Have you ever seen someone hit a light pole with a home run? If you attended No. 16 Virginia Tech’s 10-9 defeat to Liberty at Tech Softball Park, then you have.
In a three-run hole, Hokies second baseman Rachel Castine stepped into the right-handed batter’s box with two outs and a runner on third base. Flames starter Abigail Findlay delivered her 111th pitch of the evening, and Castine sent it 259 feet with an exit velocity of 76 mph.
Those stats don’t really do it justice, though. The ball landed halfway up the light pole past the left-center field fence and made the score 10-9.
“[I was] happy that I was giving the team more opportunity to score,” Castine said. “Everyone had been piecing together some hits and some runs, and just trying to do what I can to help the team — and try not to be the last out.”
The last out did come, but not before right fielder Gaby Mizelle dribbled a single through the left side and put the tying run on base. With an opportunity to flip the score, pinch-hitter Haley Luginbill grounded out to third base.
“We’re always gonna fight. We’re not gonna give up,” Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour said. “We hit balls hard, and they got through in the last inning. If you keep hitting balls hard throughout the game, then you should have innings like that.”
It would be a disservice to talk about Wednesday without putting it into a broader context.
The contest followed two consecutive home losses to Georgia Tech at the end of the weekend. The Hokies (38-9) entered the series with the best earned run average in the ACC (2.58), and have given up 25 runs across the last three games. They allowed nine hits — and two errors didn’t exactly help their cause. For the fourth consecutive game, the Hokies worked from behind.
The last time Virginia Tech lost three consecutive contests was around the same point of last season, when it dropped a series finale to Cal, then two against No. 9 Florida State. A series loss to ACC bottom-dweller Pitt preceded that stretch in 2025.
“You have expectations, trying to do what you’ve done for the first two months,” D’Amour said. “So, when you’re having a good offensive year or pitching year, and you don’t have the success that you’ve had previously, then that can start to wander in your mind.”
Back to the pitching. Tech’s three arms that have seen the most innings this season shared seven frames against the Flames (23-23).
Avery Layton threw the first two innings, allowing four hits, five runs and four walks. Emma Mazzarone went the next 4 ⅓ frames and also walked four batters, though she struck out two while she gave up five runs — four earned — and four hits. Bree Carrico gathered the last two outs and gave up a hit, though she ended the game.
Mazzarone and Carrico are the Hokies’ one-two punch of a pitching staff. They fell into a rhythm; Mazzarone starts Friday contests, Carrico throws Saturdays and Mazzarone goes again on Sundays — and Carrico relieves Mazzarone if needed. It worked in high-profile series against Clemson and Virginia.
Mazzarone, a left-handed junior, was accruing strikeouts and limiting walks, overpowering opposing hitters with a dropball topping 70 mph. Carrico won the first 12 starts of her redshirt freshman campaign and still carries the best ERA in the ACC by a wide margin.
Is there a reason why Virginia Tech’s pitching staff reverted from its dominant self into a staff that gave up 25 runs in the last three games?
“I don’t know,” D’Amour said. “I don’t know if it’s pressure. Good question, because they’ve got good stuff. Just got to get ahead, throw more strikes and see what happens.”
The Hokies’ bats held their own during that stretch. They have worked from behind in the last four games, though they mounted comeback attempts in the last inning of their previous two. On Wednesday, they accrued five runs in the seventh inning.
In that frame, Tech entered down 10-4. It picked up two quick outs, with a single from third baseman Jordan Lynch sandwiched in the middle. Designated player Kylie Aldridge doubled into center field, moving Lynch to third. Catcher Zoe Yaeger singled around two runs to make the score 10-6.
First baseman Michelle Chatfield knocked a hard ground ball to the right side of the infield, which Liberty second baseman Ella Fox deflected — and it rolled to the outfield wall. That went down as an RBI triple to cut the deficit to three. Then came Castine’s aforementioned homer.
“I think there’s a perception of our program that we’re just trying to wheel and deal and hit home runs. No, we hit balls hard,” D’Amour said. “The law of averages says that if we hit balls hard, it’s harder for fielders to [field] it. That’s just it.”
Mizelle then singled, then D’Amour substituted Luginbill to pinch-hit for Rohs — who was hit by a pitch in the right hand earlier in the contest, but stayed in the game. That culminated in the end.
Next comes the last three home regular-season games of the year: a series against North Carolina. Former Hokies and current Tar Heels first baseman Emily LeGette has a .467 batting average to go with an ACC-best 24 homers. The first game will take place on Friday at 6 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.
“I said to the team, in 2021, it felt similar to when we lost four to Notre Dame and lost to Liberty,” D’Amour said. “And then we were on a roll and one game away from a World Series at the end of the year. So, if you’re looking at a Major League [Baseball] season, you’re gonna have losing streaks. It’s just the way it is — and we’re happening to have one right now. So, it doesn’t negate what we’ve done previously.
“This year, we’re having a good year, and we’ve got to flush it and keep playing hard.”
Box Score: Liberty 10, No. 16 Virginia Tech 9