Techdady

initial conversation went like this 'So you want to be trained to be an All American'. You came to the right place. Huge get for Hokie softball.

Right smack dab in the middle of Montgomery County but very rural in the 70’s.

To Germantown to Boyd’s Maryland. In the 60”s 70’s it was an isolated rural road. It was an absolutely gorgeous road to drive on back then.

Gets there EVERY year, and those coaches making major dollars here at Tech can’t come close to doing what he does. You’re going to have to admit to yourself that just because it doesn’t cut it with you, means absolutely nothing to Tech’s Athletic Department. He’s the model that all coaches here aspire to.Whit has said that time and time again.

She’s as good as it gets. Tremendous athlete /body style. Innings are food and she ate the most of all of them. Will she eat as much next year?

Like OK UCLA. Texas …the vast majority of non paid players WILL experience slumps it’s the nature of the game. Who’s hot at the right time ? You pretty much need two straight weeks of outstanding offense to have a chance at post season pitching where the pitchers have the advantage. Pro teams can afford to stockpile pitching and hitting leaving the have nots on the outside looking in. Want to poke your nose inside that top ten tent? Very simple, pony up the cash, it worked for Texas Tech. Making the WCWS as a wildcard poor man’s team like the Hokies ? ….there’d have to be a generational pitching staff like a tincher/rochard combo supporting with timely hitting and fielding , and……they’d have to work for free.

The market can bear. Reference: robocoach:softball

In hosting. The committee last year explained away that issue by saying they considered other metrics and ‘poof’ off to Alabama for the Hokies.

No effort is made to improve the softball programs. Used to be a time where NC State was very good, but look at who they have hired in the past and present. Same with Notre Dame, they used to make regionals EVERY year. No recent improvement and coaches like that get extensions? So where is the commitment? BC PItt Syracuse ND NCSU even UNC (who in their storied history has NEVER won a regional) drag everybody else down. It’s great UVA stepped up, but that took an alumni donation to get their ball rolling. They’d still be playing in a sandlot if not for Ms. Palmer.

Face it we are a victim of our geography. Northern locales have poor softball programs. Used to be a time when Michigan was top 5. They owned the North, now the Hokies do. Big deal right? A combo of great competition and success in far away places $$$ with a spotless record against the have nots, add in a 20 game win season in the ACC and still travel to get in 6-8 games against the $EC still leaves the Hokies with no margin for error. Even with a 45 regular season win record we’d still be on the bubble. Our location/weather hinders us, struggling to get in enough games against better ranked teams is a problem not easily solvable, if at all. You pretty much have to play the bottom feeders at least in the ACC. You have to fill your schedule. So we can swap out the weak teams with teams not as weak? No help there…This isn’t your Momma’s Hokie softball team where just getting to the regionals was euphoric. With success there’s a demand for more success, which comes with……no margin for error.

See Tennessee pitcher Pickens with her 7 loses. I thought UVA had a chance against her, as her and Canady can lose concentration and get ‘lazy’ in the circle just like everyone else. On any given day………..

Start coaching makes little sense to me. But, maybe it does to you. So once again I ask how many All Americans has the Hokie Softball staff developed? I’ll help… I’m guessing 8 All American seasons, and what Hokie sport has come close to that of in such a short period of time ( 8 years). I’ll help again …NONE And all of a sudden they need to start coaching ? Your words….Since you’ve been around 55 years of Hokie Sports, you should know what coaches have done a better job here in Blacksburg in such a short period of time? Besides Beamer who else has coached more All Americans at VA Tech l than the Softball Coaches?

Reportedly 50k four years ago, same price or more to go west. A lot of our kids, I gather have never been west, riding the tram in Palm Springs is breathtaking. It would be a good experience for sure. If I was in charge of the Softball budget and could afford it I’d play out west at least once. And considering the fact Hokie Softball starts seasons so strong there’s a good chance of success there.

Enough ‘success’ from one sport (Softball) since there is so little athletic success to go around in Blacksburg. So how many all Americans has this coaching staff developed? Hint: NONE of them were recruited or offered by any team that was not a mid major. But in your words ‘coaches need to start coaching’ brilliant observation!!!

They want more and more of it since in Blacksburg there is so little of it to go around.

Only obtained with money and luck. You have to fill your schedule with hopefully 56 games. NO RANKED TIER ONE teams, other than an occasional ACC opponent, are coming to TSP, so the Hokies have to travel to hostile fields to play the teams that WILL help our SOS. So let’s fly to Texas for two games. Let’s fly to Nebraska for two games, let’s fly to Arkansas for two games. How about going to Garmin or Nutter? We’re out a few hundred grand or more there with no promise of a single victory. Then let’s bus to Alabama, Auburn, Georgia,USC and anywhere else to pick up a game or two against some team ‘better’ than us. Still coming up short and that’s if we have a winning record against them. Hokie softballl SOS is dragged down not only by the ACC bottom feeders but also by weak instate ‘rivals’ and surrounding state weak teams. No team north of us is better so can’t go north. Can’t go east nobody there. Pretty much a victim of geography. There is no margin for error like $EC teams have. Alabama can lose to Samford (RPI around 130) not a problem. Hokies lose to Mich state. Liberty….big problem. You can’t make the loss up by playing OK or Texas the following week , you have to play Clemson or UVA instead and those wins don’t help . The SOS ‘riddle’ will always be nearly unsolvable. Unless you go something like 50-6 . Even then, still on the ‘bubble’ . FWIW I like the ‘pattern’ of being in the regional Champ game, I like the pattern of being ranked EVERY year, I like the pattern of 40 plus wins, I like the pattern of having an exciting team to root for. That pattern comes together EVERY year, all accomplished, I assume, without a single player we field that is coveted by ‘upper echelon’ teams. Could Hokie football and basketball study our player development and success formula and possibly learn from that ? I guess anything is possible….

