Syracuse softball allows season-high 5 HRs in loss to No. 17 Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech hit five home runs in its win over Syracuse Sunday. It’s SU's first time being mercy-ruled in all three games of a series since 2019. Keenan Sawada | Contributing Photographer
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Glance at the stat sheet of Syracuse’s mercy-rule loss Sunday, and it would seem SU’s infield erased its issues from Saturday. On the heels of a performance that saw six combined errors and wild pitches, the Orange posted zeros in both columns.
The problem? SU’s outfielders were left staring at the sky.
“They’re just unbelievable, they’re just the better team,” Syracuse head coach Shannon Doepking told CitrusTV.
Go figure. Virginia Tech entered Sunday leading the Atlantic Coast Conference in batting average (.362), home runs (101), slugging percentage (.656) and hits (535).
No. 17 VT (44-9, 18-6 Atlantic Coast) knocked five home runs in its 12-1 run-rule win over Syracuse (18-26, 4-18 ACC) Sunday. It’s the most home runs SU has allowed in a single game since 2021. Virginia Tech’s five homers brought its total to nine across the series, which it swept in three consecutive mercy rulings, marking the first time Syracuse has lost a series that way since Florida State in 2019.
“I said it yesterday, and we saw it again today,” Doepking said. “We had a little bit of life, we had a little bit of hope, and they put up a crooked number quickly on us.”
That “little bit of hope” came with Julianna Verni in the circle. Her rise balls and drop balls initially limited VT to just two hits. But in the third, the Hokies caught on. It’s been the story of SU’s season.
Of the 36 home runs Syracuse allowed in ACC play, 27 came in the third inning or later, including eight of the Hokies’ nine.
On Friday, Rachel Castine homered after the third. Her three-run fourth-inning bomb added to Jordan Lynch’s in the second. Saturday saw Lynch’s fourth-inning solo home run spell Syracuse’s eventual defensive collapse. On Sunday, Nora Abromavage started the fire.
Verni seemed to be cruising through the bottom of the third with two outs and one runner on. Then, Abromavage stepped to the plate, and Verni served a meatball down the center. Abromavage’s swing was just in time to send her 17th home run of the season deep over the right field wall.
Virginia Tech’s second and third home runs came soon after. Up 2-1 in the fourth frame, Castine sent a moon shot to center field. Zoe Yaeger followed suit, pulling a shot over left field. Each home run VT logged on Verni stemmed from pitches in the middle of the strike zone, and the back-to-back solo bombs forced Doepking to turn to Knight in the circle.
But Knight didn’t fare much better. After Michelle Chatfield laced a two-RBI double down the left field line, the Hokies’ Kylie Aldridge entered the batter’s box. Aldridge wasn’t a usual power threat on a Virginia Tech team that boasts four hitters with double-digit homers.
Her eight homers entering Friday placed her two outside the group, tied for fifth on the team with Yaeger. But after Yaeger’s bomb earlier in the inning, Aldridge had to make up ground.
Knight’s pitch was outside, less accessible than Verni’s serves, but it didn’t matter. The tip of Aldridge’s bat connected with the ball, which landed in the netting behind center field. The score concluded Virginia Tech’s seven-run rally in the bottom of the fourth.
The Hokies’ final home run had similar undertones. Across the series’ first two games, Lynch led the charge, homering first in both. She entered Sunday sporting a team-leading .438 batting average. Despite Verni allowing three of the five home runs, she held Lynch to 1-of-2, limiting Virginia Tech’s most productive hitter to just a single.
In the top of the fifth, Gaby Mizelle and Annika Rohs both singled to bring up Lynch. Then, on the seventh pitch of her two-out at-bat, Lynch pulled Knight’s offering to left field, hitting the top of the fence before falling over.
Lynch’s knock extended VT’s lead to 11 and ended SU’s hopes of a full seven innings.
It’s not the first time Syracuse has been undone by multiple home runs. SU’s 11-6 loss to Florida State on March 15 and its 13-5 drubbing to Louisville on April 24 are recent examples. Sunday, however, was the same story as the two days prior.
“They brought it to us all weekend,” Doepking said. “We didn’t have an answer for anything.”
