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13th pitch one too many against Stolle, Hokies
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Virginia Tech's Caroline Stolle hit a Hokie-pokey and she turned the game around Saturday afternoon at Lee Softball Stadium.
Stolle's fourth-inning grand slam lifted Virginia Tech to a 4-0 victory over Tennessee and into the school's first NCAA regional final.
The Hokies (46-15) and Lady Vols (49-15) meet at 1:30 today for a berth in the best-of-three Super Regional series against the winner of the Ann Arbor, Mich., regional.
UT, which defeated Louisville, 8-1, Saturday night, needs to beat 16th-ranked Virginia Tech twice today in order to have a shot at reaching the Women's College World Series a fourth consecutive year.
It's an imposing challenge considering the 13th-ranked Lady Vols needed four innings to get the first of their three hits off Virginia Tech ace Angela Tincher (35-6).
Tincher, one of only three pitchers in NCAA history with more than 2,000 strikeouts (2,074), fanned 14 in hurling her 16th shutout of the season.
Tincher's three-hit shutout was upstaged by Stolle, who made the most of an opportunity to redeem herself after striking out with the bases loaded in the second.
With the count at 3-2 and UT fans stomping their feet in the stands, ninth-place hitter Stolle fouled off seven Megan Rhodes' pitches before driving the 13th pitch over the wall in right-center field.
"She kept throwing me inside, and I figured that she'd go outside at some point, because I was going to keep battling those inside (pitches) off,'' said Stolle, who also singled in the game-winning run in the Hokies' 1-0 win over the U.S. Olympic team March 26, but who entered the regional with a .157 batting average and one home run.
"Once I saw that outside pitch, I knew I had to go with it.''
Ralph Weekly, who along with his wife, Karen, serves as UT's co-head coach, said Rhodes got herself into one jam too many.
"Megan threw 98 pitches in the first three-point-two innings,'' he said, "and we were on the ropes the whole time.''
The Lady Vols had a chance to escape on the pitch before the home run, but third baseman Tonya Callahan and shortstop Kenora Posey lost a popup along the third base stands in the sun.
Posey ran into umpire Dan Ringsby. NCAA representative Craig White, from the University of Georgia, declined the media's request for comment from Ringsby.
Freshman Ashton Ward relieved Rhodes and allowed one hit and no runs over the final 3 1/3 innings.
Callahan, who struck out for the ninth and 10th times in 199 plate appearances before singling off Tincher in the sixth, said experience against the Tech ace should help today.
"We just hadn't seen a dominating rise ball pitcher like that this season,'' Callahan said. "The more times you see a pitcher, the likelihood of hitting her increases.''
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by tvol71 on May 17, 2008 at 5:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I wonder why none of the articles mention the Stolle strikeout that was not called. On the replay, she clearly swung the bat across the plate for strike 3 before hitting the HR, but the ump called a ball. Megan was not pitching her best game, but she did not deserve that since she really struck the batter out. I guess they need instant replay in Softball.
Posted by middlegavol on May 17, 2008 at 6:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I guess we are starting to see how other teams felt when we rolled Monica out there. The game is all about pitching and we just don't have it this year. Hopefully Ralph has a stud or two coming in.
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