Hokies Host a Killer Weekend in Salem

Over the last week, the Hokies went 5-1 including a dominant win on the road over ranked Liberty on the backs of yet another Emma Lemley no hitter. That 5-1 record makes the Hokies now 17-4 and will likely move them up in this week's rankings.

The Hokies opened their week by traveling to Lynchburg on Wednesday to play a red hot and ranked Liberty Flame opponent, who they beat 9-0 (5 innings). The Hokies gave the ball to Emma Lemley for the start, and she threw her 3rd (!!!) no hitter of the season on the way to a Hokies route. The Hokies had 3 home runs, hit by Cori McMillan, Jayden Jones, and Bre Peck. The biggest moment in this game was in the first inning where Cori McMillan hit a first pitch home run. She was then followed up by Jayden Jones battling in a 10 pitch at bat and finishing that with a home run of her own. Opening up the game with back to back home runs really gave the Hokies momentum and they never turned back. The player of the game is Emma Lemely with her no hit performance.

The Hokies opened their weekend by playing Villanova twice on Friday. In game 1, the Hokies won 18-2 (5 innings). Sophie Kleiman got the ball for her 4th start, where she pitched all 5 innings and surrendered just two runs. Offensively, Michelle Chatfield, Emma Mazzarone, and Bre Peck all had multi home run performances. The moment of the game was most certainly Emma Mazzarone’s 3 run bomb in the second innings to open the floodgates for the Hokies offense. The Hokies overall had 8 home runs and batted a ridiculous .567 in this game. Player of the game goes to Emma Mazzarone for her big home run.

Much like baseball did in their season opening double header, the Hokies softball team dominated game 1 and lost game 2 to the same opponent. This time, the Hokies dropped 7-6. Emma Mazzarone got the ball and pitched 3 innings of 7 run ball before being replaced by Cassie Grizzard, who pitched 4 scoreless innings. The Hokies, down 7-0 fought back, slowly chipping away inning by inning, but ultimately fell short. Offensively, the performance by Cori McMillan won’t go unnoticed, as she went ¾ with a home run. The biggest moment of the game was definitely the choice for Villanova to keep their starting pitcher in. Kat Gallant had given up 5 runs in the prior 2 innings, yet stepped up in a big way for the Wildcats to shut the door. The player of the game will go to Cori McMillan.

In the sole Saturday game, the Hokies faced their only power conference opponent of the weekend, Penn State. The Hokies won this one 6-3 behind yet another stellar pitching performance from Emma Lemley, who struck out 12 batters in 7 innings. Offensively, Jordan Lynch turned on one in the 4th inning to give the Hokies a 4-3 lead and they never looked back. Michelle Chatfield also had a first inning 2 run home run. For the big home run, Jordan Lynch will no doubt get the player of the game honors.

To start Sunday, the Hokies faced off against in-state foe, JMU. The Hokies won 4-1. Emma Lemley got the nod in the circle for the second day in a row, where she, again, had a fantastic performance. She pitched 7 innings without surrendering a single earned run. That is the 6th time she has had such an outing. Offensively, the Hokies jumped on the Dukes early with a Zoe Yaeger home run to give the Hokies a 2-0 lead. The biggest moment of the game can be given to Cori McMillan’s 2 run home run in the 4th inning to effectively put the game away. Emma Lemley will get player of the game honors for her impressive start.

To end the day, the Hokies faced off against their foes from just up I-81, the Radford Highlanders. Emma Mazzarone got her second start of the week, going 6 innings and allowing 3 runs to the Highlanders offense. She was followed up by Sophie Kleiman, who was credited with the win. Offensively, the Hokies had some trouble all game, getting just 5 hits all day long. Cori McMillan and Zoe Yaeger both had 5th inning home runs. The biggest moment of the game was Radford Pitcher Abby Peace missing her target with the winning run on 3rd, which allowed for Emily Legette to dart home and score the winning run. For her efforts on the base path, she will get player of the game honors.

There are two players that I want to spotlight for the Hokies. First off, Emma Lemley has been absolutely fantastic. She is top 10 in both total strikeouts and strikeout to walk ratio. She is also 18th in ERA among those who have pitched at least 50 innings on the season. She is having what is set to be a record breaking year for the Hokies and she has the offense to support her. That offense is headlined by none other than former Radford Highlander Cori McMillan. This past week, she has had 4 home runs in 7 games and batted .647. She is having what could ultimately end up being an All-American level season.

This coming week, the Hokies play host to Virginia. The Cavaliers currently sit at 15-5 and 25th in the country. They will have to play a midweek game against Longwood before traveling to Blacksburg. This will be the first in conference game and series of the season, so it will be good to see how the Hokies fare. It is also the first 3 game weekend of the season, I think it’s quite likely that we see how the pitching staff is going to shape up for the rest of the season, particularly over the weekends.