No. 14 Hokies softball (37-7, 15-3 ACC) travels to Berkeley, Calif., this weekend to face Cal with the possibility of hosting a regional on the line. An unexpected series loss to Pitt last week dropped Virginia Tech’s RPI to No. 18 and seriously jeopardized its hosting chances.
The Golden Bears (31-16, 7-11) are on a two-game winning streak. They started the year ranked No. 21 by ESPN and won 22 of their first 26 games and began ACC play 5-1, sweeping Boston College and winning two out of three against Georgia Tech. However, they’ve dropped road series to Virginia and Stanford since. On top of that, they were swept by Clemson on the road and by Florida State at home.
All three games this weekend will be shown on ACC Network Extra:
Friday, April 25: 6 p.m. ET, ACCNX
Saturday, April 26: 5 p.m. ET, ACCNX
Sunday, April 27: 3 p.m. ET, ACCNX
The two teams have only met once before — last season during the Littlewood Classic in Arizona, when the Golden Bears defeated the Hokies 6-5 in eight innings. Rachel Castine drove in five of Tech’s runs in that game, four with a third-inning grand slam.
The Hokies have a slight advantage offensively in runs per game (7.4 vs. 6.6), batting average (.334 vs. .323) and home runs per game (2.07 vs. 1.15), while the Golden Bears have a leg up on the basepaths (62 stolen bases vs. 33).
Seven of Cal’s regular starters have batting averages over .300, led by senior Mika Lee (.409) and preseason All-American Elon Butler (.390). Junior Tianna Bell, who has 30 career home runs, leads the team in round-trippers this season with 13.
Statistically, the Hokies appear to have an edge in the circle, specifically in ERA (2.44 vs. 4.23), strikeouts per seven innings (7.92 vs. 4.71) and opponents’ batting average (.211 vs. .283). In the last two ACC series, the Golden Bears started senior Annabel Teperson in two games and junior Anna Reimers in the other.
Here is a comparison of the pitching staffs:
As with most opponents, the Hokies have a better fielding percentage — a .982 mark vs. Cal’s .965.
The Golden Bears are coached by Chelsea Spencer, who is in her fifth year in Berkeley. Spencer, who won a national title while a player at Cal, has taken the program to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.
Here is the tale of the tape:
