We were never really in this game. Statistically, it was our worst of the season (a 4 run loss). And it looked every bit the part. You could chalk it up to some combination of: 1) we did some bad things, and 2) more fluky stuff/bad luck. First, the controllables. Bree grooved too many pitches, just seemed a bit off. Remember, she had been truly outstanding before tonight. Jordan made an error that came back to bite us. Lost concentration, tried to rush is what it looked like to me. Not great but I would not trade her for anyone in the world. These things happen. Many batters chased garbage pitches, at least twice these would have clearly resulted in walks. This might be the most frustrating "controllable" for me. Now the other stuff. You could maybe tell early on that it wasn't our night. We hit some frozen ropes.....every single one found a GT glove. Then, GT's long flies go 15 -20 feet further than ours, possibly aided by wind. Home runs vs. outs, we lost all of 'em. Worse yet, that crazy hop off of Avery's foot (or the pitching slab?) that allowed two more runs to score. Of course it was with bases loaded. You won't see a luckier play than that. You already know what Pete told the team: forget about it, erase the memory, trust the process. Control the controllables. Sunday will be interesting. I certainly think this team has the right headspace to overcome tonight's disappointment. They've shown that all season. Whether they want to treat it as Game 3 of the WCWS and put pressure on themselves or just play free and loose, that's up to them. VT hitters have now seen all of GT's pitchers for multiple at bats. There are no more surprises from them. This team usually answers the bell when they get second and third cracks at a pitcher who stopped them in a prior game. GT had a lot of confidence tonight. Confidence breeds more confidence. We took it away early on Friday, and we need to do that again on Sunday. A lot on Mazz's shoulders to not get into an early jam again. Fingers crossed. I don't know how much film the coaches watch during a series, but the second pitcher (Hilleary) was remarkably predictable. First pitch was always speedy, and right down Broadway. She wanted to get ahead. Our batters were still stuck on the first pitcher (Watts), who was wild and you could afford to wait. We probably would have beaten her had she remained in. But then Hilleary was always mixing in a garbage change up when the count was 0-1, 1-1. Then always followed a change with another blister down the middle. She pitched very well tonight, but we helped her, and other teams (even BC and UAB) have tattooed her this year. I would prefer not to see her again, but we probably will, and I hope the hitters are prepared because you now know her formula. Last but not least, GT is extremely annoying with their dugout antics. I was sure they were using a noisemaker to (apparently) imitate the Hokie Bird call, which I found to be extremely distasteful. They really acted like a bunch of middle schoolers who hadn't won a game in 5 years. Best wishes for our ladies tomorrow - get 'er done, as Chip would say. We can all admit VT needs to win this to stay on the right side of hosting. The team surely knows it. Let's break out of the historical pattern where we have costly late-season series slip ups. No mas!