No. 15 VIRGINIA tech dominates nc state to win weekend series
Colby Talley
March 15, 2021
Keely Rochard throws a pitch against Clemson on February 20. (Virginia Tech Athletics)
Raleigh, N.C. — No. 15 Virginia Tech put together a historic offensive performance on Sunday as it claimed its third win against NC State to clinch the weekend series.
The Hokies (10-3, 7-3 ACC) opened up the game in the second inning with a pair of home runs from outfielders Kelsey Bennett and Cana Davis. However, the lead would be short-lived as the Wolfpack (12-6, 8-6 ACC) would retaliate with a game-tying three-run homerun from catcher Sam Sack.
The third inning would see the Hokies go up for good as Kelsey Bennett hit another two-run home run to put the team up, 5-3. The Wolfpack would shorten the deficit to one run with a home run from infielder Logan Morris in the bottom half of the third.
After a quiet fourth inning on both sides, the Hokie offense exploded in the fifth inning as the team scored a total of 12 runs to stretch the lead 17-4. The historic inning was highlighted by a grand slam from catcher Alexa Milius, which broke the game wide open.
The Wolfpack would fail to bring the deficit back down to eight in the bottom of the fifth inning resulting in a mercy rule win for the Hokies. Sunday marked Tech’s second straight mercy rule victory of the weekend after its 12-2 victory in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday.
The Hokies managed to break the team record for home runs in a single game with eight, as well as the record for total bases in a game with 41. Additionally, Kelsey Bennett broke the team record for home runs in one game for a single player with three. Bennett also came up one RBI short of tying the record in that category with seven.
Pitcher Keely Rochard picked up her third complete game victory of the weekend. Rochard gave up 12 hits and eight runs in 20 total innings of work, while throwing a total 367 pitches in her three starts against NC State.
The Hokies will return to action on March 17and will host Radford in a doubleheader. Both games will start at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.