Virginia Tech Softball: Hokies Go Hitless Against the Seminoles

The No.15 Virginia Tech Hokies (39-10, 17-6 ACC) went hitless against the No.9 Florida State Seminoles (44-7, 18-2) in a rainy weekend contest, 8-0.

On the night of the AUSL draft and senior night, Emma Lemley took the circle for the Hokies against the top ACC team in the conference.

Wasting no time to pick back up where they started last night, the Seminoles opened the scoring in the top of the first against Lemley. Leadoff bat, Isa Torres, reached second on a dribbler back to the circle, in which Lemley fired just over the glove of Michelle Chatfield at first.

Mistakes need to be kept at a minimum against a top-10 foe, and that was proved two batters later. With one out and Torres situated 60 feet away, Jaysoni Beachum lifted the ball to the outfield--deep enough for Torres to tag and score.

With two outs, the Seminoles did the majority of their scoring in game one. Katie Dack followed the trend of game one by sending a flyball soaring out of the park to extend the lead, 2-0, before heading to the bottom of the frame.

Freshman Jazzy Francik made her 30th appearance of the season against the Hokies, the most by any Florida State pitcher. She made quick work of the bottom of the first against the Hokies, just allowing one base runner with a five-pitch walk to catcher Zoe Yaeger.

Redshirt senior Hallie Wacaser worked her way into a full count against Lemley in the top of the second, before Wacaser got the best of the encounter. Clobbering the do-or-die pitch over the head of Lemley to make the contest, 3-0.

Francik uses a variety of pitches and spin angles to get the Hokies out at the plate. Using her high spin rate, Francik attacks the zone, leaving the Hokies with a need to be aggressive to not fall behind in counts. A seven-pitch second inning was the result for Francik, relying on her defense to make three quick outs.

"It seemed like when we watched her on film, we watched a lot of her, she was throwing something different today, a different speed than we prepared for... she was throwing faster,' said Tech head coach Pete D'Amour.

A leadoff single from outfielder Jahni Kerr continued to put the pressure on Lemley. Lemley got her first out of the inning when she forced Beachum to slowly roll over to third base, where Jordan Lynch was only able to get one out at first base. Kerr was now in a scoring position to bring up Dack, who already has an RBI in the contest. She jumped ahead of Lemley 2-0 before the southpaw turned on the delivery, sending a double into right field, extending the innings scored streak and bringing Florida State's lead to 4-0.

Tech earned its second base runner of the game when the lineup rolled over in the bottom of the third. Leadoff star Cori McMillan drew a two-out walk using great plate vision and discipline but it came to no avail, never making the journey past first with how dominant Francik was throwing from the circle.

The Seminoles had scored in every one of the 10 innings up to this point against the Hokies, and Tech needed to find a way to change this pattern to have any chance of salvaging this game or series.

Lemley posted a zero in the top of the fourth with some help from her defense, after a leadoff double from Angelee Bueno and a SAC bunt placed her at third. A sharply hit ball to Annika Rohs at short meant she had enough time to fire home in time to beat the sliding Beuno for the second out of the inning, saving another run from being tallied on.

Even a small victory like holding Florida State scoreless in an inning could spark some momentum for a dangerous offense, but Francik was holding her ground as strong as ever--sitting the Tech side down in 1-2-3 fashion for the first time this game.

Lemley took a bit to settle into her groove against a just as dangerous squad, but in the middle innings, she did just that, firing back with a perfect frame of her own to combat the electric freshman arm of Francik.

"I really started throwing different pitches and just trying to mix it up," Lemley said. "Especially the second, third time through the lineup, that's what you got to do."

Tech's third and final base runner on the rainy Saturday afternoon came from a full count walk worked by Senior Trinity Martin. The Hokies weren't able to bolster a runner at second for the entire duration of the game.

Lemley got the first out quickly in the top of the sixth, a first-pitch groundout. A tough walk drawn on a pinch-hit scenario by Annabelle Widra started to build momentum once again for Florida State. Back-to-back doubles from Bueno and Addie Delong scored the first run since the third, bringing the game to 5-0.

A long fly ball almost to the warning track was both the sixth run of the contest and the second out of the inning, after Bueno tagged up from third easily with the throw coming from over 180 feet away. This rolled the lineup over for the fourth time, and one more RBI double from Torres checked Lemley out of the game to bring in Cassie Grizzard, who pitched 2.1 innings Friday.

With Torres on second, the Hokies needed one out to avoid the run rule scare, but Kerr sent a hot shot right up the middle, making it the game, 8-0.

One final perfect frame from Francik ended her freshman regular season with Florida State's first no-hitter since 2023 and the first time the Hokies have been no-hit since a 2018 loss against Syracuse.

Post-game, the Hokies celebrated senior night for their graduating class of five athletes for all of their tremendous achievements accomplished at Virginia Tech. Rachel Castine, Emma Lemley, Trinity Martin, Cori McMillan, and Bre Peck.

With the ACC tournament starting on Wednesday, May 7, the Hokies will need to build momentum in any way they can on Sunday against the Seminoles. First pitch will be at 4 p.m. with coverage available on ESPN+ and the ACC Network.

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