Coming off one of the strongest season-opening weekends in program history, No. 8 Virginia Tech heads to Tuscaloosa, Ala. to compete in the Easton Bama Bash Tournament.
The Hokies will play five games in three days, including two games against a pair of undefeated teams: No. 2 Alabama (4-0) and Evansville (5-0). VT will also play a single game against Middle Tennessee (1-5).
“We have another formidable challenge in front of us this weekend,” Tech head coach Pete D’Amour said. “Middle Tennessee is a well coached team, as is Evansville. We have to be ready to play both of them. Obviously, Alabama is one of the best teams in the country.”
Alabama will stream the games involving the Tide on SEC Extra and there is also radio coverage on 97.5 The Bear. The extended weather forecast is for temperatures to be in the mid 50s on Friday and 60s on Saturday and Sunday.
Here is the schedule of the games involving the Hokies:
Below is an overview of each Hokie opponent with some overall thoughts:
Alabama
The Crimson Tide, who have made it to 15 consecutive Super Regionals, opened the 2022 season with four wins in the Candrea Classic in Arizona.
Two of the wins came in five innings in 11-0 run-rule wins over Southern Utah and the No. 9 Arizona. The other victories were over Oregon State (5-1) and New Mexico (8-3).
When softball fans think about Alabama softball, Montana Fouts is the first name that comes to mind.
Fouts was the 2021 NFCA Pitcher of the Year and had a post-season for the ages. She threw a pair of complete game shutouts against Clemson in the NCAA Regionals, then followed it up with two remarkable performances in the College World Series. Fouts struck out a career-high 16 against Arizona, and then threw a perfect game against UCLA the next day.
The expected pitchers dual between Fouts and the Hokies’ Keely Rochard, the Hokies’ own All-American, should make for “must-see TV.”
A comparison of last season’s stats shows the two All-Americans are closely matched.
However, Fouts is still recovering from a leg injury suffered during the Team USA tryouts and Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy indicated this week that he might use her only once this weekend, which is what happened in Arizona.
Lexi Kilfoyl (13-4, 131 Ks in 104 innings) provides excellent depth and almost matched Fouts in ERA (1.62) last season. She got the start against Arizona on Saturday and responded with a five-inning, two-hit shutout. Both hits were infield singles. An interesting note: Kilfoyl will often hit when she pitches. Against the Wildcats, she was 1-of-2.
Between Fouts and Kilfoyl, they struck out a combined 18 batters in 12.2 innings.
The Hokies will counter with Rochard and freshman Emma Lemley. The duo struck out a combined 49 batters in 25 innings last weekend.
The interesting question is how much offensive support each team will provide to their star pitchers. At first glance, Virginia Tech, who basically returned every starter from last season, may have a slight advantage in experience.
In terms of games started, the Crimson Tide lost seven of their top nine players from last season, including four of their top five hitters. However, Alabama is truly one of those schools that reloads with fresh talent.
The Tide signed two players that were considered top-10 recruits, both of whom start and make an impact. In addition, they also added two transfers that start.
Freshman Megan Bloodworth was the No. 10 recruit by Extra Innings Softball and the Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year. She blasted a grand slam in her first collegiate at bat and a solo shot in her second. Bloodworth hit .600 (6-of-10) in her first weekend of play.
Freshman Dallis Goodnight was ranked as a top 5 recruit by both Extra Innings and Flo Softball, an organization that also listed her as the top outfielder in the Class of 2021. She hit .455 throughout the opening weekend and was 4-for-4 in stolen bases.
Ashley Prange transferred from Ohio State where she started 103 games and had a .303 career batting average that included 17 home runs and 67 RBIs. She batted .583 in the opening weekend.
A Tennessee transfer, Ally Shipman started 98 games and had a career batting average of .331 with the Volunteers. Those statistics included 94 hits, 13 home runs and 75 RBIs, and she hit .364 in her first action with Alabama.
Graduate student Kaylee Tow has 210 career starts and a career batting average of .323. She is joined in the starting lineup by junior Jenna Johnson (.500) and junior Abby Doerr (.250).
Last weekend, Alabama started the same eight players in all four games, including the five previously mentioned players. In the ninth lineup spot, Savannah Woodard started three games in right field, while Kat Grill started the other one.
This Alabama team appears to have tremendous power, totaling 20 extra base hits last week, including 10 home runs by 7 different players.
Murphy enters his 24th season at the helm of the program, having guided the Crimson Tide to 21 consecutive NCAA tournaments, and appearances in 13 Women’s College World Series. Since the Super Regional round was introduced to the NCAA Tournament in 2005, Alabama is the only team in the country to appear in all 15 series.
Evansville
The Purple Aces head to Tuscaloosa with a 5-0 record after sweeping all of their games in the Best on the Bayou Classic in Monroe, La.
Evansville recorded wins over Stephen F. Austin (5-0), Morehead State (4-0), Southern (9-8), Mississippi Valley State (14-0) and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (11-3).
Although it’s not possible to be better than 5-0, the quality of competition in Monroe was not stellar. The Purple Aces’ strength of schedule, per Massey, is No. 281.
Evansville is led by senior pitcher Izzy Vetter (3-0), who has been virtually unhittable this year.
Vetter has thrown three complete games and has not given up an earned run, as well as striking out 30 batters in 17 innings. Although undefeated, Purple Aces hurlers have been victimized by their defense – Evansville has committed nine errors in five games which has led to nine unearned runs.
At the plate, Evansville is hitting a robust .354 as a team with five players at .400 or better. In addition, there are five starters that are .300 or above: Hannah Hood (.474), Jenna Lis (.467), Sydney Weatherford (.400), MacKenzie McFeron (.333), and Jenna Nink (.300).
Evansville is coached by Mat Mundell, who enters his 8th season at the helm of the program. The Purple Aces have local flavor: Of the 20 student-athletes on his roster at the start of the 2022 campaign, 15 are from Indiana or a bordering state.
Middle Tennessee State
Middle Tennessee flew to California last weekend to participate in the SDSU Season Kickoff and had a rough start.
The Blue Raiders lost 3-1 in eight innings to Stanford and followed it up with losses to San Diego State (3-1), and Boise State (4-0 and 8-1), before beating Cal Poly 4-3. Middle Tennessee finished their west coast adventure with a 2-1 loss to the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Coach Jeff Breedon said before the season that he wanted to test his team early so that “by the time we get to conference (CUSA) play, our young kids will be seasoned. … Our goal is to always win the conference tournament and go to the NCAA Tournament.”
This weekend will continue that philosophy with two games against Alabama and one against the Hokies.
The Blue Raiders are a mixture of experience and youth. The veterans are led by a pair of multi-year starters: Outfielder Kelci Hill led the team in hitting last season (.368), while middle infielder Lani Rodriquez has started over 125 games and is a rock defensively.
Last weekend, the youngsters made an impact. Freshmen Claire Czajkowski (.455), Laura Mealer (.333) and sophomore Amaya Harris (.438) led MTSU offensively.
In the circle, Middle Tennessee is led by Corrina Dodd, a preseason All-C-USA selection who led the Blue Raiders in strikeouts in 2021 with 58 Ks in 103 innings. She also finished second on the team in ERA (2.64).
Final Thoughts
This weekend should be a great measuring stick for the Hokies. Alabama is one of the nation’s elite programs and has a tremendous 1-2 punch in the circle.
In addition, the Crimson Tide sold 3,200 season tickets before the season started, so Rhodes Stadium should be loud and intimidating with 4,000+ in attendance. (As a side note, the cheapest tickets in the permanent grandstands for Saturday’s game on StubHub start at $109).
At the same time, the Hokies have nothing to lose and are looking forward to the challenge. As ESPN’s Jen Schroeder commented this week, “Keely [Rochard] is just good.
“She is just a workhorse. She is determined. … When she sets her mind to something, … she just goes after it. Keely takes a lot of pride in that. 3-0 against ranked teams this weekend – nobody in the country did that.”
Regardless of the Alabama outcomes, the Hokies can’t overlook Evansville and Middle Tennessee, two very capable teams.
“I’ve been to Rhodes Stadium many times,” D’Amour said. “Alabama definitely plays upon their home field advantage. The place will be rocking. We can’t wait to have an opportunity to compete in an environment like that.”
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$109!!!!
The other interesting question is whether Rochard will give up some random early run, which is a tendency. And if the bats go quiet against Alabama…
Chip – nice writeup and analysis. As you state this is a great opportunity for our softball program by playing Alabama with no real pressure to win. Hopefully Lemley has worked on her illegal pitch issues (or the umps are more lenient). Plus our defense plays solid ball. Most of the runs scored last weekend were unearned. I always feel VT in softball and baseball are at a big disadvantage against southern schools early in the season due to our climate with lack of outdoor practice.
Thanks for the preview Chip. Do you get a press pass?
Yes I did!!! Got notified about an hour ago.
Great! I was hoping you didn’t have to pay that price for the tickets. Even better that you’ll get access to all the stats and what should be good seats. Can’t root in the press box though.
Yes, The no cheering rule just kills me. I understand it and always respect it, but it’s just hard to keep quiet 😀
Fantastic! Thanks for your energy keeping all of us “poppin’ it” with Hokie softball!
5 o’clock baby. Thanks for the great summary.
That is a great write-up. I know you’re doing this as a love of labor but you might end up as a pro even if it’s just travel allowance. become a stringer for the Athletic or something.
Great opportunity, win or lose, go up against the best at the beginning of the year will tell you what you need to extend the season at the other end and you need a little fear to learn to play better.
You are very kind.
I have a new appreciation for the folks that do this for a living. The amount of time it takes to research stories and gather information is mine blowing. I never realized that before.
And David takes a lot of time not only to proofread my stories, but to find pictures they go along with them. He’s the best
Great write up once again Chip. I am honestly as excited to watch today’s game as I have been for most big football or basketball games!!
I share your feelings, sir. It’s not the end of the world if we lose, but dang do I want to win!