Five-run fifth propels No. 3 Hokies over Cavaliers in Game 1 Clash

By Colby Talley

Staff Writer

April 14, 2022

BLACKSBURG — The exceptionally-sized crowd at Tech Softball Park fell close to silent in the fourth inning of Thursday’s game when Virginia designated player Tori Gilbert crushed a solo home run to deep left field.

Gilbert had just given the Cavaliers (22-20, 8-8 Atlantic Coast) a one-run lead against a Virginia Tech (31-5, 14-1 Atlantic Coast) team that wasn’t just the No. 3 team in the nation, but also a team that had beaten Virginia 12 consecutive times coming into 2022’s first Commonwealth Clash on the softball diamond.

Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, the small seeds of doubt they had planted in the minds of the Hokie faithful were soon washed away, as the home squad broke into the scoring column with five runs in the fifth inning and cruised to a 5-1 victory.

The bottom of the fifth got started for the Hokies when Kelsey Brown, pinch-hitting for starter Addy Greene, lined a triple over Virginia center fielder Lauren VanAssche.

Jayme Bailey stepped up in the next at-bat with a single that drove in Brown and tied the game at one.

The rough start to the inning compelled Virginia head coach Joanna Hardin to replace starting pitcher Aly Rayle, who had started the game with four scoreless innings, with Mackenzie Wooten.

Despite getting a fresh arm in the circle, the change came back to bite Hardin’s squad as Wooten proceeded to give up three hits, two of which led to RBIs from Cameron Fagan and Darby Trull, while only registering one out. Wooten was almost immediately pulled while Rayle returned to the circle, giving up two more RBI hits to Emma Ritter and Meredith Slaw before finally ending the inning.

Pitcher Keely Rochard — as she tends to do — also played a key role in the Hokies’ victory. Outside of the home run given up to Gilbert, Rochard held the Cavaliers scoreless for almost the entire game while striking out twelve batters.

Making Rochard’s performance even more impressive was that it came on a night where she seemed to somewhat struggle with control. Many of Rochard’s pitches were thrown high or pulled wide, making senior catcher Mackenzie Lawter go to work behind the plate to keep them in front of her.

No matter how off Rochard seemed — and by her standards, a one-run, complete game start qualifies — her career trends against the Cavaliers just couldn’t be broken. Across her past six starts against her squad’s in-state rival, Rochard had only given up one run, four walks and 10 total hits. Additionally, one of Rochard’s starts turned into a no-hitter while three of them became one hit performances.

While the opening game loss doesn’t bode well for the Cavaliers, they can still come away with some positivity. Outside of the fifth inning, the Hokies had very few answers for the Cavalier pitching, particularly the starter, Rayle.