Kylie Aldridge's grand slam lifted the Hokies past South Alabama on Friday. (Virginia Tech athletics)

One element of Virginia Tech softball’s 6-0 win over South Alabama in its first game of the NCAA Tournament felt similar to other Hokies athletic events this spring: an incident involving a scoreboard.

Hokies designated player Kylie Aldridge stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the third inning with two outs and the bases loaded. She worked the count to 1-2, then slammed a line drive so far over the right-field fence that it smacked the scoreboard. It damaged the pixels, leaving a mark that obstructed catcher Zoe Yaeger’s name in the lineup.

“I was trying to put the ball in play,” Aldridge said. “I swung and missed at the same pitch two times in a row. So, I kind of figured that’s what I was going to get when I got to a 1-2 count. I kind of looked for that pitch, and I was able to get it.”

Aldridge’s blast was tangentially related to two moments this spring — not in actuality, but just because of the logo on her jersey. 

In the baseball realm, Rintaro Sasaki homered for Stanford during batting practice on March 29, which cut through the letter E in VIRGINIA TECH at English Field. And, of course, a skydiver ahead of the football team’s spring game hit the Lane Stadium scoreboard and hung from it suspended — parachute and all — for about 20 minutes before first responders could rescue him. (He was fine.)

More crucially, Aldridge’s grand slam broke a gridlocked opening game of the Baton Rouge Regional. An inning later, Yaeger blasted her 10th bomb of the season over the left-field wall to build a 5-0 lead. Two frames after that, Yaeger added an insurance run with a single, which scored pinch runner Sara McNelly.

“[Yaeger is] the most underrated player on our team,” D’Amour said. “You look at her stats, and what is it, .320, .330. She went through a spell there where she probably hit eight balls right at people that were line drives. So that .330 going through is .380. One thing with her is to keep fighting. She might have expressed frustrations, but she’s a smart player. When you play softball, you don’t control what happens once you hit the ball in the field of play. So just stick with it, get through those doldrums, as you call them, and hit balls hard. 

“I can't say it enough. She’s the most underrated on our team and the most underrated in the country, I think.”

The Hokies (47-10) beat the Jaguars (32-26) to advance to the next round of the winners’ bracket. They will face No. 16 LSU on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

“I told the team afterwards, make pitches, make plays — and that’s what we did,” Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour said. “I'm proud of our effort today. We move on now.”

Bree Carrico started in the circle, making her first appearance since leaving Tech’s ACC Tournament semifinal win against Duke with forearm tightness. She faced an efficient 15 batters across four innings, needing just 57 pitches to dispose of the Jaguars. During that time, she allowed no runs, two hits and two walks — and accrued three strikeouts.

“I felt good,” Carrico said. “I think just going out there and competing and throwing strikes, and my defense play was a big part of it today.”

Avery Layton took the ball for the last three frames and held South Alabama in check. She gave up two hits, no runs and no walks, picking up four strikeouts in the process.

“[Layton is] more comfortable throwing at this level,” D’Amour said. “That's the big part of it. She's always had great stuff, highly-touted recruit, getting her opportunities now. This is the kid that we recruited. I’m not surprised by it. She’s got good stuff, low 70s, up and down, good changeup. Just more comfortable as a freshman.”

South Alabama utilized Ryley Harrison in the circle, who entered the NCAA Tournament with a 2.42 earned run average, fresh off a four-inning closing effort during her team’s Sun Belt championship game win. She limited Tech during her first time through its lineup, then the higher seed began to tag her.

Harrison finished her six-inning effort allowing six hits and six runs — though only two of them were earned. She struck out six batters and walked one in the process, but Tech’s two homers did her in.

“[Harrison is] a good pitcher, gets it up and down, decent changeup,” D’Amour said. “You come to this level and you get to the postseason, it’s not realistic to think you’re going to come out and just get a bunch of runs right away. I think once we saw her one time in the lineup, we knew we were missing a little bit. And just tried to go on top and see what happens.”

Tech is back in the winners’ bracket and will face the Tigers at their home park. The Hokies played six road games against SEC opponents earlier this season and won all of them. They will look to continue that trend on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

“I think just being able to refocus and go to the next game tomorrow, whoever it is,” Aldridge said. “Being able to focus pitch to pitch, things aren’t going to always go our way. So being able to reset every time and remember what kind of team you are.”

Box Score: No. 14 Virginia Tech 6, South Alabama 0