Second Pitcher's Duel Ends in Another Shutout for no. 8 VT

By Ishan Lamba

Staff Writer

February 18, 2022

As the fans adorned in crimson and white cheered her on, Ally Shipman lifted an outside, rising pitch into the wind, with enough power to get it beyond the left field wall to give her squad a 2-0 lead.

That play would be all that was required, as No. 2 Alabama (7-0) pitched a second straight shutout of the No. 8 Hokies (7-2) Saturday afternoon in front of a sold out crowd at Rhoads Stadium.

If you tuned into today’s match, you would be forgiven for thinking it was a rerun of the game yesterday.

It was another pitcher’s duel, this one between Virginia Tech’s Emma Lemley and Alabama’s Lexi Kilfoyl, but it didn’t start out that way.

Tech, after getting just three hits all game against the Tide yesterday, got three in its first three at-bats.

A trio of singles from Kelsey Brown, Cameron Fagan, and Jayme Bailey loaded the bases with no outs, putting the team in tremendous position to take an early lead.

A Meredith Slaw lineout directly to Ashley Prange at third doomed the inning, as Prange was able to snatch the hit and drop to the dirt quick enough to tag Brown for the double play.

Kelsey Bennett fouled out, ending the inning and stranding two runners.

The freshman Lemley started in the circle against the No. 2 ranked team in the country and did not disappoint early. Through her first 58 pitches, she pitched just four balls, three of which were because of illegal pitches.

In contrast to Kilfoyl’s drop ball, which consistently had the Hokies swinging at their knees to try and get underneath, Lemley was delivering risers with pace.

It was not uncommon to see Alabama batters barely catch the ball with the tip of their bat and foul it away. Lemley induced 40 foul balls on her 89 pitches.

Through four scoreless innings, just eight combined hits were allowed and 10 combined strikeouts.

In the fifth inning, the Hokies squandered another chance to take the lead.

With pinch runner Addy Greene on second, Brown behind her on first, and just one out, Fagan slapped the ball up the middle and, with no hesitation, Greene got the windmill home.

What could’ve been Virginia Tech’s first run against a stingy Alabama defense was thwarted by a perfect throw by Dallis Goodnight that beat Greene to the plate by a mile.

Bailey’s groundout on the very next pitch promptly killed the scoring chance.

Lemley began to show signs of struggling, getting caught in back-to-back full counts against Megan Bloodworth and Kilfoyl. While she was able to escape, Rochard began warming up in the bullpen in the event that Lemley would need relief.

In another missed chance the Hokies will rue, they again had runners on first and second with just one out.

Maddy Federico, the pinch runner, being the lead, took off immediately after Ally Repko, the pinch hitter, guided the ball in between first and second. Morgan Overaitis hesitated and was chased backwards. The Crimson Tide smartly realized they could throw Repko out at first, which they did, before completing the double-play and ending the inning.

The culmination of all these lost opportunities came in the bottom of the sixth. After Prange slipped a single into right field on the first pitch, and advanced to second on the next pitch thanks to a sacrifice bunt by Kaylee Tow, Shipman clobbered a riser into left field for the two-run homer to give Alabama the lead.

While Lemley cleaned up the rest of the inning, the damage had already been done.

In the Hokies’ last chance, their fight ended with a whimper, as the three batters were retired in order to preserve the shutout for their second straight game against the Crimson Tide.

For Virginia Tech, this series still inspired confidence, showing to itself and to fans that the team can duel with other top-10 programs in the country.

Coach D’Amour and the VT coaching staff will look to make further improvements after their final invitational match tomorrow against Evansville.