VIRGINIA TECH SMACKS CLEMSON AROUND; TAKES FIRST LEG OF DH, 9-0

Chris Hirons

February 20, 2021

CLEMSON, S.C. — No. 14 Virginia Tech had already jumped out to a six-run lead when right fielder Jayme Bailey hit a home run off of the right field scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning.

After scoring just a single run in a loss to Clemson the day before, the Hokies found the jump start they needed on offense.

Clemson manager John Rittman took the walk out of the dugout and replaced the Tigers’ starter, Valerie Cagle, before the game could get more out of hand. He called on Logan Caymol to record three outs and send to keep Clemson within striking distance when the offense came up to bat in the fourth inning.

Two walks later and on a 1-1 count, disaster struck the Clemson dugout.

The Tigers’ right-handed reliever went into her underhand windup and left the ball over the middle part of the plate for Meredith Slaw to drop her shoulder and lunge forward at the ball in the left-handed batter’s box.

At the sound of contact, Slaw knew it was gone. The Hokies’ first baseman didn’t bust it out of the box. Instead, she watched the ball fly over the wall before trotting the bases with a smile on her face after putting Virginia Tech up by nine runs.

Whether Virginia Tech yelled at its bats after a quiet night in the batter’s box on Thursday or just took extra swings in the cage, the Hokies’ offense came to play during the first leg of Friday afternoon’s double header. A seven-run third inning propelled Virginia Tech (4-1, 1-1 ACC) to a 9-0 five inning mercy rule victory over Clemson (3-1, 1-1 ACC).

Backed by two hits from the K.B. duo (Kelsey Brown and Kelsey Bennett), the Hokies racked up 14 baserunners on nine hits and five walks.

The pitching was just as dominant.

Six days after blanking Kennesaw State, freshman Ivy Rosenberry posted her second career shutout in as many starts, holding Clemson to just three hits — all coming in separate innings. The Winchester, Va. native struck out two in her five innings of work, bringing her season total to four.

While Clemson’s bats were unable to wake up, Tech’s bats came alive with a two-run second inning.

After a walk and a double from Bennett, Slaw (four RBIs) drove in her first run of the game after grounding out to third. Second baseman Addy Greene followed Slaw’s RBI with a down the left field line to drive in Bennett to extend the lead to 2-0.

After Virginia Tech killed Clemson’s rally in the third inning with a double play, the Hokies’ put together an offensive explosion and put up seven runs in the third inning. After Brown singled to open the inning and stole second, Designated Player Morgan Overaitis singled in Brown to extend the lead to three.

The score broke wide open after the aforementioned three-run homers from Bailey and Slaw.

Clemson went down without a whimper in the fourth and fifth innings, only mustering a single hit from Cagle in the fourth.

As the bats went ice cold in the soggy, cold weather in Clemson on Thursday, the sun reappeared on Friday afternoon to warm the offense up.