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An elite pitcher...and an elite hitter
Given all the records, we still needed a reliabl elite pitcher and hitter(s) who can truly hold their own and win against top teams..a against top 10-15 teams consistently.
We had several very good hitters with double digit HRs and doulbes, and a team batting average above .300 all year. The lineup could also be shutdown where every opportunity had to be maximized moreso than usual. This was the case in the post-season, including the ACC tournament.
. Imagine if we had a 20-30 HR hitter (at least one) to go along with a bunch of 12-17 HR hitters. We were close with Abromavage and Lynch hitting around 18 HRs. A nice indicator are doubles. Michelle Chatifield ended up with double digit HRs but it took hitting 3 HRs in one game to jumpstart that movement to double digits. I would rather her hit more HRs across more games than 3 in one game. Abromavage was among the leaders in HRs for the team but toward the end, was vulnerable to getting out in the post-season,
If you look at the likelihood a player would score once they got on base, how good were we? Foster got on base at least 108 times. She scored 54 runs, which includes the 6 runs she scored from hitting HRs. I don't know what the national average is or if is really measurable to use how likely a runner is to score once on base. I would love to see her score more than 50% of the time she is one base (if conceivable!!)
Lynch, for example, scored 70 runs off of 117 times she "got on base". 18 of those hits/runs where HRs....
Kylie Aldridge got on base 92 times (incuding 11 hrs). She only scored 34 times, with 11 of those runs being driving herself in. So, she was knocked in 23 times on 81 times she didn't score herself.
Yaeger got "on base" 90 times and scored 27 runs. 10 of those runs were from her 10 HRs. So, in effect, she scored 17 runs off being on base 80 other times (non-HR times).
I know this is not a perfect way of looking at it, and a real formula may involve some metric with OBP.... But, as much as we set records, it felt like at times that there were missed opportunities in terms of efficiency.
In a long-winded way, we had several double-digit HR hitters, hit lots of doubles, scored runs, etc.... but how efficient were we when we needed to in the NCAA regionals. We can beat LSU, but we need the type of pitching performance we had against UVA and Duke in the ACC playoffs... to avoid elimination....and avoid having to have a miracle comeback to stave off elimination,
Thread Replies (8)
Record setting season for the Hokies
-- VTChip
Jun 26, 2026 at 09:59 AM ET
VTChip
•
06/26/26 09:59 AM ET
Given all of this - what is needed to get over that Regional hump?
-- VT_AD
Jun 26, 2026 at 10:53 AM ET
VT_AD
•
06/26/26 10:53 AM ET
An elite pitcher...and an elite hitter
◄
-- VAHokie89
Jun 26, 2026 at 03:57 PM ET
VAHokie89
•
06/26/26 03:57 PM ET
It's not just the pitching as you stated.....
-- hokietony
Jun 26, 2026 at 12:37 PM ET
hokietony
•
06/26/26 12:37 PM ET
Got to be able to hit top pitchers! Easier said than done. **
-- HokieAvalanche
Jun 26, 2026 at 04:36 PM ET
HokieAvalanche
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06/26/26 04:36 PM ET
Angela Tincher ....is all that's needed now.**
-- Hokebury
Jun 26, 2026 at 12:29 PM ET
Hokebury
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06/26/26 12:29 PM ET
And a tad short of HRs. With, what, 2 early canceled games.**
-- TomTurkey
Jun 26, 2026 at 10:16 AM ET
TomTurkey
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06/26/26 10:16 AM ET