Advancing past a regional is really, really hard. Virginia Tech softball has not done so in the past three seasons, the result of its 3-2 loss to No. 15 Alabama on Sunday — in which a few aspects of the regional final broke in the Crimson Tide’s direction, culminating in the end of the season.
Alabama (40-21) notched all three of its runs in the fifth inning while its starting pitcher, Catelyn Riley, shut down the Hokies (43-14) for 6 ⅓ frames.
Center fielder Audrey Vandagriff induced the Crimson Tide’s first run of the game on a four-pitch walk, which scored shortstop Salen Hawkins. The other two runs came right after, when left fielder Lauren Johnson hit a fly ball into left field. Virginia Tech left fielder Trinity Martin slipped on the wet grass while trying to catch the ball, so it fell to the ground; pinch runner Kinley Pate and third baseman Brooke Ellestad scored.
Otherwise, Hokies arm Emma Lemley was effective. In her final collegiate appearance, the senior surrendered six hits, three runs and three walks while accruing seven strikeouts. She retired nine consecutive batters after surrendering a triple to start the game, then worked through various jams to keep Alabama at bay — aside from in the fifth inning.
“[There was] one inning where they scored, and that could have gone either way,” Lemley said. “They could have gotten out with one run or they could have gotten out with even more and we cut it off. Other than that one inning, I thought I threw really well. I threw some mixes that I haven’t thrown all year and I thought I executed it well.”
The Hokies’ more significant issue was Riley quieted their bats. Martin was the only player to reach two hits. Right fielder Cori McMillan, the country’s home run leader, went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Their first two hitters of the first, third, fourth and fifth innings made outs, limiting their margin for error. They hit a lot of balls hard, but many of those knocks went directly to fielders.
Second baseman Rachel Castine injected some life in the seventh with a one-out, two-run shot over the left-field fence, limiting the deficit to one. However, McMillan struck out and third baseman Jordan Lynch hit a popup to end the game — and season.
Tech hit 4-for-10 with runners on base, but only generated three at-bats with runners in scoring position, and failed to achieve a hit in the latter situation.
“A one-run loss, that means you’re in the ballgame,” Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour said. “… That’s just the way softball is, and just a couple of bad breaks. We hit some balls hard at people today, and they just didn’t get through.”
Virginia Tech has consistently had super regional-level talent in previous seasons under D’Amour, but has fallen before the top 16 three seasons in a row. Some years, the Hokies’ opponents overmatched them. Others, they failed to put all three phases — offense, defense and pitching — together at the same time, as D’Amour said after the 2024 season concluded.
That wasn’t necessarily the case in 2025. They strung together 17 consecutive wins in the regular season, then stumbled down the stretch with a series loss to Pitt. Still, the Hokies rebounded for a win in the regular season finale against then-No. 9 Florida State to avoid a sweep. Then they advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinal and built a seven-run lead against eventual champion Clemson before surrendering it when their pitchers failed to grip the ball amidst a downpour. Tech did not earn a top-16 seed to host a regional in Blacksburg; instead, the NCAA selection committee sent it on the road for the third consecutive season.
That brought us to this weekend in Tuscaloosa. Tech punched past Belmont pitcher Maya Johnson — the nation’s strikeout leader — twice, but dropped two one-run games to Alabama. Those losses to a top-15 team aren’t necessarily signs of systemic failures within Virginia Tech’s softball program; rather, sometimes teams simply lose.
Virginia Tech won 45 games this season, the most since the 2022 team — which finished one win away from the Women’s College World Series — and the third-most of D’Amour’s tenure.
“We got some bad breaks, but we’ve gotten bad breaks all year,” D’Amour said. “What I’m most proud of our team is we’ve had breaks in games, we’ve had bad breaks with regional hosts, and we always bounce back and we kept fighting. I’m just proud of the effort.”
The loss to Alabama marked the end of the road in Blacksburg for Lemley, McMillan, Martin and center fielder Bre Peck. Lemley, Peck and Castine — the latter of whom said she will obtain a medical redshirt to play next season — are the holdovers from the magical 2022 season and have remained at Virginia Tech through rule changes, staff adjustments and whatever else four years in a college town brings.
“I’m really thankful I ended up at Virginia Tech. I feel like I committed here a decade ago, so I’ve been here a long time, but I wouldn’t have wanted to play anywhere else,” said Lemley, who initially committed as an eighth grader.” This program has made me into who I am now. I’m so much different than who I came in as a freshman, and it’s gotten me to the next level for this summer. So, I couldn’t be more thankful for everybody here and on this team and all of our coaches and the support staff. Everybody has just been amazing.”
Lemley and McMillan will play in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League’s inaugural season as first-round draft picks.
“Two years wasn’t enough here. If I wouldn’t have come here, at this point, I would be hanging my cleats up,” said McMillan, who transferred from Radford after her sophomore season. “I wouldn’t be able to go further than here. I can wholeheartedly thank my coaches for that and the girls that I played with. I think this team could have gone a lot further — and we expected to, so this is obviously tough. But knowing them, they’re going to bounce back harder next year. They’re going to be sad for a little bit, but every single one of these girls gets better every single day, so they’re going to take it so much further next year.”
Now comes the offseason and all its baggage — the transfer portal among them. Over the next few months, D’Amour and Co. will reevaluate, reload and prepare for 2026. Then, soon enough, softball will resume in Blacksburg for another season filled with new opportunities.
Box Score: Alabama 3, Virginia Tech 2