Cards Come Up Short at No. 3/3 Virginia Tech

Friday, April 22

Blacksburg, VA

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

24-18, 8-8

Virginia Tech

34-6, 16-2

Louisville

Virginia Tech

Photo by: Adam Creech | Louisville Athletics

April 22, 2022 | Softball

Box Score

By: Lori Harmon

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The University of Louisville softball team staged a late-inning rally, but came up short in a 4-3 loss at No. 3/3 Virginia Tech Friday evening at Tech Softball Park in the opening game of an ACC series.

The teams will meet again on Saturday at 2 p.m. in an ACC Network Extra televised matchup.

With two outs in the top of the seventh and trailing 4-2, the Cardinals started a two-out rally. Back-to-back hits by Ally Alexander and Jenna Servi set up Carmyn Greenwood's RBI single down the left field line to make the score 4-3 and place the potential tying run in scoring position and the go-ahead run on first. Korbe Otis connected on a single to left field, but Servi was tagged out at the plate while trying to score the equalizer.

Otis, Servi and Greenwood each had two hits in the game and Vanessa Miller registered her fifth homer of the season to help lead Louisville at the plate. Taylor Roby (13-7) took the loss after surrendering four earned runs on nine hits and striking out one in six innings. The Cards played solid defense which featured a pair of double plays and two outs at the plate by catcher Kendall Smith.

The Hokies (34-6, 16-2 ACC) jumped to an early lead in the bottom of the first when Cameron Fagan led off with a single and eventually scored on a groundout by Bre Peck.

The Cardinals (24-18, 9-8) staved off a Virginia Tech scoring opportunity in the bottom of the second when the Hokies had runners at second and third and Servi fielded Jayme Bailey's grounder to third base and fired a strike to Smith who tagged Darby Trull out at the to keep the score at 1-0.

Louisville answered in the third with Vanessa Miller's fifth home run of the season, a towering shot over centerfield to even the score at 1-1.

The Cardinals' defense was clutch again in the home half of third when the Hokies had a runner at first with one out in the inning and shortstop Ally Alexander caught a line drive up the middle and teamed with Hannah File at first base for an inning-ending double play.

Tech pulled ahead again with a run in the fourth behind Kelsey Bennett's RBI hit. The Cards limited the damage by turning their second double play of the game when Roby caught Mackenzie Lawter looking for a called strikeout and Smith teamed with Alexander to catch pinch runner Maija Louko attempted to steal second to end fourth.

Virginia Tech added to its lead with another run in the fifth, but not before the Cardinals thwarted a scoring opportunity with another out at the plate. Bailey, who had reached on a leadoff double and moved to third on Fagan's flyout attempted to score on a bunt by Overaitis, but Servi fielded the ball and tossed it to Smith who applied the tag for the second out of the inning. Slaw followed with an RBI single to make the score 3-1.

The Cardinals got a run back in the sixth when back-to-back doubles by Carmyn Greenwood and Korbe Otis cut the lead to one run.

Ally Repko's RBI double in the sixth extended the Hokies' lead to 4-2.

Keely Rochard (19-2) picked up the win for Virginia Tech after giving up three earned runs on eight hits and striking out 12 in a complete game effort. Trull went 2-for-3 to pace the Hokies offensively.

NOTES:

Carmyn Greenwood has now reached base safely via a hit or walk in 13 straight games.
Friday's game marks the third time this season the Cards turned a pair of double plays. Louisville has tallied 22 double plays this season and leads the ACC in that category. The school record for double plays turned in a season is 25 - set in the 2019 campaign.
The Cardinals have belted out 51 home runs this season, marking the most since 2014 when the Cards produced 54 dingers. The school record is 63 set in the 2013 campaign. Nine different players have registered at least one home run on the season with eight of them tallying multiple homers.