Virginia Tech hosted a NCAA Softball Regional for the very first time this past weekend, and head coach Pete D’Amour’s Hokies experienced more drama in 54 hours than a full season of any Lifetime reality show.
The Hokies were coming off the school’s second ever Super Regional appearance last season and spent a large part of this year as the #2 ranked team in the country. Another name for that spot is the best team not named Oklahoma, and the Hokies rode their wave to the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season crown.
Tech used a combination of timely hitting and a pair of aces performing inside the circle to earn the top seed in last week’s ACC Tournament before coming up short against Clemson in the semifinals, 4-1. The loss dropped VT from the second overall seed to the third spot in the Big Dance, swapping spots with Florida State after the Seminoles knocked off Clemson in the title game.
The first-ever Blacksburg Regional got under way at 2 p.m. on Friday with the top seed and event host Hokies playing St. Francis of Pennsylvania. D’Amour sent his top gun Keely Rochard to the mound. and to the delight of the near-capacity crowd, Rochard was nothing short of complete domination.
The righthander was working on a perfect game until she hit the Red Flash leadoff hitter in the final inning with a pitch. Following her first walk, she closed out the 4-0 no-hitter with 17 strikeouts. Just four players were able to put their bat on the ball throughout the contest to dispel any questions about Rochard struggling a little down the stretch of the season.
The #2 seed Kentucky Wildcats did the SEC proud in the day’s second contest by steam rolling Miami of Ohio by a score of 15-1, with the game ending early under the 8-run mercy rule. Opening Day was in the books, and to the credit of Virginia Tech and the NCAA it went off without a hitch.
All of that would go out the window during the scheduled tripleheader on Saturday. The winners bracket contest between the Hokies and the Wildcats was slated to start with a 3 p.m. first pitch and a national audience with the cameras of ESPN2 all over the park.
The largest crowd in the history of the Hokie softball park were barely in their seats when the park was evacuated just before the start of the game due to a somewhat scary weather radar screen. The majority of the storm managed to miss the complex, but nevertheless it was just over two hours later before the crowd would re-enter, take their seats once again and see the very delayed first pitch.
Emma Lemley followed her fellow ace to the mound and set the Wildcats down quietly in the top of the first inning. The Hokies showed zero cobwebs from the delay, and after the first three batters reached base on a pair of walks and one single, Meredith Slaw created absolute hysteria by crushing a grand slam.
At 6:41 p.m., the bottom of the fifth inning reached its conclusion with very little resistance from the Wildcats normally loud bats. Six outs were all that was left between the Hokies and heading back to their dorm rooms for a relaxing Saturday night before a Sunday coronation after just one more victory.
Kentucky trimmed the lead to 4-1 with a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning, but VT escaped any further damage, taking a three-run advantage to the final frame. The Hokies offense had stalled dramatically after the first four batters crossed home plate, but they still took a 4-2 lead into the seventh.
Lemley returned to the circle to start the seventh, but after some early trouble the freshman gave way to Rochard as the Hokies looked to close out the victory. But everything changed in a blink of an eye when Renee Abernathy ripped a ever so rare Rochard miscue for a three-run homer that would have made Earl Weaver blush. By the time the half inning was completed, the Cats were leading 5-4, and moments later both the crowd and the team were left somewhat stunned.
When the Hokies could not plate the equalizer, the 5-4 defeat knocked VT into the consolation bracket, which would require Tech to win three consecutive elimination games after suffering one of the most heart-breaking losses imaginable.
The Hokies had another obstacle to deal with as the opening game did not end until 7:45 p.m. and the NCAA will not allow a contest to begin after 10:59 p.m. on any given night. St. Francis and Miami would be given 30 minutes to prepare for the start of their game, and that game would have to finish prior to 10:29 for the Hokies to retake their field in hopes of saving their season.
The Tech players were now doing double duty of trying to shake off a tough loss while watching the clock after each half-inning as the Red Flash and the Red Hawks squared off. Some of the players rested while others watched the game from the stands still in the uniforms, that they hoped to wear one more time that night.
