With numerous new faces, both on and off the field, the Virginia Tech softball team opens its fall season on Saturday at Kiwanis Field in Salem against Fayetteville Tech, followed by a Sunday game at Battlefield High School in Haymarket against Bowie State. Both games will begin at noon and will be followed by an autograph session with the players.
“It’s been a few years since we’ve had a ‘bonding trip’ to start off the fall,” Tech head coach Pete D’Amour told Tech Sideline. “With roughly half of the team being newcomers, I felt like we needed some kind of trip just to get away. The thought of playing in Salem and Northern Virginia came to me later in the summer. I thought it would be cool to go on the road, have the players stay together and play a few games.
“It’s also important to get out in the state of Virginia so our fans can get easier access to us. We’ll also have a component that showcases the players at both of these games.”
The Hokies have 12 newcomers on this year’s squad — nine freshmen and three transfers. The incoming freshmen class was ranked as the 12th-best in the country by Extra Innings Softball, the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history.
“The newcomers are talented, athletic, and have done a good job fitting it,” D’Amour said. “There are some fierce competitors in this group, which I’ll never complain about! They’re eager to learn and they want to win.”
They join the nucleus of an NCAA tournament team that went 39-20 last season and includes four players that earned All-ACC honors in 2023: pitcher Emma Lemley (21-11 and 283 Ks in 212 innings), second baseman Cameron Fagan (335 avg., 12 HRs) and outfielders Emma Ritter (.368 avg., 14 HRs) and Bre Peck (.325 avg., 16 HRs).
“Combining the returning players with the newcomers was my first priority this fall,” D’Amour said. “We haven’t had any issues, and it feels like teams from prior years. All of the returners have made it a point to bring the newcomers along. The seniors — Fagan, Ritter, [Addy] Greene, [Maija] Louko and [Molly] Jacobson — in addition to the rest of the retuning players are passing down what it means to be a VT softball player to the newbies. I haven’t had to say much.”
An area of welcomed depth this season will be the pitching circle. Five new arms have joined the team this year, giving new pitching coach Josh Johnson seven different pitchers to utilize, including two left-handers:
Emma Lemley, right-handed junior
Molly Jacobson, right-handed redshirt junior
Lyndsay Grein, right-handed sophomore
Cassie Grizzard, left-handed sophomore
Emma Mazzarone, left-handed freshman
Michelle Chatfield, right-handed freshman/utility player
Haley McManus, right-handed freshman
“I’ve already seen improvement with the pitchers in our limited practice time,” he said. “We struck gold with Josh. He’s the most progressive-thinking pitching coach in the country. There’s no guessing to what he does — all of his information is backed up with data. And off the field, he cares about the players.”
Johnson has also made a positive first impression on the Hokie pitchers.
“It’s been great getting to know him,” Lemley said. “He’s super to work with, and he knows so much about pitching. He’s making us better.”
Hokie fans can expect to see expect to see every the pitchers in action during the fall games, a strategy that D’Amour plans to utilize all season.
“We’ll figure out the pitching situation as the season goes on,” he said. “A lot of it will depend on who we’re playing, where we are in the game, who pitched the game prior, etc. There will be enough innings to go around. The important thing is winning games. Our pitchers know that.”
The leader to be on the receiving end of those pitches will be sophomore Kylie Aldridge, who started 49 games for the Hokies last season. Freshman Zoe Yaeger and redshirt freshman transfer CC Fleming will challenge Aldridge for playing time.
The Hokies are seeking new starters at the corner infield positions this season after the departures of five-year starters Jayme Bailey (241 starts, .329 career average) and Kelsey Bennett (244 starts, .312 career average). Bailey remains with the team as a student assistant, as does four-year player Madison Hanson, who will serve as director of player engagement. Bennett is now an assistant at Georgia Tech.
The Hokies appear to have multiple options to replace them as five of the incoming freshmen have experience playing infield positions, along with junior transfer Cori McMillian, who batted .345 in two seasons at Radford:
Michelle Chatfield (Lovettsville, Va.)
Emily LeGette (Plantation, Fla.)
Maci Masters (Johnson City, Tenn.)
Sara McNelly (South Plainfield, N.J.)
Annika Rohs (Lovettsville, Va.)
Fagan (147 career starts, .359 career average) will certainly hold down one of the infield positions, most likely second base. Junior Rachel Castine, who started 30 games last season (.246 average), and sophomore Teagan Thrunk, who started 40 games (.253 average), split time last season at shortstop. Louko, who has appeared in 77 games for VT, primarily as a pinch-runner, is back for her senior season.
On paper, the Virginia Tech outfield is expected to be a strength of the team. Ritter has started 149 games in her career and carries a .354 career average that includes 24 home runs. Junior Bre Peck 102 starts with a .322 career average with 27 home runs.
What’s more, Greene has started 119 games for the Hokies with a career average of .302 with 19 home runs. However, over 50 of her starts have been in the infield, so she can provide flexibility if needed. Sophomore Trinity Martin, who appeared in 11 games last year, and freshman speedster Lyla Blackwell, a top-25 recruit, will also be in the mix for playing time.
D’Amour plans to take advantage of the upcoming months to see his team in game situations.
“We’re going to try and get everyone playing time in the fall,” D’Amour said. “Continual improvement is a theme in our program with the players, but also the coaches. We’ll mix the lineups up.”
The new faces are not just limited to the players. In addition to Johnson, Huemul Mata, one of the best men’s fastpitch hurlers in the world, joined the team in April as a volunteer assistant coach.
Johnson and Mata join returning assistant coach Mike Lewis to give the Hokies solid leadership on the sidelines. Lewis, who enters his fourth season in Blacksburg, admirably filled in as a pitching coach last season.
“With Mike, Josh, Memu and Jayme, I feel like we have as solid of a coaching staff as anywhere in the country,” D’Amour said.
Megan White was also added to the staff as the director of player development and technology. She will oversee the team’s analytics, statistics and data. D’Amour said she’s already making a difference.
“Megan has been a great addition to the program,” said D’Amour. “She works hard, is eager to learn and has a lot of our processes already streamlined. … Combining the verifiable data that she will provide with the experience of our staff will help us tremendously.”
Here is Virginia’s Tech complete fall schedule:
