Virginia Tech Sweeps DH against Clemson

Chris Hirons

February 20, 2021

CLEMSON, S.C. — On the fourth pitch in the home half of the first inning, Clemson centerfielder McKenzie Clark reached for a pitch on the opposite side of the plate and pulled it sky high down the left field line.

Kelsey Brown immediately broke towards foul territory, covering over 60 feet in just four seconds. The Virginia Tech left fielder began her slide on the warning track in foul territory and caught the fly ball as she hit the ground.

She slid feet first into the wall, popped back up, and threw it back to the infield after recording the first out of the inning.

To that point, she had already singled, stole second and scored on a Cameron Fagan single in the previous half inning. Brown added two more hits in her next three at-bats — giving her four on the day — and made a second miraculous catch in the sixth inning.

With a runner on first and an out (the Tigers only trailed by three, at this point), Valerie Cagle popped the first pitch up to the exact same spot as Clark. This time, though, with the shift on, Brown was playing more towards centerfield with the left-handed Cagle at the dish.

Brown turned towards foul territory, running about 75 feet before crashing into the wall with a full head of steam. She pulled herself up, though she seemed to be a bit shaken up, and ran back to her position as cool, calm and collected as she could be.

Brown’s extra effort in the field and at the dish helped seal No. 14 Virginia Tech’s (5-1, 2-1 ACC) double header sweep Friday after, which included a 4-1 win over Clemson (3-2, 1-2 ACC) in the second game.

After losing 8-1 on Thursday afternoon and committing three errors, VT came out of the gates ready to play, even after beating the Tigers 9-0 half-an-hour before game two’s first pitch crossed the plate. In the loss, pitcher Keely Rochard was chased from the game after giving up six runs (only one was earned, however) in four innings of work.

On Friday, though, Rochard found her groove early as the junior pitcher threw her third complete game of the season. Rochard pounded the strike zone early, throwing 95 pitches and punching out four along the way.

After picking up nine hits in the first leg of the double header on Friday, the Hokies continued the hot bats and recorded eight hits and a walk. The offense only struck out twice as designated player Grace Chavez and catcher Mackenzie Lawter struck out once each.

Chavez, though, made up for her strikeout when she homered down the left field line and extended VT’s lead to 3-0.

Unlike Friday’s first game, the Tigers put together a rally late when right fielder Marissa Guimbarda smacked a double down the left field line, driving in pinch runner Jaden Cheek to cut Virginia Tech’s lead to just two.

Tech, however, got the run back right away. Brown singled to center, stole second and was driven in by another Fagan single to center field to put the Hokies back up three, 4-1.

Clemson went down with relative ease in the bottom half of the seventh after a leadoff single that was erased on a game-ending double play.

Virginia Tech put together one of its most complete performances Friday afternoon and proved that not even a padded wall down the left field line could stop Brown or the Hokies’ from soaring.