No. 13 Virginia Tech Shuts Down NC State in ACC Home Opener
No. 13 Virginia Tech shuts down NC State in ACC Home Opener
The No. 13 Virginia Tech Hokies shut out NC State at home Friday, claiming their first ACC victory.
The 7-0 shutout featured the Hokies’ reigning ACC Pitcher of the Week Emma Lemley and the Wolfpack’s Madison Inscoe to start the game in the circle. This marked Lemley’s third shutout and fourth game with double-digit strikeouts this season. The sophomore now has 85 strikeouts this year and she stands alone with the most in the ACC. Lemley sits in second amongst strikeout leaders in the NCAA, trailing No. 2 UCLA’s Megan Faraimo by six.
Tech started off hot, dropping five singles in the bottom of the first inning to take a commanding 4-0 lead. Sophomore Bre Peck followed up in the second inning with a triple off the very top of the right field wall, and hustled into home on an errant throw for an inside the park home run.
The scoring column stayed quiet throughout the third and fourth, but the Hokies further solidified their five-run lead with Jayme Bailey scoring on another error, and pinch runner Kelsey Brown hustling in from third on a sac fly to the right fielder.
Tech couldn’t quite reach the eight-run lead to end the game outright in the fifth. The game continued on with just one hit through the last two innings.
The 5-11 Wolfpack haven’t been able to put the pieces together yet this season, now without head coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift and assistant coach Patrick Swift following their release on Thursday. Another assistant coach, Deven Boland, will take the reigns in the meantime as the team seeks a permanent replacement.
Virginia Tech will continue its series with NC State on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at noon. The gloomy weather looks to be clearing up as the weekend goes on, making for much better conditions than Friday’s cold, misty contest.
