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Virginia Tech Softball Dominates Syracuse to Sweep Series and Earn #3 Seed in the ACC Tournament

Michael Turner·May 5, 2026

The Hokies Outscore Syracuse 37-4 to Gain Momentum Going into the ACC Softball Championship

After sweeping North Carolina the previous weekend, Virginia Tech traveled north to take on Syracuse to wrap up its regular season. Seeding in the ACC tournament was on the line. Depending on how the weekend went and how teams like Louisville fared, Virginia Tech could end up anywhere from the 3-seed or 4-seed, with the first round bye, to the 5-seed.

GAME ONE: VIRGINIA TECH 12, SYRACUSE 1

As she did to start the North Carolina series last weekend, Bree Carrico earned the start Friday afternoon against Syracuse.

After escaping a bases-loaded jam in the first inning, Carrico settled into a groove. She struck out the side in the second inning and cruised through the third. Her only blemish was giving up a home run to Syracuse’s Madison Knight to lead off the third inning.

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech’s offense dominated Syracuse from beginning to end. Center fielder Addison Foster led off the game by reaching first on a grounder that slipped under the first baseman’s glove for an error. Third baseman Jordan Lynch got on board on a 9-pitch walk to bring up left fielder Nora Abromavage. Abromavage scorched a double deep down the left fielder line that brought Foster home and put Lynch at third.

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First baseman Michelle Chafield followed with a liner to center that allowed Lynch to tag up for the score to make it 2-0 in Tech’s favor.

The Hokies padded their lead in the top of the second. Second baseman Gaby Mizelle beat out an infield single that the pitcher Juliana Verni had to field but could not get Mizelle in time. After Mizelle was thrown out stealing second, shortstop Annika Rohs walked and Foster singled to right field to get runners to second and third.

Lynch then drilled her 16th home run of the season over the left field fence to score three runs, make it 5-0,and force a pitching change by Syracuse.

The home run that Syracuse hit in the top of the third did not faze the Hokie offense. Designated player Kylie Adridge led off the bottom of the third with a walk.Two batters later, Mizelle singled in between short and third to put runners at first and second. Rohs followed with a fielder’s choice that took out Mizelle at second without an attempt at a double play.

Foster made the Orange pay by driving a double just past the diving center fielder to bring home Aldridge and Rohs to give the Hokies a 7-1 lead.

Abromavage walked to lead off the fourth inning, making it the fourth inning in a row that the batter leading off an inning reached base. The Hokies’ lead off batter in the fourth reach. Chatfield singled to left to move Abromavage to second.

After a double play wiped out Chatfield at second, Aldridge earned her second consecutive walk to put runners at the corners with two away. Castine followed with an astronomical towering 3-RBI shot over the left field fence to extend the Virginia Tech lead to 10-1.

The Hokies closed out the scoring in the fifth inning. Rohs led off with an infield single to third base. Two batters later, Lynch singled into right field that pushed Rohs to third; however, Lynch was tagged out trying to reach second.

After Abromavage walked and stole second, Chatfield singled to score Rohs and Abromavage to give Virginia Tech the 12-1 lead.

Layton closed out the bottom of the fifth inning for the run-rule victory. Carrico got the win to go 13-1 on the season. Carrico had given up the three hits and one walk in her three innings pitched. The only damage was that solo home run in the second. Layton went the final two innings and only gave up three walks to her two strikeouts.

Notables:

Jordan Lynch hit her 16th home run of the year.
Rachel Castine hit her 12th home run of the season.
4 Hokies have double digit home runs for the season so far: Nora Abromavage (16), Jordan Lynch (16), Michelle Chatfield (13), and Rachel Castine (12). Three other batters have 9
Kylie Aldridge walked three times in the Syracuse game.
Bree Carrico improved to 13-1 on the year. She allowed 3 hits and struck out .
Virginia Tech was 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position (RISP).
Virginia Tech’s lead off hitter reached base in all five innings.
The Hokies generated 7 walks and 11 hits.

GAME TWO: VIRGINIA TECH 11, SYRACUSE 2

Emma Mazzarone started Saturday’s game and began the game erratically. She walked the first two batters she faced and then gave up a single to load the bases with no outs. After Mazzaron settled in and struck out the next two batters, a fielding error at second and a late throw home allowed runners to score from second and third to give Syracuse an early 2-0 lead.

