Virginia Tech's Tincher No-Hits Canisius
MAAC Sports
Virginia Tech junior pitcher Angela Tincher tossed a no-hitter, her fifth of the season, and fanned 18 as the No. 13 Hokies dropped Canisius College 5-0 Friday evening in the NCAA Tournament at Buckeye Field in Columbus, Ohio.
The win moves Virginia Tech (49-14) into the winner's bracet round of the double-elimination regional round, while Canisius (27-20) slips into the loser's bracket and will play the loser of the No. 22 Ohio State-Cal State Fullerton game.
Tincher, who threw 100 pitches while improving to 38-5 this season, had her bid for a perfect game stopped in the top of the sixth when sophomore Rachelle Barrientos earned a two-out walk. She was the only base runner the Griffs' could muster in the no-hit loss, the first time Canisius was no-hit since May 21, 2005, when the team was held hitless in a 3-0 loss to North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.
The Hokies posted the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning after Jessica Everhart drilled a shot through the left side of the infield to plate teammate Erin Ota. Ota earned a one-out walk to start the home half of the first, one of eight walks Canisius senior pitcher Courtney Piar dished out in the losing effort.
Virginia Tech took solid control of the contest in the bottom of the fifth with a four-run frame, highlighted by a base-clearing triple by shortstop Charisse Mariconda. With the bases loaded and two outs, Mariconda drove a 2-2 pitch the the wall in right center to give the Hokies the 5-0 cushion. Virginia Tech plated a run earlier in the frame to take a 2-0 lead after Caroline Stolle posted an RBI-double off the base of the fence in left.
Piar took the loss after allowing five runs on four hits while fanning three to go with a season-high eight walks. Tincher's no hitter was the 10th of her career and her 599 strikeouts this season leaves her one shy of becoming the sixth player in NCAA history to fan 600 batters in a season.
Canisius will return to action Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The game can be heard live on GoGriffs.com.
Game Notes: Friday's loss snapped the Blue and Gold's eight-game winning streak, the team's longest winning streak of the season... Canisius is now 0-2 all-time against Virginia Tech... The Griffs' all-time NCAA record slips to 4-18 with the loss... Junior pitcher Lindsay Garbacz came on in relief of Piar in the sixth and struck out two of the three batters she faced.