CHARLOTTESVILLE — Come to think of it, there was no world where No. 16 Virginia Tech’s 3-1 win over Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals would be normal.
The games before it certainly weren’t. No. 1 seed Florida State only advanced past No. 9 seed Georgia Tech when Bella Ruggerio was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, securing a 2-1 win to survive and advance. No. 4 seed Stanford required eight innings to escape No. 5 seed Louisville, 6-5. A Tobacco Road rivalry game at Palmer Park — which preceded the Commonwealth Clash rematch — took nearly three hours before No. 2 seed Duke could run-rule No. 10 seed North Carolina.
With that chaos in the background, and a start time an hour later than scheduled because of it, the No. 3 seed Hokies’ (45-9) disposal of the No. 6 seed Cavaliers (38-13) had its fair share of quirkiness. Tech’s early offensive production consisted of an inside-the-park home run before it maintained a chokehold on its in-state rivals. The Cavaliers gave Hokies arm Emma Mazzarone some trouble later in the game, but she held them at bay.
Before then: the inside-the-park homer. Virginia Tech center fielder Addison Foster roped a line drive over Virginia first baseman Bella Cabral’s head and it rolled into the right-field corner. Foster utilized her speed to slide into third base ahead of the throw from Cavaliers second baseman Alex Call. However, Call airmailed the throw, which rolled into left field. Foster hesitated for a second, then took off and touched home plate without a throw.
“I was just ready for that inside pitch and I just kept running,” Foster said. “Once I saw that overthrow, I was like, OK, I gotta get four. Coach Mike [Lewis] was actually at third [base] coaching, and he didn’t really send me — but I was like, oh, I need to go. This needs to happen.”
The Hokies managed just four hits, but contributed two of their three runs in the fourth inning. Catcher Zoe Yaeger doubled around pinch runner Sara McNelly with one out in the frame. Two batters later, shortstop Annika Rohs did the same thing, skying a fly ball, which fell and bounced to the wall — scoring pinch runner Lily Pallante. That made the score 3-0.
Virginia Tech pitcher Emma Mazzarone’s effort might not be directly quantifiable. She finished with a career-high 14 strikeouts — supplemented by five walks and a hit-by-pitch. She surrendered four hits and a run, limiting Virginia’s offense to keep her team in the lead. Her velocity topped at 73 mph, and she was clearing 70 mph with ease at the back end of her 128-pitch complete game.
“She doesn’t lose her velocity,” Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour said. “She was 70 to 73 in that last inning — and it was pretty special.”
Back to the part where Mazzarone found herself in some trouble. She punched out her 13th batter to start the seventh, then hit Virginia right fielder Madison Greene with a pitch. Left fielder Jaiden Griffith singled on a ground ball back to Mazzarone, putting runners on first and second. After that, Mazzarone walked shortstop Jade Hylton to load the bases.
Tech earned a second out when Cavaliers first baseman Macee Eaton nicked a ground ball to Hokies first baseman Michelle Chatfield, who tossed to Yaeger at home plate ahead of the runner. Cabral walked to bring around Griffith, making the score 3-1.
Virginia had runners on first, second and third — and was perpetually a swing away from stealing a lead on its home field.
Mazzarone faced catcher Reagan Hickey with two outs and the bases loaded. She went ahead 0-2, threw outside of the strike zone for a ball, then allowed a foul ball. The junior left-hander settled in and forced Hickey to swing and miss. Game over.
“It was just dialing back in and taking it one pitch at a time,” Mazzarone said. “The batter before that doesn’t matter, and then just attack the next one.”
Mazzarone held Virginia to a 1-for-14 clip with runners on base, including 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Part of that was thanks to her punchouts, and other aspects were the result of Tech’s defense.
Notably, Greene attempted a bunt during the top of the second inning with one out and a runner on first base. She didn’t pop the bunt attempt that high, but she lifted it in the air enough for Chatfield to sprint in and nab it. Then she fired back to second baseman Rachel Castine — who was covering first — ahead of the runner for a double play.
“It was a whole team effort, a really good fight with everyone,” Foster said. “I think we stayed locked in from first pitch to the end of the game, so we are really happy about the outcome.”
Virginia Tech, which has not hit an outside-the-park homer in four games at Palmer Park this season, went just 2-for-6 and 1-for-7, respectively, in those two situations — but produced enough offense to win. The Hokies will face No. 3 seed Duke on Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.
“Postseason games are never easy to win,” D’Amour said. “So, we’re gonna have to feel that going into the rest of the season. Just the environment here, [the seventh] was a pressure-packed inning. I felt it and I know the kids did — but they didn’t show it.”
Tech dropped two of three games to Duke in Durham in mid-March. It secured the series finale, a 10-2 run-rule effort in five innings, via 12 hits and home runs from left fielder Nora Abromavage and third baseman Jordan Lynch.
Since the Hokies only utilized Mazzarone in the circle on Thursday, D’Amour said Bree Carrico and Avery Layton are fresh. They will face a Duke squad that scored 16 runs on Thursday and persevered through the highest-scoring game in ACC Tournament history — while seeking an ACC championship game appearance for the first time in D’Amour’s tenure.
But there is no guarantee that Thursday’s events will be indicative of Friday’s. Whether the quarterfinals were a bellwether for the semifinals or not, just don’t assume the games will be normal.
Box Score: No. 16 Virginia Tech 3, Virginia 1