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Tuscaloosa Takeaways: Kayla Beaver among the elite, Virginia Tech complete team

by:Tara Henry•03/25/24
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Photo courtesy of Alabama Athletics

My first visit to Tuscaloosa resulted in a pitcher’s duel and an extra-inning thriller at Rhoads Stadium. Guided by a pair of legendary hosts (Emily Pitek and Gray Robertson), the essence of Mudita was apparent within the Alabama Softball program.

A trip to Baumhowers, tacos at the tailgate beyond the Brickyard, and Jenna Johnson’s senior day provided a weekend to remember.

What did I learn? The Crimson Tide and the Hokies are primed for a deep postseason campaign for different reasons. Let’s take a look at why.

  • Kayla Beaver’s Friday Night start is exactly what the Crimson Tide needed from their ace. Dropping back-to-back Friday night contests to Florida and Georgia to begin SEC play was a cause for concern. The graduate transfer shut out one of the most explosive offenses for the first time in the 2024 season. Beaver allowed five hits and stranded five runners in the shutout victory. What makes her so effective?The Tide ace can go north, south, east and west. She also appears to thrive under pressure as witnessed above looking at Virginia Tech’s at-bats with runners in scoring position from the 1-0 victory. The sequence to Bre Peck is pretty impressive as the Central Arkansas transfer goes right at the Hokies’ clean-up hitter.Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy speaks more on the outing:
  • Virginia Tech is a complete squad. The Hokies have three elite arms in the circle: Emma Lemley, Lyndsey Grein, and Emma Mazzarone. Lemley earned the Friday start for the Hokies tossing 4.2 perfect innings before surrendering a free pass to Bailey Dowling in the fifth. The junior right-hander took the loss but threw an impressive six innings as she allowed just a pair of hits while striking out seven. Grein started the Saturday game for the Hokies nearly going the distance. Pete D’Amour’s ability to recruit and develop talent is evident by tracking the offensive production year in and year out. Virginia Tech has 128 extra-base hits as a team and over half coming via the long ball. It’s hard to keep runs off the board. Thus why Beaver’s shutout on Friday was a rare occurrence.

    Virginia Tech’s extra-base hits as of March 23, 2024

  • Understanding the interference rule during a potential double-play. If you watched game one you may have seen a play in the third inning that went from a serious Virginia Tech threat to a double-play and a potential run erased. With runners on first and second, Addy Green hit a ground ball to Kenleigh Cahalan at short. Cahalan threw the ball over to Kali Heivilin and in the double play attempt, Heivilin hit Ritter in the helmet. Interference was called by the umpire resulting in the runner closest to home being called out in addition to Ritter, who interfered with the play.
    • Here is the rule in section12.17.2 Interference by Runners and Base Runners
      EFFECT—(12.17.2.1 to 12.17.2.1.5.5)—The ball is dead. The batter-runner is awarded first base unless they are the player guilty of interference. If the official scorer judges the batted ball would have been a hit, the batter is credited with a base hit, but if not, it is scored as a fielder’s choice. The offending runner is out. Each base runner not forced by the batter-runner must return to the last base legally touched at the time of the interference. Exceptions: (1) If the interference, in the umpire’s judgment, is an obvious attempt to prevent a double play and occurs before the runner is put out, the runner being played on also is called out. If the interference occurs after the runner is put out, the runner closest to home plate also is called out. (2) If the interference is with a fielder attempting to field a routine fair fly ball, the batter is also out. (3) If the base runner is off a base and is hit by an infield fly, both the base runner and the batter are out. However, if the base runner is stopped at base when they are struck by an infield fly, only the batter is out. (4) If two base runners are hit by the same fair ball, only the first base runner is out.
  • Senior days are unique at Rhoads. Jenna Johnson’s senior day included a message on the video board from NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt Jr., which was a surprise to the entire stadium and a very special moment.

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