virginia tech slaughters byu to advance to first super regional since 2008

Nick Cheshire

May 22, 2021

Like clockwork, Saturday night brought continued dominance from Keely Rochard and the high-powered Virginia Tech offense, fueling a mercy-rule victory over BYU to emphatically advance the Hokies to their first super regional since 2008.

Rochard was virtually unstoppable throughout the duration of the Tempe regional, allowing Virginia Tech (36-13) to coast past BYU on Thursday night, Arizona State on Friday and BYU once again in the Tempe regional final.

The Cougars slipped through the elimination bracket, squeezing past the regional host, No. 15-seeded Arizona State with a narrow 9-8 victory on Friday night. It set the stage for a rematch with the Hokies after Virginia Tech won the first matchup, 5-2.

“We didn’t change much [from Thursday], I think Keely needed to be a little bit sharper which she [was] today,” head coach Pete D’Amour said on the ESPN broadcast. “That’s the difference for us.”

On Saturday she truly was as sharp as ever, holding the Cougars scoreless through four on just three hits, and compiled 11 strikeouts.

The lone blemish on her near-flawless outing came in the top of the fifth, up 8-0 and within mercy-rule range, Rochard had BYU down to its final out before a clutch three-run home run from Huntyr Ava that briefly kept the Cougars' hope alive.

Offensively, the fireworks came early and often once again for the Hokies, beginning with a pair of runs in the first inning stemming from a pair of BYU errors committed by shortstop Marrissa Chavez.

After a Darby Trull RBI single in the second, the onslaught continued in the third, including a pair of monstrous home runs, the first being a solo shot from the red-hot Kelsey Bennett, who went 3-3 with two RBI’s.

The second long ball, a two-run homer off the bat of pinch hitter Grace Chavez, effectively put Saturday’s ballgame out of reach.

“Grace has pop, she’s been swinging it well in practice, and I’d rather have two runs than one at that time, so it worked out pretty well,” D’Amour said.

The Hokies remained unfazed after the three late BYU runs came across the plate via the Ava homer, picking up where they left off with three of their own in the bottom of the fifth to secure the mercy-rule victory.

After Cameron Fagan’s two-run homer in the bottom of fifth, Alexus Milius stepped up to the plate knowing that another home run would give the Hokies an eight-run lead and the mercy rule win.

On a 2-1 pitch, Milius swung and sent a deep fly ball towards center field. By her body language, it didn’t look like she knew it was gone at the crack of the bat, taking off for first in a dead sprint.

But as she looked up and saw the ball fly over the center field fence as she rounded first base, the Hokies’ catcher threw her arms up in celebration.

She rounded the third base bag, high-fiving D’Amour, and met her teammates at home plate to celebrate the walkoff, mercy-rule win.

Virginia Tech advances to the Super Regional for just the second time in school history. The first appearance came in 2008 when Angela Tincher led the Hokies to their only WCWS appearance.

Virginia Tech now awaits the winner of the Los Angeles region, hosted by No. 2 UCLA, who has yet to lose. The Bruins would pose more than a formidable challenge to the Hokies should they meet in the Super Regional, and a best-of-three between those two squads would certainly be must-see TV.