No. 18 Virginia Tech Dominates pitt 9-0 in shutout
Nick Cheshire
March 19, 2021
Alexa Milius makes contact with a pitch during Virginia Tech's doubleheader with Radford on Wednesday. (Virginia Tech Athletics)
BLACKSBURG, Va. — On a brisk Friday evening at Tech Softball Park, Virginia Tech looked like a well-oiled machine in a mercy-rule shutout of Pitt. The Hokies’ pitching staff dazzled once again, only surrendering one hit while striking out ten Panthers in five innings.
Virginia Tech (13-3, 8-3 ACC) continued to catch fire, picking up its fifth straight victory and hunting for a fourth straight ACC series win in as many tries. Pitt (8-12, 3-7 ACC) was left searching for answers with three games left in the weekend series.
Keely Rochard delivered another near-perfect outing, going four innings, striking out eight and only allowing one hit, which was an infield single up the first-base line. She earned the win for the Hokies, moving her to 9-1 with a stifling 1.19 ERA on the campaign.
Mackenzie Osborne relieved Rochard for the fifth and final inning, where she struck out the first two Panthers with ease and forced a ground ball to short, allowing Jayme Bailey to field the high chopper, spin and make an incredible throw to first for the third and final out.
The Hokies set the tone early, and after Rochard struck out the side in the top of the first, the Tech offense sent ten batters to the plate, tallying six runs in the frame and building a comfortable cushion.
Cana Davis and Alexa Milius each drove in two runs on back-to-back hits in the bottom of the first to set the tone. Elsewhere, the 1-2 punch of Kelsey Brown and Cameron Fagan proved instrumental, with each going 2-3, stealing two bases and scoring two runs, respectively.
Brittany Knight pitched the entirety of the contest for the Panthers, surrendering ten hits and walking five. She struggled with command early, walking three straight and allowing for a prolonged Hokies’ at-bat in the first inning. The loss drops her to 1-5 on the year.
These squads are set to meet three times more on the weekend, with a doubleheader Saturday afternoon and the final matchup on Sunday at 12 p.m.