Championship game. If we went 50-6 we still would not of hosted. Hosting and winning are historic moments of Hokie softball history. The Athletic department is thrilled Hokie softball acquires Learfield cup points every year. The program has been elevated to a status previously unattainable and you want it to change. Top 20-25 and you want more? How about changing the location of TSP so Hokies can play 30-40 games at home like LSU Georgia Texas and others. . So what changes do you advocate so we can go 8-0 against $EC teams or how about 10-0? All while playing on their fields. So let’s use YOUR money so we can buy change like other programs do. Top tier players come at a cost. We have 2nd tier players competing against first tier players. ALL Tech sports are in this same boat. But only Hokie Softball and wrestling overcomes that and competes at the highest level Nationally EVERY YEAR. So what do you change? While we wait, I’m sure your advice will help Texas A and M ‘collapsing 2 straight years in regionals’ at their home field ‘ and also help FSU ‘collapsing’ once again. Guess they didn’t deserve to be hosting either.

And we were ‘ definitive favorites’ to win the regional? By going 10-0 against the SEC (On the year) At THEIR HOME FIELDS? You expected all that?

Whitey gonna fly out here? How about P Murph and KW from TN? Big negative there, as in no way. How about a rematch with LSU at TSP.? LOL .Do we fly to Austin for two games fly to Lincoln? How about fly to play Walton ? A LOT of money spent for 2 games. Even with half those played won, a big if, and a good showing at, we hope a national preseason tournament, the team will struggle with RPI, not affording a single other blemish since we will always be dragged down by bottom feeder ACC teams. No easy solution. There’s always Georgia, Auburn and USC with their combined 73 losses.

All your NIL wishes. Until that is funded, ? teams like Tech, and even Florida State are on the outside looking in to the top ten. Both programs poked their nose in the money ( top ten) tent this year, but not for long. Unless a generational pitcher shows up on your front door and doesn’t care about the money….meanwhile instead you rank (top 25) with the great unwashed, and survive with outstanding recruiting and development, preparing, pretty much 2nd tier national players, to compete with the first $$$$ tier.

Hitters you speak of you know so well and please list the ones who aren’t getting paid,

Year? Or is it just the softball team that deserves your sage advice?

Palmer park after yet another hoo spanking by the Hokies. it might have been the first year it opened. NO security guys anywhere. I actually called the AD office in Charlottesville and told them they needed more security after Hoo -Hokie games. Told them it’s not our fault ( Hokies) that we totally dominate your softball team. Now several years later, security has been increased but the Hokie softball domination still continues. I believe we are 19-4 against them over the last 7-8 years So Hokie fans should feel much safer talking smack’ after a Hoo pounding!!!.

Walks with 33. Aldridge very good at it also.

Other. How could she possibly know that?

Who knew that once proud WCWS participants in the past Mizzou, Kentucky, and Auburn would have so much in common with ACC teams Boston College, Syracuse, and Pitt. Not one of them qualify for the National Tournament.

Four years from our last visit to Clearwater, IF we are invited next year. Way past due.

Invite. So if that’s true, next year should find the Hokies in sunny Fla early in the season. In the past, next year’s field was announced either during the current tournament or shortly thereafter. Contrary to what one poster said there is no way for Hokie softball to politic or lobby for an invite. ESPN WANTS EYEBALLS. Duke basketball ‘brand’ brings eyeballs, FSU sports brand and their softball tradition brings eyeballs. UCLA brings a lot of west coast eyeballs. Hokie’s football ‘brand’ or basketball ‘brand’ brings very few eyeballs, hopefully that changes. Someone posted years ago that the cost of attending Clearwater ( with barely average ‘red clay dust bowl’ fields and practice facilities) was around 50k that was five years ago, probably 75 k now and the cost of attending Garmin and Nutter, where we have NO recruiting footprint is much higher. Just so much money to go around…….

Check out some stats from last year’s Hokies ACC league play and this year’s stats::pitching 2025 ERA 4.01 ‘26 3.10. Home runs given up 2025 21. 2026 15. Bat averaged against 2025. .265. 2026 .203. Walks VRs K 2025 34/65 ‘26 92/154 Hitting Bat average 2025 .326 ‘26. .362 Home runs 2025. 55. ‘26. 47 Runs 2025. 178. ‘26 198. Hits. 2025. 210. ‘26. 235. Slugg pct 2025. .638. ‘26. .661. OBP. 2025. .425. ‘26. .460. Last but not least for the small ballers Sacrifice hits. 2025. 2. ‘26 4

OK doesn’t have numbers 1,2,3,4,and 5.

I highlighted the ‘big picture’ , and wished it wasn’t so. Jekyll and Hyde Hokie baseball over the years leaves fans frustrated…..me in particular. Happy they are winning… praying for two sweeps.

tournament and plays in the Championship game, and about a ten percent chance the baseball team does likewise. If that’s not an ‘opposite direction’ I don’t know what is.

Has anyone seen South Carolina’s ‘best’ this season ?

Magnesium spray and may favorite pain reducing device…the massage gun.

Pain going down my right side, periformis / hip bursitis and upper leg lower pain by 80 percent. Been 2 months I’ve had ‘flair up’s’ but after a good nite’s rest (10-12 hours). I’m back to my 80 percent Much better than Zero.pct

Needs a ‘whiz kid’ head coach like the softball team has that can recruit and develop hitters. Then hire an up and coming pitching coach that is rewarded for positive production. Better yet hire the softball coach to coach baseball. I know that’s a stretch, but how much difference is there coaching/teaching hitting in softball VRS coaching/teaching hitting in baseball?