It can't just be all pitching right? We seem to struggle, in general, against more elite pitching. We scored 2 total runs vs. LSU in 2 games this year. 2025 we scored 5 total runs vs. Alabama last year in 2 games. 2024 we scored 1 vs. GCU and 6 against UCLA. 2023 we scored 6 total in 2 games vs. UGA ** Edited by VT_AD at 6/26/2026, 10:54:33 AM

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,

It's a mix of needing to hit better against the regional hosts and pitching well. This hitting issue was noticeable at the end of the regular season against the ACC teams (UVa and FSU) with the best pitching. Year after year, the VT hitting numbers are tremendous but it has not translated very well to the NCAAT. Regional hump is a real thing. VT is 0-7 vs the regional hosts the last 4 years. ** Edited by hokietony at 6/26/2026, 12:40:35 PM ** Edited by hokietony at 6/26/2026, 12:41:37 PM ** Edited by hokietony at 6/26/2026, 12:47:51 PM