No. 22 UCF salvage Finale over No. 5 Virginia Tech

By Colby Talley

Staff Writer

April 4, 2022

Despite only recording one hit in two games on Sunday, the UCF Knights (30-10, 3-0 AAC) came into the series finale on Monday to stun the No. 5 Virginia Tech Hokies (27-4, 11-0 ACC) in eleven innings, 5-4.

The Knights claimed the win when first baseman Shannon Doherty lined a double down the right field line to score Jada Cody from first, ending the game in walk-off fashion.

While Doherty may have played the hero, the true outlier on the stat sheet was designated player Ashleigh Griffin whose two-run homer run in the second inning and RBI-double in the sixth helped keep the Knights in contention.

Making this performance even more impressive was that it came against Hokie aces Keely Rochard and Emma Lemley, two pitchers with sub-1.50 ERAs who shut down the Knights’ bats in Sunday’s doubleheader.

Rochard was pulled from the game after four innings in which she had given three runs on three hits and only stuck out four batters – a low total by Rochard’s standards.

Lemley entered the game in the fifth and pitched the rest of the way, in 6 and ⅓ innings, she struck out 10 batters, but surrendered two runs on six hits, including the one that ultimately lost the Hokies the game.

Regarding the Knights’ pitching, Gianna Mancha, who held the Hokies to one run in her Sunday start despite the loss, gave up four runs on seven hits in five innings.

Conversely, Kama Woodall, who struggled in her Sunday start giving up four runs on nine hits, stepped in for the Mancha in the sixth and pitched six shutout innings from that point forward.

Even more disappointing for the Hokies was how they started off hot at the plate with a two-run lead in the first inning courtesy of a Bre Peck homerun and an RBI-single from Jayme Bailey. That small lead vanished by the end of the second inning.

Overall, this series has left both teams with something important: the Knights get a validating win against a top-five opponent while the Hokies still get to lay claim to another series win against a nationally ranked opponent.