Virginia Tech softball fell short of hosting an NCAA Tournament regional and will instead travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, this weekend.
The Hokies (41-11) are the second seed in a four-team tournament that includes No. 15 Alabama, Belmont and Jackson State. Their first game will take place on Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET against Belmont on ESPN+.
If Virginia Tech earned a seed in the top 16, it would have hosted three other teams this weekend at Tech Softball Park. Instead, the team will hit the road.
“I think we had the résumé to host and we didn’t host,” Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour said. “I’m not surprised and I’m not not surprised. Our name was called, so let’s get ready to play.”
Tech entered Selection Sunday ranked No. 14 in the RPI, a computer metric which factors in record and strength of schedule. The two teams to receive hosting bids ahead of the Hokies, Alabama and Oregon, finished No. 17 and No. 18, respectively.
Kurt McGuffin, the chair of the NCAA Division I Softball Committee, said Oregon’s 17-4 record against top-50 teams and five wins over top-10 teams contributed to the Ducks picking up the No. 16 seed over Virginia Tech. The Hokies finished 14-8 against top-50 teams with one win over a top-10 opponent — last Sunday’s win against Florida State.
“With Oregon, their efficiency with what they did in the top 50 … that really struck with the committee in that they won 81% of their games in the top 50,” McGuffin said. “They did have three Quad 4 losses. That was the same as Virginia Tech, who had three Quad 4 losses. Virginia Tech did have five top-25 wins, but just one top-10 win in there with Oregon’s five top-10 wins. So, that was really close.
“There was a lot of discussion for those last teams — Alabama, Oregon, Virginia Tech and some other teams in there … because [of] the parity. … That’s where we landed with that one.”
The Hokies fell to Clemson in the ACC Tournament semifinal, squandering a seven-run lead in the sixth inning as their pitchers struggled to grip the ball amid a downpour. They played the tournament without first baseman Michelle Chatfield, who sustained a left wrist injury in the series finale against Florida State. D’Amour said she is day-to-day.
McGuffin said the loss to the Tigers was not the only determining factor in Tech’s seeding.
“It was just one game that goes into our pot, our stats,” McGuffin said. “We watch all the conference championship games in the room; we’ve got tons of them going on. After that, the RPI and all of our stats update, so we go back to the criteria and say, ‘OK, that was a loss, and it updates that for us.’
Tech played Alabama in February and split a two-game set, with a 2-1 win and 9-1 loss.
“I told the team, ‘We already beat them once,’” D’Amour said. “I’m glad we went there. It’s a tough environment to play in. Our kids are going to be ready for it.”
The Hokies have faced Belmont once before — a 13-1 win on Feb. 10, 2024 — and have never played Jackson State.
Nine ACC teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament, including regional hosts No. 5 Florida State, No. 11 Clemson and No. 14 Duke.
“I think our league does not get the respect that it deserves,” D’Amour said. “We’re second in the RPI in our league overall for conference. And it’s a good league, so it’s not like we just played tough teams early on. We played tough teams all year, so we’ll be used to it.”
Hosting or not, Virginia Tech will play NCAA Tournament softball for the sixth consecutive season.
“We have the ‘so what’ mentality,” shortstop Annika Rohs said. “So what if we’re not hosting? We’re ready to go to Alabama or whatever this week brings us.”