Despite threatening in the first inning, the Hokie bats were pretty quiet through the first two innings. However, they woke up in the third. Shortstop Annike Rohs laced a double into the left-center gap that went to the wall. The next batter, center fielder Addison Foster, was hit by a pitch to put a second runner on. Third baseman Jordan Lynch then worked a full-court walk to load the bases with no outs.

Left fielder Nora Ambromavage muscled a a fly ball that landed in front of the center fielder to score Rohs and make the score 2-1, while keeping the bases loaded.

Designated player Kylie Aldridge singled to left center to bring home Foster and Lynch and give Tech the 3-2 lead.

First baseman Michelle Chatfield beat out an infield single to shortstop that loaded the bases once again. Two batters later, second baseman Rachel Castine hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Abromavage and right fielder Gaby Mizelle reached on an error that brought home Aldrige from second for another run. Just like that, the Hokies had pushed across 5 runs in the inning and taken a 5-2 lead after three.

The Hokies continued the attack in the top of the fourth inning. Jordan Lynck launched her 17th home run of the season over the center-right field wall to make it 6-2.

Ambromavage followed the home run by Lynch with a single to left field, and then Aldridge reached via an error that moved Ambromavage to third. Chatfield line out to short stop by an error on the throw allowed Ambromavage to score to extend Virginia Tech’s lead to 7-2.

Yaeger drove a pitch that the center fielder misjudged and saw it go over her head to the wall, scoring Lily Palante pinchrunning for Aldridge.

With Sarah McNelly pinchrunning for Yaeger at first, Castine sent a deep ball over the center field wall to score two and give the Hokies a 10-2 lead.

After Mizelle walked, Emma Mazzarone capped the scoring in the fifth when she blooped an RBI single into left field that scored pinchrunner Blackwell for the 11-2 lead. The score could have been worse as Tech had loaded the bases before Syracuse managed to get out of it.

The top of the fifth inning was largely about players coming off the bench to walk. Lily Pallante, Charlotte Moore, ad MJ Abernathy all walked to load the baes. After a wild pitch scored Pallante, Lyla Blackwell grounded out to first baseman but brought home Moore for the final 13-2.

Emma Mazzarone took the win to go 14-4 on the season. She pitched four innings and gave up no earned runs, while walking two and struck out four. Sophie Kleiman finished the gam with 1.0 inning pitched. She gave up a walk and a hit but allowed nothing more to seal the win.

Notables:

Jordan Lynch (17th) and Rachel Castine (13th) hit their second home runs in as many of games in the series.
Emma Mazarone - Mazzarone won to go 14-4
Virginia Tech was 5-for-15 with runners in scoring position
The Hokies generated 8 walks and 10 hits
Virginia Tech broke the single-season hits record of 519 hits. Tech now has 520.
The Hokies broke the single-season RBI record of 400. Tech now has 404.

GAME THREE : VIRGINIA TECH 12, SYRACUSE 1

The Hokies bats were relatively quiet over the two innings of game three on Sunday: Virginia Tech got runners on but could not bring them around.

Emma Mazzarone started for Virginia Tech after only pitching 4 innings and throwing 58 pitches in Saturday’s game. She had everything working, only allowing a walk in the first two innings while getting the six other batters out on a variety of strike outs, ground outs, and flyouts. She ran into a little bit of trouble in the bottom of the third when she gave up an infield single and another walk. A single down the left field line brought home the runner from second. She settled in though behind great pitching and stellar defense to hold Syracuse in check.

As it did in the other two games of the series, Virginia Tech exploded in the 3rd and 4th innings. In the top of the third, center fielder Addison Foster beat out an infield single toward second. With two outs, left fielder Nora Ambromavage cranked her 17th home run deep over the right field wall to give Tech the 2-0 lead.

T3 | Not gettin' that one backNora Abromavage sends it DEEP for her 17th Homerun of the season to put the Hokies on the board. Hokies 2, Orange 0 #Hokies pic.twitter.com/N1tBflrzaC