Hokies survive drama, chaos to down Seminoles in nine innings

By Ishan Lamba

Staff Writer

April 9, 2022

With Florida State down to its last out, trailing by one in the eighth inning, Michaela Edenfield strolled into the batter’s box.

Back against the wall, she grounded the ball to Bre Peck at third. Peck picked it up and launched it to Jayme Bailey, but she got way too much air under it, and the ball flew in front of the FSU dugout.

“Run, run,” the dugout and fans screamed. Bailey finally retrieved it as Edenfield neared third and chucked it home, and this time, the ball flew over Keely Rochard’s head. Edenfield sprinted home and scored a little-league home run!

The crowd rose to their feet, the Tomahawk Chop as loud as could be. In the next at-bat, Devyn Flaherty crushed the ball to deep center field. The contact was as good as any all night. Darby Trull retreated back, looking up helplessly.

Pause.

At this moment, almost everyone watching that game expected that to be the moment that Florida State ended the game on a tremendous walk off homer on a night dominated by pitching.

Instead, the ball struck the top two inches of the wall, bouncing back into play and giving No. 5 Virginia Tech (28-4, 12-0 Atlantic Coast) a lifeline –– one they would use to secure the victory over No. 3 Florida State (36-3, 10-3 ACC) an inning later, 6-3.

The matchup was billed not just as a top-five battle, but also a battle of the nation’s premier pitchers in Rochard and Kathryn Sandercock. As expected, the pitcher’s duel was on from the get-go.

While both pitchers let up a walk in the first inning, they kept hitters under their thumbs.

Fifteen batters strolled up to the plate, and 15 were retired. The game was on complete lockdown.

FSU’s Kaley Mudge changed that in the bottom of the fourth inning after battling for a nine-pitch walk, then advancing to second on a wild pitch.

Syden Sherrill broke the hit-drought in the game with an RBI double into center to put the Seminoles on the board first.

Sherrill sauntered to third on a riser that got away from Mackenzie Lawter. After Michaela Edenfield drew a walk, Devyn Flaherty skied a ball into shallow right center.

Coaches often stress the importance of communication, and the ensuing play is the reason why, as Darby Trull came steaming in from center when Cameron Fagan seemed to have it covered. Both retreated, letting the ball fall to the turf and giving Sherrill a free run to the plate.

Rochard closed the inning out, after some nervy moments, but Florida State made the first significant dent, up 2-0 through four innings.

Meredith Slaw took issue with the way the scoreboard looked and decided to adjust it to her liking.

After Jayme Bailey reached on a fielding error by the typically stellar Josie Muffley, Slaw fetched a low, outside pitch for an opposite-field home run to tie up the game at two.

Following the two flukey moments, the star pitchers opted to return the spectators to their regularly scheduled programming: Ks and flyouts.

The Seminoles applied pressure in the bottom of the sixth, after Edenfield drew a walk and Flaherty hit a single that turned into a double with heads-up baserunning.

With two runners in scoring position, Rochard had ice in her veins to retire Kalei Harding for the final out.

Rochard and Sandercock felt courteous enough to treat everyone to some free softball, as they kept hitters down through regulation.

Up to bat first in extras: Meredith Slaw.

Slaw hadn’t had a crack at Sandercock in a couple innings, and gave her another moment she’d likely want to forget.

On another wide pitch, Slaw nailed it into left field, and Mudge watched helplessly as it sailed over her head.

The Hokies led for the first time in the ball game, up 3-2, and were one out away from a tight, scrappy win when disaster struck.

Edenfield’s four-bagger swung the pendulum of momentum heavily in favor of the Seminoles ,and Flaherty’s shot into center seemed to be the game’s rightful conclusion.

When the ball bounced back off the very top of the wall, Flaherty was still speeding around the bases. Trull had a heads-up play to chase the ball down with relative quickness and stop Flaherty on third. Any delay or fumble likely would’ve resulted in Flaherty heading to the plate.

Instead, she’d remain at third and eventually be stranded as Rochard struck out Harding to strand runners for the second time on the night.

The Hokies lived to see another inning, but the momentum was clearly not on their side.

Kelsey Bennett grounded out to start the inning but Emma Ritter worked a seven-pitch walk.

With Ritter on base, Trull, already having a great night in the field, drilled a no-doubter into right-center field to put Tech ahead 5-3.

Despite allowing just four hits through 8 ⅓ innings, the fact that three of them were home runs was too much for head coach Lonni Alameda to ignore, and she pulled Sandercock.

Emma Wilson was given relief duties, and she struggled in her limited time in the circle, hitting Bailey, surrendering a single to Slaw, and giving up another run off an RBI single from pinch hitter Addy Greene.

With a three-run cushion, Rochard, battling fatigue, maintained her composure for the final three outs and secured one of the most memorable wins in VT softball history.

This win adds to Tech’s already impressive résumé and keeps its perfect ACC start alive. The team will look to keep it rolling tomorrow, with first pitch slated at 1 pm. The game will be available on ACC Network Extra.