Lynch, Tech’s third baseman, notched two of the team’s first three hits and was its only player to not record an out. She reached base on a hit-by-pitch, a single and a double — scoring on Yaeger’s homer and Rohs’ groundout.
Center fielder Emily Jones and right fielder Kyra Chan each totaled two hits for Stanford. Its top three batters — shortstop Taryn Kern, Jones and shortstop River Mahler — were its three run-scorers.
In the top of the third, Kern hit a solo home run as Stanford jumped in front 1-0. Five batters later, Chan singled to left field and Hokies left fielder Lyla Blackwell misplayed the ball, allowing Chan to advance to second and Mahler to score.
Stanford clawed back in the seventh against Kleiman down 4-2. Tech Softball Park tensed up when third baseman Jade Berry singled into left field, scoring Jones and cutting the margin to one run.
Despite the Cardinal’s consistent efforts, the Hokies stood strong. D’Amour and his staff have preached mental toughness all season, and Friday night’s effort was a sign of strength against a team that advanced to the Women’s College World Series the last two years.
“Especially taking the first game, that puts a lot of pressure on them,” Yaeger said. “We kind of showed the rest of the country what we’re about — that we can win big games. I think that’s what we were missing last year — we were good, we had the talent, but we couldn’t win the big games. It’s really big for us that we can come through in games like this.”
Virginia Tech has fallen short of hosting a regional or advancing to a super regional for the last two years. For a team with lofty goals to play deep into May and June, wins over Stanford and other tough opponents help.
“That is kind of all what it comes down to, is moments like that,” Lemley said. “These huge moments, these big games, two ranked teams playing each other. We have a packed house. That’s kind of a super regional feel right there. Those are the kind of moments we want to be in — to practice all the stuff we’ve been learning and trying to implement. That was a perfect time to do it and say, ‘OK we can get through those.’”
On an injury note, D’Amour said pitcher/designated player Emma Mazzarone is available. She sustained a leg injury during Tech’s doubleheader against Longwood on March 19.
Box Score: No. 12 Virginia Tech 4, No. 16 Stanford 3