Finger Lickin' Good: Hokies Dominate Trip to Bluegrass State

But maybe more importantly, the Hokies got a road sweep of conference foe, Louisville, to move to 5-1 in ACC play. The Hokies pitching staff is starting to reach shockingly good levels on the back of another Emma Lemley no-hitter vs Kentucky. It's her fourth of the season, putting her in rarified air in the sport's history. 

In the midweek, Emma Lemley got the ball in the circle for the Hokies in their 2-0 win. She absolutely crushed it, throwing her fourth no hitter of the season while walking just one batter. Offensively, the Hokies had a lot of trouble with Kentucky pitcher Sarah Haendiges, allowing her to throw a complete 7 inning game while only giving up two runs and six hits. The Hokies were able to get on her early, having a first inning rally that scored Cori McMillan to give the Hokeis a lead that they would never relinquish. In the fourth, Zoe Yaeger hit a leadoff double and her pinch runner came around to score a big time insurance run for the Hokies. There isn’t much to highlight on the bats of Kentucky, but Ella Emmert worked a walk and was the Wildcats only baserunner for Kentucky all evening.

To open the weekend series against Louisville, the Hokies won 10-0 (5 innings). For the first of two games on Friday, Sophie Kleiman got the ball in the circle for the Hokies. She had an electric outing, throwing five scoreless innings and raising her record to 6-0 on the season. Offensively, the Hokies jumped on top of Louisville starting pitcher Alyssa Zabala, scoring five runs on her in just two innings of work before forcing the Cardinals to the bullpen. Louisville ended up throwing three more pitchers who combined to allow five more runs for the Hokies. Kylie Aldridge and Jordan Lynch both had multi hit games for the Hokies, including Aldridge’s 5th inning home run. Cori McMillan and Michelle Chatfield also both had home runs on their own. 

In Friday’s second game, Emma Lemley got the start for the Hokies. As you could guess, she did Emma Lemley things, throwing seven innings and allowing just two runs in the Hokies 5-2 win. For Louisville, Sam Booe got the start and faced just three batters, allowing three runs.  Brooke Gray quickly came in to relieve her, and similar to Lemley, threw seven innings of two run ball. Rachel Castine and Michelle Chatfield both had multi hit games including home runs. Cori McMillan had yet another home run, that is her 10th on the season. Louisville had one multi hit performance from Easton Lotus. Char Lorenz also had a homerun for the Cardinals. 

The Hokies did not play on Saturday due to poor weather, so the 12-5 Hokies win came on Sunday. Emma Mazzarone got the start for the Hokies and went four innings allowing three runs before handing the ball to the superstar, Emma Lemley. Lemley threw the final three innings and struck out six batters. Offensively, the Hokies jumped all over Louisville pitching with 17 hits and five walks. Brooke Gray started for Louisville and gave up two runs without an out before giving the ball to Lindsey Mullen, who went 2.2 innings and allowed four runs. Following her was Sam Booe, who gave up two runs in 3.1 innings. Ryann Sanders and Katie Thatcher combined for the final three outs and gave up four runs. The Hokies had four multi hit performers in this one, with Cori McMillan and Jordan Lynch both had four hit outings, with them also both having a homerun. Kylie Aldridge also had a bomb of her own. Those are overshadowed by Michelle Chatfield, though, who hit two home runs on a 4-5 day.

Hokie Statistics

Virginia Tech is one of the premier teams in the country this season, and the numbers don’t call that a lie. Among D1 teams, Virginia Tech ranks the following in each stat:

Batting Average: 39th
Home Runs: t-5th
On Base Percentage: 48th
Scoring: 34th
Slugging Percentage: 18th
Strikeout to Walk Ratio: 23rd
Fielding Percentage: 3rd
ERA: 26th
WHIP: 23rd
Strikeouts Per 7 Innings: 5th

Hokies that rank in the top 50 of any given individual statistic:

Emma Lemley - Complete Games: t-4th
Emma Lemley - Hits Allowed Per 7 Innings: 23rd
Emma Lemley - Strikeouts Per 7 Innings: 19th
Emma Lemley - Strikeout to Walk Ratio: 16th
Sophie Kleiman - ERA: 13th
Sophie Kleiman - Strikeouts Per 7 Innings: 39th
Jordan Lynch - Doubles: T10th
Cori McMillan - Home Runs: t-12th
Michelle Chatfield - Home Runs: t-32nd
Bre Peck - RBIs: t-21st

The Hokies have a double header vs Longwood on Wednesday, March 19th in Blacksburg. The Lancers are 6-19 on the season and coming off an 0-3 weekend at the hands of Winthrop. 

After that, the Hokies will host Stanford for a weekend series. The Cardinal are 20-3 on the season, 5-1 in the ACC, and are currently ranked #17 in the D1 Softball Top 25. It will be yet another opportunity for the Hokies to grab some ranked wins.