Virginia Tech’s 11-3 win over NC State on Saturday was the 300th for head coach Pete D’Amour across eight seasons in Blacksburg. The No. 14 Hokies’ support staff flashed a graphic on the Tech Softball Park videoboard to alert the crowd and most of the players.
Most. Not all.
“Oh my god,” Rachel Castine said upon being informed of the milestone. “... He’s amazing. Shoutout to Pete.”
In Castine’s defense, she had a reason to not be looking at a screen over the right-center field fence as the game ended. The fifth-year second baseman lined a home run over the left field wall to trigger the run-rule win. She was busy rounding the bases, getting mobbed by teammates and, eventually, high-fiving kids as they ran around third base as part of a Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day promotional event.
“[D’Amour] also called my last home run,” Castine said. “He told me, ‘If you get up this inning — as in, if [left fielder] Nora [Abromavage] and [right fielder] Gaby [Mizelle] don’t walk it off — you’re gonna hit a home run.’
“I said, ‘OK.’”
That was the Chesapeake native’s second home run of the afternoon. Her first was a solo shot in the bottom of the second, giving Tech a 4-3 lead — just an inning after falling in a 3-0 hole. Her first blast gave the Hokies (27-4, 3-2 ACC) their decisive advantage and her second solidified it.
Sophie Kleiman started the game in the circle for Tech and did not record an out. She faced four batters, resulting in a double, a hit by pitch and two singles. D’Amour quickly inserted Bree Carrico into the circle.
“[The decision to play Carrico] was just to get a couple strikeouts,” D’Amour said. “Sophie is more of a groundball pitcher, and they were putting balls in play. … Just a lot of funky things went on that inning, and we just stopped the bleeding with Bree.”
With only a few brief moments to throw in the bullpen and a 2-0 hole, Carrico entered. She surrendered a single to the first batter she faced and a walk to the second, then halted the Wolfpack (19-12, 1-4 ACC) in its tracks. After that, she gave up a walk and no more hits through nearly six full innings of work.
“I love relieving,” Carrico said. “I don’t know why. I just have less stress going into relief.”
Carrico is a month and a half into her sophomore season as a key contributor, following her freshman year when she did not play. Through her first 17 collegiate appearances, she has a team-best 7-0 record and 1.45 earned run average. In 58 innings pitched, she has accrued 76 strikeouts and given up just two home runs.
“[Emma Lemley] was here last year, and she was a great person to look up to,” Carrico said. “I was just pushing myself every day in practice, and then went home over the summer and put in work every single day — because I wanted to pitch. I wanted to be at this level. And Lem is still here this year, so she’s been pushing me since the fall. I just love having her on my side.”
While Carrico held down the fort in the circle, Tech’s offense did the same at the plate. Abromavage doubled around two batters in the bottom of the first, then designated player Kylie Aldridge ran home on a wild pitch to tie the game at three. Castine’s first home run built a 4-3 lead in the second, then she walked in the third to bring around pinch runner Lily Pallante for a 5-3 advantage.
The Hokies grabbed four more runs in the fourth. Catcher Zoe Yaeger made the score 7-3 with a two-RBI single. Abromavage nicked a single of her own barely between the third baseman and shortstop for a five-run cushion. The fifth brought an RBI single from Chatfield to bring the game within one run of run-rule territory, and then Castine ended the game in the sixth.
That turned the attention to D’Amour’s 300th win at Virginia Tech and 379th as a head coach, dating back to his days at Kennesaw State. He will go for his 301st on Sunday at noon in the final game against NC State, but ahead of that, he was reflective.
D’Amour knew he was approaching the milestone, but didn’t know he could reach it on Saturday until some fans notified him as he was walking from the team’s indoor facility to Tech Softball Park. With his team ahead by seven runs in the fifth inning and with the benchmark in sight, he started thinking about the players he coached at Virginia Tech.
“It’s a big deal,” D’Amour said. “And I think of [Emma] Strouth and [Caitlyn] Nolan and [Olivia] Lattin, and it goes all the way down the line. [Jayme] Bailey, [Kelsey] Bennett, [Keely] Rochard — all of them. This [2026] team is part of that. I’m just fortunate to have a lot of good players, administration backs us, we’ve had good coaches around us.
“I don’t like the accolade of me getting the 300th win. It’s the program.”