After coming back from two deficits to tie the game, the Elon University softball team could not do it a third time, falling to Virginia Tech 5-3 Wednesday afternoon at Hunt Softball Park.
The Phoenix made four errors in the game, make two of the five runs unearned.
“I think, defensively, we hurt ourselves a little bit,” said head coach Kathy Bocock. “We get out of those innings if we don’t make those errors and don’t walk people. They’re a great hitting team, so you can’t let great hitting teams have those.”
The Hokies took the lead for good in the sixth, scoring runs on RBI singles by sophomore outfielder Breanna Davenport and senior infielder Katey Smith.
The Phoenix answered Virginia Tech’s two runs in the top of the fifth with two runs of its own in the bottom of the fifth. Sophomore infielder Hannah Olson knocked in sophomore outfielder Kara Shutt with an RBI double, and junior infielder Emily Roper hit an RBI single to score Olson.
Shutt, Olson and Roper each had two hits on the day.
No. 6 James Madison University comes to town over the weekend, with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday and a single game at 1 p.m. Sunday. Elon is excited to host the Dukes, especially after challenging itself all season with tough opposition.
“That’s one of the reasons why we played the schedule we did,” Bocock said. “We know that we have teams in our conference that are so good. When you have a No. 6 team in the country in your conference, you’ve got to play [good teams] outside of conference. What we’re going to see this weekend is nothing that we haven’t already seen.”