Emma Lemley Makes History, Hokies off to Hot Start

That's the only word you could use to describe Emma Lemley's start to the 2025 season. The stud pitcher threw not one, but two perfect games in back to back starts to help the Hokies jump out to a 8-0 record. It's the first time a Hokie pitcher has thrown back to back perfect games, and the performances garnered national acclimation around the softball world.

But it wasn't all sunshine for the Hokies to start off a cold Feburary. After that 8-0 start, which saw the Hokies hold their opponents scoreless, the Hokies faced top 10 powerhouse, LSU. The Hokies would drop both while giving up double digit hits in both contests. It was less of a snap back to reality, and more of a jolt of motivation for a Tech squad that shows signs of dominance, but has work to do before they can compete for a College World Series title.

The Hokies opened their season at 10 am with a comfortable 12-0 (6 innings) win over Fordham. Emma Lemely led the charge in the opening game, going 6 scoreless innings while striking out 14 batters. At the plate, the Hokies had no issue finding success either, with 9 different batters safely making it on base. The headliner at the plate for this game was most certainly Bre Peck, who went ⅔ with a home run and 4 RBIs in the win. Annika Rohs hit her first career home run in the win as well.

In game 2, the Hokies had another strong outing against North Dakota State, winning 8-0 (5 innings)  behind 4 scoreless innings from Emma Mazzarone, who got her first win of the season. Behind her, true freshman Sophie Kleiman came in for her first career appearance. She pitched a scoreless inning. The Hokies’ bats showed up once again, highlighted by two 2 hit performances from Emily Legette and Layla Blackwell. Cori McMillan also hit her first home run of the season against the Bison.

In game 3, the Hokies had their second matchup against the Bison, winning 9-0 (5 innings) behind more dominant pitching. In this one, the game 2 pitching rotation was effectively swapped, with Sophie Kleiman coming in for the first 4 innings and Emma Mazzarone coming in for the final inning. Both pitchers went scoreless against the Bison. The bats showed up once again, this time led by two 3 hit outings from Cori McMillan and Michelle Chatfield.

On last Saturday afternoon, the Hokies had their first of two matchups against the College of Charleston. The first matchup ended with an 11-0 (5 innings) Hokies win, where Cassie Grizzard had her first outing of the season, pitching 3 scoreless innings. Emma Mazzarone then took the ball from her to get the final 6 outs. Jordan Lynch and Michelle Chatfield both had 3 hits against the Cougars. Cori McMillan (2) and Emma Mazzarone both had home runs.

The final game of opening weekend is one that will be inked in the history books at Virginia Tech. In a 10-0 (5 innings) win, Emma Lemely threw a perfect game to get her second win of the season. The lineup had three 2 hit performances, coming from Zoe Yaeger, Jordan Lynch, and Michelle Chatfield. Bre Peck had her second home run of the season in this one. 

In their first game of the ‘Purple & Gold Challenge’ in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Hokies pitching continued to hold strong and perfect, not allowing the blaze to scratch a run across the plate. The Hokies won 8-0 (6 innings), where the win was attributed to Emma Mazzarone, who is now 2-0. Cassie Grizzard also pitched a scoreless final inning of the game. At the plate, Kylie Aldridge shined, going 3-4 with an RBI. Cori McMillan hit her 3rd home run of the season.

Emma Lemely is simply incredible. Lemley got the start for the first major test of the season for the Hokies and continued to set records, throwing her second consecutive perfect game, this time going the full 7 innings. The Hokies won 3-0 behind the pitching of Lemely and the bat of Anikha Rohs, who had the only multi hit performance for the Hokies.

The Hokies matched up against the Mavericks again, this time winning 6-0 behind a stellar pitching performance from Sophie Kleiman. Kleiman pitched 6 innings, allowing just 4 hits and striking out 7 batters. Cassie Grizzard came in for a 1 inning clean up. Bre Peck had a 2 home run performance for the Hokies.

On Saturday afternoon, the Hokies surrendered their first run of the season in a 7-2 loss to LSU. Emma Mazzarone was credited with her first loss of the season, dropping her overall record to 2-1. Sophie Kleiman also came in for a 1 inning performance, where she surrendered her first two runs of the season. Cassie Grizzard came in to play cleanup and had a scoreless 2 inning outing. Zoe Yaeger had a 2 hit day for the Hokies.

On Sunday, the Hokies had an opportunity to get their revenge on the Tigers, but ultimately failed, falling 7-4 this time. Emma Lemely gave up just 3 earned runs, with the other 4 that the Tigers scored being unearned.  Jayden Jones had a 2 hit day, including a home run. Michelle Chatfield also had a home run in this game. Overall, however, the Hokies left too many runners on base to overcome the Tigers.

This weekend, the Hokies travel to Tuscaloosa to play in the T-Mobile Crimson Classic. There, the Hokies will take on Southern Utah and Alabama twice along with Drake once. The Hokies shouldn’t have trouble taking care of the mid major opponents in this classic. Alabama, on the other hand, is one of the elite programs in the country. A tough task, but also a huge opportunity.