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You are kind of all over the place. We are discussing elite pitchers.

I am not criticizing our pitching staff or our team. Not sure why the plea there. We are talking about elite pitchers, not staffs. We have not had an elite pitcher since KR. "Elite" is not just ERA. It's carrying a team. Pitching a high majority of innings and winning a very high % of games. Often means starting Friday and Sunday and relieving to protect other wins. Keely did that with a much lower ERA than Lemley. Here are EL and KR ACC stats from their senior years. EL, 67.2 innings, 6 - 4, 4.54 ERA KR, 96.1 innings, 15 - 0, 1.67 ERA See the difference? We rode KR to two Super regionals. She started 4 of the 6 games. Haven't made it to Supers since. Lemley was never an All-American or got close to the national accolades KR got. EL had a great career. AUSL selection had other elements to it. Softball has not changed that much since 2022. Bree Carrico's stats are elite. Her load is not. She has pitched 88 innings and is 12-1. She is not carrying the team, yet. Maybe she will at some point. I assume if Pete thought she could start Fri and Sun and maintain those stats, she would be doing it. And Mazz would be a great 2nd game starter. Keely was not the primary pitcher her freshman year either. In 2024, Canady pitched 240 innings, was 34 - 7 and had a 1.11 ERA. Do you think TT makes it to the CWS without her? This year she is 18-3 with a 115 innings. She is pitching less innings because they have a 2nd elite pitcher who is 18-1 with a 1.34 ERA. They have two Canadys. And they are 42-4. Do you think if we had Canady that we would have 9 losses?
Posted: 04/23/2026 at 04:47 AM ET
(In response to this post by hokiepro)

Thread Replies (36)

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Perspective
Battlesuggs 04/22/26 11:31 PM ET
I disagree. The last 2 games they have lost the defense has played
Hokie_Forester 04/23/26 06:56 AM ET
Answer this: How many of our losses have been to teams with more . . .
MidloHokie 04/23/26 06:31 AM ET
We'll have our answer about just how good we are after the UNC games. **
HokieAvalanche 04/23/26 12:02 AM ET
UNC is not very good. In fact their pitching borders on bad. Anything . .
MidloHokie 04/23/26 06:37 AM ET
We’re more talented than 38-9? That’s pretty talented **
hokiepro 04/24/26 10:02 AM ET
GT is not very good. Liberty is just plain bad. Of course now that they
vatechcowpatty 04/23/26 07:24 AM ET
I wouldn't call Liberty 'bad'. They are 15-6 in CUSA. They have . .
MidloHokie 04/23/26 07:30 AM ET
They had a losing record. GT barely had a winning record and a losing ACC
vatechcowpatty 04/23/26 07:47 AM ET
I'm not excusing the loss to Liberty but they aren't a 'bad' team.
MidloHokie 04/23/26 05:58 PM ET
I'm very supportive of our Team. But the way they have played lately
HokieAvalanche 04/23/26 10:35 AM ET
I believe most posters on this board are very supportive of the women in
pharlap_99 04/22/26 11:53 PM ET
Praise of the Athlete
Battlesuggs 04/23/26 01:01 AM ET
Football will be the hand that feeds after it takes...we can be top ten in
U2Hokie 04/23/26 05:49 AM ET
I agree there is no shame in being a #2 seed in the NCAA. And we do it
nkhooch 04/22/26 11:37 PM ET
Lemley was an elite pitcher; otherwise she’d not have received an AUSL GOLD
hokiepro 04/23/26 12:06 AM ET
Nope. Lemley was very good but not what I term 'elite'. VT has only . . .
MidloHokie 04/23/26 06:27 AM ET
Eberle pretty close - no?**
U2Hokie 04/23/26 06:11 PM ET
Yes.**
MidloHokie 04/23/26 06:16 PM ET
AT was generational beyond elite**
TomTurkey 04/23/26 10:17 AM ET
I'd argue that Keely was not yet elite when she came in as a freshman
RVAHokie05 04/23/26 09:52 AM ET
Agree. Her work and the result of it is pretty rare. It would . . .
MidloHokie 04/23/26 05:56 PM ET
Yeah I remember you saying a pitcher is usually 80% “formed”
RVAHokie05 04/23/26 07:12 PM ET
I think elite is defined by the times
hokiepro 04/23/26 06:47 AM ET
Agree, the pitcher's job is getting tougher. **
MidloHokie 04/23/26 07:24 AM ET
You are kind of all over the place. We are discussing elite pitchers.
nkhooch 04/23/26 04:47 AM ET
I don't think either Bree or Mazz are "elite". Bree may have the higher
HokieAvalanche 04/23/26 02:38 PM ET
I agree with this. A week ago I thought Mazz 26 and Bree 26 were better
vatechcowpatty 04/23/26 08:15 AM ET
Good points. This is her first year. So, maybe they are being careful
nkhooch 04/23/26 12:50 PM ET
The missing ingredient with our current team!**
HokieAvalanche 04/23/26 12:05 AM ET
If we want to be specific. Michelle Chatfield's power numbers are below
VAHokie89 04/23/26 08:54 PM ET
It wasn’t missing until this week. We had the lowest team ERA in ACC
hokiepro 04/23/26 12:08 AM ET
Schedule
Battlesuggs 04/23/26 12:54 AM ET
Our schedule strength was not much different than TTech’s
hokiepro 04/23/26 08:01 AM ET
You really can't put Bree and Canady in the same sentence. You put way . .
MidloHokie 04/23/26 06:19 PM ET
What metric would you use to better compare pitchers? WHIP? Maybe…
hokiepro 04/24/26 11:54 AM ET
Well Canady's career ERA is 0.94 after pitching . . .
MidloHokie 04/24/26 12:50 PM ET