10 Inside Hokie Sports @PrestonsRestaurant @InnVirginiaTech 540.231.0120 | www.InnatVirginiaTech.com 901 Prices Fork Rd, Blacksburg, VA 24061 (inside The Inn at Virginia Tech) Reservations recommended. A delicious game-day tradition. BEFORE THE GAME OR AFTER, Preston’s Restaurant is a delicious place for a new game-day tradition. Start with our fresh breakfast. Order lunch or dinner from our mouth-watering menu of seasonal cuisine. Sip on hand-cra ed cocktails or a selection from our award-winning wine list. And don’t forget the Valley’s best brunch, every Sunday at Preston’s. Make Preston’s Restaurant your game-day tradition. Hokie fans migrated to Tech Softball Park, filling both the permanent stands and temporary bleachers brought in to increase capacity. Walking out in front of the largest home crowd in program history was a culmination of the hard work Bennett and her teammates put in their entire careers. However, after an early loss to Kentucky, the Tech faithful thought this experience would be too brief. Bennett wasn’t too worried. “We lost the first game to Kentucky and said ‘Dude, we’re fine,’” Bennett recalled, thinking back on the 5-4 loss to the Wildcats. “I think we had some of the managers go get us some Red Bull before we hung out in the indoor facility. We knew it was going to be a long night, and we found out there we were playing Miami of Ohio.” A substantial rain delay pushed the elimination game back to 10:40 PM, and the RedHawks jumped out to a 4-1 lead on the Hokies early. That same confidence after losing to Kentucky dwindled slightly, but Bennett remembered a rousing speech from Mackenzie Lawter and Keely Rochard while the Hokies trailed. “Both of them said, ‘I don’t want my career to be over,’” Bennett said. “We were hyped up after they gave us a speech, and then Jayme hit a double off the wall. We won after that rally, but we didn’t get much sleep after that because we had to be back there that next morning.” In one of the biggest marathons ever in Virginia Tech Athletics’ history, the Hokies stormed back on the final day to host a winner take all game Sunday evening against Kentucky. Tech led 5-4 with two outs with the tying runner on second. After keeping her cool through a heartbreaking loss earlier in the tournament to Kentucky, frustrating weather delays, and a shocking early deficit to Miami, it only seemed right that Bennett would maintain that level of focus on a ground ball bounced to her at short. She fielded the ball cleanly, rifled a throw, and the Hokies were moving on. The crowd, understandably so, erupted. “It was an unreal experience,” Bennett reminisced. “We looked up at the crowd and I thought, ‘They’ve got our backs, and we got their backs.” Unfortunately, for the second straight year, Virginia Tech’s hopes of qualifying for a trip to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series ended just a game shy. Bennett collided with Kelsey Brown in the first inning of the final game, rendering her out for the remainder of the game. Bennett admitted that she thinks about the close to the last two seasons a good amount. “We’ve been one game away from OKC the past two years. We are right there with every team when we get to the postseason. We have to find that one extra inning or that one extra base hit to get us that win.” The Hokies reload for the 2023 season with most of the big bats in the lineup returning to Tech Softball Park. The difference for the Hokies this year? Bennett said they are up for the huge challenges. “Everybody is comfortable with where they’re at, and we’re not going to let the moment get too big for us. We’ve had everyone in the lineup except the freshman go to regionals and super regionals. The game hasn’t changed from the fall when we beat all the teams we played. It’s just keeping an even keel.” Continued from page 9
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