No. 14 Virginia Tech (40-10, 18-6 ACC) heads to Chestnut Hill this week for the ACC Softball Tournament.
The Hokies, who are seeded third in the tournament, will open play Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. ET against No. 6 seed North Carolina (40-14, 15-9), who defeated No. 11 seed Notre Dame 2-0 on Wednesday night.
All ACC Tournament games will be televised on the ACC Network. Here is the bracket:
With an RPI of 14, a strength of schedule of 30 and a KPI of 11, the Hokies are in serious consideration for a hosting spot in the NCAA Tournament, which is given to the top-16 seeds. In fact, this week’s bracketology updates by Softball America and D1Softball have the Hokies predicted to be the No. 16 overall seed.
However, both outlets also feel that Virginia Tech’s spot is perilous and that the Hokies cannot afford a stumble in Boston. Adding at least two wins over top-50 RPI teams would certainly strengthen their résumé.
Here are the current RPIs for the teams that the Hokies could potentially meet in Boston:
- North Carolina (RPI of 37)
- Clemson (13) or Virginia (26)
- FSU (3), Duke (12), Stanford (15) or Georgia Tech (40)
To get those critical wins, the Hokies will need to recapture the mid-season magic that saw them win 23 of 24 games, including a 17-game win streak. That run was snapped in Pittsburgh and the Hokies venture to Boston with a 4-5 record in their last nine games. However, one of those four wins came on Sunday vs. a top-five Florida State team.
“I think we’re as prepared as we can be going into postseason,” Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour told Tech Sideline. “Our team did a good job ‘resetting’ and getting back to normal on Sunday after getting bopped in the nose Friday and Saturday. We’ve had an impressive year thus far. There are plenty of teams that would trade overall records with us. We need to prepare and take the same approach to each game as we have the majority of the season this year.”
The Hokies have six regular starters hitting .320 or better, including ACC Player of the Year Cori McMillan. The right fielder is hitting .454 while leading the country in home runs (29). First baseman Michelle Chatfield, who was also on the All-ACC First Team with McMillan, is hitting .382 with 15 home runs. Her status is questionable after being involved in a collision at first base in Sunday’s game.
North Carolina can match the Hokies offensively, hitting .351 as a team, which ranks third in the ACC. The Tar Heels are led by All-ACC infielder Kat Rodriquez, who is hitting .464 with a nation-leading 83 RBI. Senior infielder Carlie Myrtle paces the Tar Heels with 16 home runs.
Here is a comparison of the best hitters on both teams:
On paper, the Hokies seem to have an advantage in the circle in terms of team ERA (2.91 vs 4.77), strikeouts per seven innings (7.67 vs. 5.04) and opponent batting average (.223 vs. .265). Junior Kenna Raye Dark (28 starts) and sophomore Britton Rogers (16 starts) have started 44 of UNC’s games this season.
Dark threw a four-hit shutout against Notre Dame on Wednesday in the ACC Tournament opener. That was her third start against the Irish in the last 12 days and she has allowed one earned run in those 20 innings.
Here’s a comparison of the top four pitchers from each team:
Both North Carolina and Virginia Tech are among the top-three teams in the ACC in fielding percentage, but the Hokies seem to have a slight advantage, as they have all season.
Historically, the ACC Tournament has not been kind to Tech. The last Hokies team to win two games at the event was the 2012 team, which defeated Maryland and North Carolina before dropping the championship game to Georgia Tech. Pete D’Amour has a 3-5 record in the ACC Tournament since coming to Blacksburg.
Here is the tale of the tape:
