For the second time in program history, the Virginia Tech softball team has advanced to the NCAA super regionals behind an 11-3 win in five innings over BYU in Saturday’s Tempe Regional final.
Sophomore Alexa Milius delivered a walk-off, solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to send the No. 21/22 Hokies (36-13) into the next round with a run-rule victory. Junior pitcher Keely Rochard (29-8) picked up her third win of the regional, throwing another complete game and holding the Cougars (38-17) to three runs on six hits.
The Hokies hit five home runs in Saturday’s contest, tied for the second-most all season with April 18’s game versus Georgia Tech and behind the program-record eight homers hit at NC State on March 14. Kelsey Bennett hit her second homer of the regional and ended the weekend going 9 for 11, including 7 for her last 7 at-bats.
Tech last advanced to the super regionals in 2008 when they moved on to the Women’s College World Series. However, this year marks the first time ever that the Hokies went undefeated (3-0) in an NCAA Regional.
“It’s hard to describe what winning a regional means to us,” Tech head coach Pete D’Amour said. “I told the ladies prior to game 1 that ‘they earned the right to play well’ this weekend. It hasn’t been an easy year. They’ve done everything I’ve asked of them and more. I’m thankful to my staff, our support staff, and our players. I’m looking forward to leading this team next weekend.”
THE GAME
After the Hokies got their first two batters aboard in the bottom of the first inning, Milius hit an infield single and Kelsey Brown came home from third to get Tech on the board early. Two batters later, Bennett singled to right field, and Cameron Fagan scored to double the first-inning lead.
Tech got another run in the second inning from a Darby Trull RBI bunt single before doing some real damage in the bottom of the third. Bennett opened the scoring spree with a solo homer to center field, and then Grace Chavez hit a pinch-hit, two-run bomb over the right field wall to put the Hokies up six. Tech would take a 7-0 lead into the fourth inning after Brown hit an infield single, scoring Trull from second base.
Jayme Bailey put the Hokies up by eight in the bottom of the fourth with a solo blast to right center field. However, Tech needed to go to the bottom of the fifth inning after BYU scored three runs in the top half. Fagan answered for the Hokies with a two-run homer that scored Brown before Milius ended it in the next at-bat to send Virginia Tech to the super regionals.
Rochard was nearly flawless through the first four innings, surrendering just three hits to the Cougars and not allowing a runner past second base. She ended the game with 11 strikeouts and just one walk.
Bennett finished her second-career regionals with an .818 batting average, two home runs, and four runs batted in. The sophomore led the team in the regular season with 11 homers.
In her first time in the NCAA regionals, Milius led the team with five runs batted in on the weekend. She tied with Bennett and Fagan for the most homers for the Hokies in Arizona with two.
Rochard got the win in all three of Tech’s regional victories, throwing 19 innings with 27 strikeouts and just seven runs allowed.
In this weekend’s NCAA super regionals, Tech will play the winner of the Los Angeles Regional hosted by the No. 2 national seed, UCLA.