rochard's no-hitter leads no. 15 virginia tech to series win

Caleb Wetzel

April 18, 2021

BLACKSBURG — No. 15 Virginia Tech (28-7, 19-7 ACC) hit five home runs and had nine hits in Sunday’s 12-0 win against Georgia Tech (13-23, 7-19 ACC), but that wasn’t the story of the day.

Junior Keely Rochard (20-4) has had countless spectacular pitching performances this season. She has thrown 12 shutouts, two in which she struck out 19 batters. She delivered another memorable performance here in the final game of the series, notching her first no-hitter of the season.

Rochard was dominant all day, pounding the zone and forcing Yellow Jacket hitters to make weak contact with the ball. Sunday was a bit of a bounce back performance for her after taking the loss and allowing six runs in Friday’s loss.

The Hokie bats stayed hot, as they have all weekend, smashing five home runs and putting up 12 runs on the day. The offense scored in each of the four innings it batted in, and put up a whopping eight runs in the third.

Things started quickly in the first inning when left fielder Kelsey Brown scored the first run of the day on a sacrifice fly from Alexa Milius. Before the sac fly, Brown advanced to second on a groundout and then stole third to help get herself 60 feet away from scoring.

First baseman Jayme Bailey began the home run parade in the second inning, hitting it deep to left-center, scoring third baseman Kelsey Bennett, who led off the inning with a single. The deep fly added some padding, extending the Virginia Tech lead to three, but the real insurance came in the third inning.

The Hokies’ offense exploded, scoring eight runs on six hits, two walks, and three home runs in the third.

Designated player Cana Davis hit a no doubter to center field that scored two runs. Bennett then followed up with one of her own, a three-run homerun to left.

Later in the inning, second baseman Addy Greene came up to bat for the second time in the inning and hit a three-run bomb to right center, extending the Hokies lead to 11-0.

Bennett hit the ball well driving in three runs and going 2-for-3 at the plate. Greene led the way at the plate as well, she went 1-for-2 with two RBIs, two runs and a walk.

The final Virginia Tech run came in the bottom of the fourth when catcher Mackenzie Lawter hit a solo shot to left just short of Beamer Way.

In the top of the fifth, Rochard struck out the first two batters and forced shortstop Jin Sileo to fly out to left to preserve the no-hitter.

Rochard only had three strikeouts on the day, unusual for her as she averages about nine strikeouts a game. Nevertheless, she was dominant and only allowed three base runners, two from walks and one on an error.

The Hokies extend their series win streak to nine after winning three of this weekend’s four games. They still have yet to lose or split a series on the year.

Virginia Tech takes on Notre Dame next weekend at home, with the first game of the series starting at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Georgia Tech travels to Alabama to take on Troy this Wednesday at 5 p.m.