Having thrown 263 pitches over the last two days, it may be expected that Angela Tincher would not be at her best. Coach Scot Thomas must have thought otherwise, allowing her to start against Tennessee. A day after defeating Tennessee in the regional semifinal game,
Tincher started the game only to pitch one full inning, giving up four hits, three runs and notching three strikeouts.
Things got off to a rocky start for Tincher almost immediately in the top of the first inning. Tincher walked Tennessee second baseman Chandra Mogan before also walking Tennessee third baseman Tonya Callahan and DP/C Shannon Doepking. This loaded the bases for C/DP Tiffany Huff who smacked a double to left field bringing home Callahan and Mogan.
Virginia Tech's struggles continued in the top of the second inning. Right fielder Kelly Grieve singled down the third baseline. Kemora Posey then stepped to the plate and put down a sacrifice bunt to send Grieve to second. Shortly after, a fielding error by Kelsey Hoffman allowed Grieve to advance to third and she was brought home by Lillian Hammond who singled to left field. Chandra Mogan then got her second hit of the day on a single down the third base line. It was then that Thomas decided to pull Tincher and replace her with Kenzie Roark.
Tech may have missed its best chance to rally in the bottom of the fourth inning. With Erin Ota on third base and Charisse Mariconda on second, Kelsey Hoffman fouled out giving Tennessee two outs. Jessica Everhart then stepped to the plate and popped up a fly ball to third leaving Ota and Mariconda on base and a squandered opportunity to put a few runs on the board.
Things wouldn't get any better for Tech.
In the top of the fifth, Tennessee center fielder Erin Webb hit a solo home run giving Tennessee a 5-0 lead. The bottom of the fifth finally gave Tech something to cheer about. First baseman Beth Walker homered to left center getting the Hokies on the board.
The cheers proved to be short-lived as Tennessee went on to score two more runs in the top of the seventh inning. Erin Webb, who hit a homerun earlier in the top of the fifth, would again blast a shot into right center, bringing home Kelsey Stander, making the final score 7-1.
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