Syracuse softball falls to VT 13-2, eliminated from playoff contention
Syracuse softball dropped its fifth straight game Saturday, officially eliminating it from playoff contention for a second consecutive season. Keenan Sawada | Contributing Photographer
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For a second straight season, Syracuse’s ticket to the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament is unpunched.
Entering Saturday, the Orange didn’t control their destiny. In addition to needing to close their season with consecutive wins over a Virginia Tech squad that handed them their eighth run-rule loss of the year Friday, SU needed NC State to drop its last two contests of its campaign to No. 24 Louisville.
In the event both came to pass, Syracuse would’ve secured the ACC’s 12th and final seed thanks to an edge in win percentage. Due to a couple of March cancellations, a six-win Syracuse season would have featured one less loss than a six-win NC State season.
It’s a what-if now, as SU (18-25, 4-17 ACC) fell 13-2 to No. 17 Virginia Tech (43-9, 17-6 ACC) Saturday afternoon, guaranteeing Sunday’s series finale as SU’s last game of the 2026 season.
Syracuse’s first two games against Virginia Tech this weekend resulted in a pair of run-rule losses by the end of the fifth inning and a combined minus-22 run differential.
“I just didn’t feel it was competitive,” SU head coach Shannon Doepking told CitrusTV Saturday, speaking on the Orange’s loss.
But for an inning and a half Saturday, it was. Addison Foster’s lead-off opposite field single into shallow left in the top of the first was the Hokies’ only hit through two trips to the plate. In the top of the second, starting pitcher Madison Knight and Co. retired the side.
Syracuse was playing clean defense, earning six straight outs on balls in play to open the afternoon.
At the dish, the Orange filled the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first. Knight worked a 3-2 count, fouling three pitches, and drew a walk on a checked swing. Jadyn Burney went up in the count 3-0, showed bunt, and watched a strike, then walked, too. Vanessa Flores connected on a pitch on the outside edge, poking it over Hokies second baseman Rachel Castine’s head for an opposite field single into shallow right.
Virginia Tech starter Emma Mazzarone nearly pitched her way out of the bases-loaded jam, successively striking out Kendall Gaunt looking and Kaimi Tulua swinging. But Castine fumbled a routine grounder at second by Madelyn Lopez, allowing Lopez to beat the throw to first while Knight crossed home. Then Burney caught VT’s defense sleeping, rounding third and sliding headfirst into home to put Syracuse up 2-0 on a play that should’ve ended the inning.
But as Doepking said, “Virginia Tech was Virginia Tech.” The Hokies started squaring up Knight in the top of the third. Annika Rohs led off the inning by drilling a double off the wall in left-center. Then Knight drilled Foster on her right arm. Both balls landed with a thump. Knight continued to pitch inside, leading to a brief conference in the circle before Lynch walked to put runners on first and second.
Ducks on the pond for Nora Abromavage and Kylie Aldridge, whose back-to-back line drives escaped the infield and scored three runs, chased Knight out of the game after only two innings on the rubber. SU’s 2-0 lead flipped into a 3-2 deficit.
Virginia Tech went on to score five runs in the top of the third. It piled on six more in the top of the fourth and tacked on its final two in the top of the fifth. Syracuse, meanwhile, didn’t record another hit the rest of the way. It had just one base runner after the first inning, courtesy of a Knight walk in the bottom of the fifth.
That was far from enough to keep pace with the ACC’s most productive offense. Virginia Tech’s lineup racked up 10 hits, including three that went for extra bases. Two of those three left Skytop Softball Stadium, with both Lynch and Castine homering in the top of the fourth.
Just as hits started falling for the Hokies, the Orange’s defense unraveled. Nearly half of the Hokies’ runs (six of 13) were unearned. The Orange made three errors and, with four pitchers — Knight (two innings pitched), Rose Cano (1.2 IP), Jackie Pengel (0.1 IP) and Sydney Jackson (one IP) — walked eight VT batters, threw three wild pitches and struck one hitter.
“A lot of freebies,” Doepking said. “A lot of miscues. I think when you shoot yourself in the foot against a team like that, it compounds quickly, and it’s hard to recover. You tip your hat. They’re just a better team.”
