Virginia Tech bounces back at TaxAct Invitational thanks to Emma Lemley
The No. 9 Virginia Tech Hokies won a hard fought contest against the Nebraska Cornhuskers 6-4 Friday evening.
Emma Lemley led the team to victory, pitching a complete game in Virginia Tech’s second matchup of the day at the TaxAct Clearwater Invitational.
Tech got off to an early 2-0 lead following a pair of errors in the first inning, but Nebraska’s Billie Andrews quickly answered with a home run to left field to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
The Hokies’ defensive dominance started in the fifth inning, as it retired 10 consecutive batters before the Cornhuskers’ Courtney Wallace poked one down the right field line. Mya Felder tailed with a single of her own to center field, before Lemley struck out sophomore Ava Bredwell to end the game.
Lemley finished with five strikeouts while the Hokies’ fielding provided excellent backup with eight flyouts and eight groundouts. The highlight of the night was junior infielder Cameron Fagan’s leaping grab over her right shoulder at second base to retire Katelyn Caneda in the seventh inning.
Virginia Tech’s bats didn’t have time to cool off after its impressive five homerun loss to Oklahoma State earlier Friday, going yard with another three by Bre Peck, Kelsey Bennett, and Madison Hanson against Nebraska. This marks their most ever in a two-game span with eight.
The Cornhuskers have had a brutal schedule in Clearwater thus far, with three straight matchups against top-ten ranked opponents in No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 2 UCLA, and No. 9 Virginia Tech. Their weekend won’t get much easier with the 7-1 Texas A&M Aggies and No. 4 Arkansas on the agenda.
Today’s win brings the Hokies to 6-1 on the season. They’ll look to continue this weekend’s offensive clinic Saturday against No. 2 UCLA at 4 p.m. and No. 10 Arizona at 7 p.m., and Sunday with South Florida at noon.
