Matched teams We’ve not had that this weekend

It was said on the broadcast that Duke has won 7 of the last 8 against the Hokies. With yesterday’s loss that makes 8 out of 9. That is not just luck, that is better coaching.

Are loaded Luck has to do with: a proven pitcher having her wildest inning costing us 4 runs Or a hitter who whiffed on 2 pitches just happening to barrel one with 2 out in 7th Or line SHOTS leading to DPs against us None of that is coaching

pitchers. A proven pitcher is also proven to walk a fair number of batters per game...

When it was 0-0?

3 walks that were mostly due to her control issues. She got out of the inning. But with more walks … There is a reason duke beats us and it isnt because of the umpires. Their coach usually changes pitches at opportune times, they do more situational hitting. Last night the commentators made the point that tech rarely bunts or does small ball. The logic was if your lineup hits .300-something, why bother. You dont need to. That approach might win 75% of your games and get you into regionals. But it hasnt gotten us past a certain point for a variety of reasons . One is that good pitching can slow down good offense. And that is when when we need to entertain small ball. It has been talked about here about here. Actually three of the common discussion points here by savvy and smart posters are: 1. We need to do more small ball 2. Do we need to change pitchers sooner 3. Do we run ourselves into outs by being too aggressive. There is no ready made answer to these but they are valid discussions.

Problem is if we only do it in the perfect situation it’s harder to execute because we don’t do it often enough to be good at it Pitching changes are a crapshoot; when Duke took Curd out we still scored 3 more to tie. It’s hard to make a change so early in inning 1 away from your 1 and 2 but both Mazz and Avery struggled to start this weekend ** Edited by hokiepro at 3/16/2026, 9:42:58 AM

Duke constantly is advancing runners, whether it be by tagging up or stealing a base or taking an extra base on a throw from the outfield. We were facing a ground ball pitcher and we never tried to steal second to get out of the DP. Paterson were screaming for a PH when Rogs came up with the bases loaded and one out. Problem is that she was already substituted for earlier in the game. She is hitting the ball much better this year so why PH for her on her first chance to hit? Also the force at home was the call that should have been challenged not whatever call it was in the first inning.

second inning coach used a pinch hitter, Luginbill, to bat for Rohs. Luginbill delivered, bringing in the first two and only runs of the game. So you state that Rohs is hitting the ball so much better this year, so you would have let her hit in the second inning? So if she is hitting the ball so much better, why would you want to pinch hit for her later in the game when it was not possible because she had already be substituted for. Is she hitting better and therefore should bat, or should he hit for her? Not sure your position. As for your suggestion he needs to advance runners, according to the game stats, there were only 5 put outs on fly balls to the outfield, and for 4 of those it was either the final out of the inning or there was no one on base. No chances to advance runners there. When Rohs came up in the 4th and the bases were loaded (and it seems you wanted a pinch hitter although maybe you didn't because she was hitting so much better, not sure which) Rohs hit into a fielders choice where Foster was out at the plate on a force play, should Foster have tried to steal home in order to "advance runners" therefore not getting forced at home? Obviously it would have been foolish to try to steal home, but my point is there were not that many opportunities to advance runners. Furthermore, advancing runners needs to be done when there is a very high probably of success, otherwise you are running yourself out of an inning. When you have a lineup where everyone is hitting over .300 I like our probability of the next batter getting a hit as opposed to the probability of stealing a base or taking a risky chance on the bases where getting thrown out ends the inning and that next batter hitting over .300 doesn't get to the plate with runners on base. Sometimes that runner on on first is not the fastest player on the team and therefore should not try to steal second to avoid the double play. Decisions to challenge calls must be much easier from home when you have the benefit of replay.

what message does that send to Rohs? To PH for her so early in the game takes every other decision for her out of your hands. Rohs is our best defensive SS and we needed her in the game for her defense. If the PH came with the bases loaded assume a hit occurs and we still score 2 runs and the top of the order comes up with 2 runners on and only 1 out. As for my comment about advancing runners. Every time we hit into a DP second base was open and the pitcher was refusing to through anything up in the strike zone. Basically ensuring that we would hit a ground ball. We never tried to steal second base. On time Duke was playing a severe shift such that we hit into a 5-in, 5-3 double play. CPD rarely will send runners, especially in games that we need to win with “small” ball philosophy because of how the other team is pitching us ** Edited by bushartbs525 at 3/15/2026, 2:22:18 PM

She probably knows the deal. Of the 11 hitters w/ 10+ ABs, she's clearly the least likely to hit the ball hard. Bishop only has 7 ABs, but also has more pop in her bat. I definitely would have pinch hit for her a 2nd time yesterday. Heck, I'd start her at SS, pinch hit for her the first time she came up with runners on, and only bring her back for defense when VT has the lead. Go with Castine at SS, Mizelle at 2B & a better hitter in RF for as long as hits/runs are needed. It would be a drop-off in the field, but Castine & Mizelle are still solid.

And we don’t give away outs early in games or innings in exchange for trying to score just one. We’d rather allow our excellent hitters to try to score more than one