Fortunately, the Red Hawks were equally as affected in handcuffing the Red Flash offense as the Hokies were the day before, and a game played at a brisk pace ended with an identical 4-0 score. While St. Francis failed to score in their two 4-0 defeats, they had represented themselves well before their season ended exactly 19 minutes ahead of the cutoff for the night cap to get underway.
The first pitch of the final game took place at 10:40 p.m., and amazingly the large and energetic crowd returned to cheer on the home team at the end of what had already been a rather long day. The Hokies were in the visitors’ dugout and quickly plated a run in the top of the first inning, but Miami responded with a two-spot in both the second and third innings to take a 4-1 lead of their own.
Somewhere one could hear Yogi Berra talking about déjà vu all over again as the visiting team on the scoreboard was trailing 4-1, but the difference for the Hokies was if they failed to rally it would bring a crushing end to a dream season, possibly the best in the school’s history.
The most patient crowd was watching it all slipping away when the Hokies saved their season as both Jayne Bailey and Mackenzie Lawter cleared the outfield wall with a teammate on base. Just as Kentucky flipped a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead, the Hokies season once again had a pulse.
There were just two questions left – could the Hokies close out their 5-4 comeback, and what time would the game actually reach its conclusion? The answers were absolutely and 1:04 a.m as in Sunday morning. Not sure how many sports fans have watched the end of a game take place after 1 a.m. local time, but this group did and did so both loudly and proudly.
Everyone working the event had been there for over 14 hours, and there was still work to do to get the park ready for a noon first pitch in less than 11 hours. Kentucky was in the driver’s seat in two ways, as they had gotten a full night’s sleep and only needed one victory, while a worn-out Hokie squad would have to win a pair to advance to play another day.
Not sure about the amount or quality of sleep VT was able to get, but one thing for sure was their somewhat quiet bats were wide awake from the moment Game 6 started. After falling behind 2-1 early, VT put up crooked numbers in both the fourth and fifth innings before erasing any doubt with another three-run bomb in the top of the seventh to put the game away at 9-2.
The clock read 2:46 p.m. when the blowout finally reached its conclusion, and the teams then switched dugouts for the finale as the Hokies would be the home team for the thrilling Game 7. Mother Nature suddenly felt the need to once again show everyone who’s really in charge as the park was forced to be evacuated for a second time in as many days.
This time the skies would open in a manner that would have had Noah gathering pairs of animals, but once again an incredibly proud crowd willingly headed out to the parking lot to patiently await the all clear to return to their seats. Word spread that 4:30 would be the target for an adjusted start time, and it would hold up fairly close.
Kentucky struck quickly with two solo home runs in the top half of the first before the Hokies answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first. Everything was on the line, and both teams came out swinging as if their seasons depended on it. In a weekend that held a bit of everything, one could imagine D’Amour was asked to leave the game after arguing another illegal pitch call. Now the Hokies trailed 3-2, and they would have to rally without their skipper there to guide them.
This time the Earl Weaver moment took place in the bottom of the fifth inning as Lawter launched a three-run shot to give the Hokies a 5-3 lead, and once again just six outs stood between them and a big victory.
One of the six outs came on a play that ended up at #6 on ESPN’s Sportscenter Top 10 plays when right fielder Emma Ritter brought a ball back from beyond the wall in the top of the sixth inning. The play would grow in importance when the Cats plated what would have then been the tying run in the top of the seventh inning.
Virginia Tech would eventually record the 21st out, and roughly seven hours plus the Hokies prevailed with another 5-4 score, the third such final score in a seven-game weekend.
Not sure if the very first Blacksburg Regional softball would pass a believability test if scripted for a Hollywood movie, but one thing is for sure: there will be a large number of exhausted softball players as well as softball fans in and around the Blacksburg area this week.
Each and every one of them needs to get plenty of rest in the coming days because come Friday, there will be something that will be called the first-ever Blacksburg Super Regional. Not sure if it can match the drama of its predecessor, but it’s a safe bet the joint will be a jumping when the Florida Gators come to town for a best-of-three series. If that goes well, then the Hokies can take their first trip to the College Softball World Series since 2008.
Story by Jerry Carter
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