On the day that Elon University dedicated Hunt Softball Park, the stage was set for another Elon softball upset. That was until the seventh inning when a string of miscues and controversial events propelled the visitors from Virginia Tech to a 2-1 win at the Phoenix’s brand new softball facility.
The game entered its final frame knotted at one run apiece when Virginia Tech senior shortstop Bkaye Smith lined a ball to left center field. Both Elon senior left fielder Tomeka Watson and junior center fielder Carleigh Nester had a chance to catch the ball, but a lack of communication allowed the ball to land and roll the wall. Smith wound up on third with a leadoff triple. After two walks, one intentional, the bases were loaded for the Virginia Tech Hokies with one out.
What ensued was arguably the most bizarre scene of the season. Virginia Tech sophomore designated player Kelsey Mericka was hit by a pitch, but appeared to lean into the pitch. That call was not initially made and the Hokies thought they had taken the lead. Elon head coach Kathy Bocock came out to argue her case.
“There’s a rule now that you don’t have to get out of the box to avoid a pitch,” Bocock said. “But the thing was, that pitch was kind of down the middle.”
The umpires huddled and reversed the call, much to the ire of Virginia Tech head coach Scot Thomas.
“I think it got out of control there for a little bit,” Bocock said.
The next pitch, however, was low for ball four and Mericka took her RBI walk to give the Hokies the 2-1 advantage. The run spoiled the day for Elon freshman pitcher Kayla Caruso, who had to wait through the discussions to make her 3-2 pitch.
“Mentally, it gave me time to think about what I was going to throw her,” Caruso said. “I knew I wasn’t going to throw her anything she was going to hit. I would have liked to have done a better job with that.”
Hokies senior pitcher Jasmin Harrell retired Elon in order in the bottom of the 7th, and Virginia Tech preserved the win.
Despite a tough loss, Bocock was pleased with her her freshman pitcher’s performance.
“(Caruso) did an awesome job,” Bocock said. “We’ve got to push our runners to score some runs, and defensively we have to do a better job playing behind her. She did a great job for us. She’s young, it’s a good learning process.”
Caruso, whose first run of the day was unearned in the fourth inning, agrees that she learned from Thursday’s loss.
“It taught me to be hungry, it taught me what it feels like to lose this close,” she said. “Next time, I don’t think it will end this close.”
Elon scored its lone run in the third inning, when freshman designated player Emily Cameron singled up the middle, scoring Watson, who had singled and advanced to third on a two-base error.
Bocock said the team cannot use the fact that Virginia Tech is a top team as an excuse for the lesser offensive output.
“There’s times that we had our runners on and we just lost a little focus,” she said. “We didn’t make a good adjustment offensively.”
One of those lack of focus moments was having two runners thrown out at the plate. One came as the third out of the second inning on a Nester single to center field with sophomore right fielder Amanda Allen trying to score.
“Anytime you get a ball hit to the outfield with a runner at second, you gotta try to get that run home,” Bocock said. “The girl made a great throw.”
Nester went 2-4 for Elon, and Allen was 2-3 on the day. Watson, who homered in four games over the weekend, went her second straight day without a long ball.
Caruso picked up the loss to fall to 3-3 while Harrell improved her record to 6-0 with the win. The Hokies head back to Blacksburg, Va. with an overall record of 12-1 while Elon falls to 6-5.
Elon’s next games are a doubleheader on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. at home against the Manhattan College Jaspers, who added the Phoenix to their schedule this week to make up for a rainout of a tournament last weekend.