Virginia Tech Softball Travels To Columbia For The Carolina Classic

No. 7 Virginia Tech heads to Columbia, S.C. to compete in the Carolina Classic and continue its challenging start to the season.

The Hokies will play four games in three days, with contests against Ohio State, Miami (OH), South Carolina and Troy. The RedHawks and Trojans received NCAA bids last season, while the Gamecocks are still stinging from missing the tournament for the first time since 2012.

Here’s the weather forecast for the weekend:
Friday: 80 degrees, mostly sunny
Saturday: 60 degrees, cloudy
Sunday: 54 degrees, cloudy, 90% chance of rain

Below is the schedule of the games involving the Hokies. The South Carolina game is scheduled to be shown on SEC Extra while the remaining games will be available on ESPN3.

Ohio State

The Buckeyes, currently No. 25 per Extra Innings Softball, are off to a solid 7-1 start this season that includes wins over two ACC teams: Louisville (8-5) and North Carolina (5-2). Their single loss was to Liberty (3-2) in Leesburg, Fla.

Ohio State is relatively young with 15 players who are in either their first or second years with the program. Nevertheless, the team has been solid offensively, hitting .294 and averaging 5.7 runs per game. Freshman Melina Wilkison has arrived with a bang, leading the team in hitting (.478) and runs (nine).

The veterans have also contributed, with fifth-year senior Niki Carver (159 career games) hitting .313 this season at first base. Carver is the team’s active career leader in hits (118), home runs (18), RBIs (84) and doubles (17). Junior Sam Hackenbracht, a Second Team All-Big Ten selection in 2021, is hitting .333 to start the year at catcher.

Pitching was supposed to be a weak point for the Buckeyes this year with the graduation of workhorse Payton Buresch (11-6, 2.47 ERA). However, Lexie Handley (1.25 ERA, 32 Ks in 22 innings), Emily Ruck (1.97 ERA, 11 Ks in 10.2 innings) and Allison Smith (2.33 ERA, 20 Ks in 15 innings) have combined for a team ERA of 1.71.

Miami (OH)

Miami started their season a week later than the other four teams in the tournament so there is less data on this year’s squad.

The RedHawks started the year 2-3 with losses to Bradley, IUPUI, and Tennessee State, in which they surrendered 13 unearned runs. They’ve since tightened up their defense and have won their last two games over Bradley (2-0) and IUPUI (12-1).

However, Miami is coming off one of the most successful seasons in school history, winning the MAC for the second consecutive season in 2021. The RedHawks won a program record 46 games and set school records in batting average (.340), hits (499), average runs per game (7.6) and home runs (88).

Miami returns six different hitters that surpassed a .300 batting average last season, led by junior catcher Allie Cummins, who finished last season with a .439 batting average, 17 home runs and 59 RBIs. The RedHawks were a unanimous selection to repeat as MAC champions in a preseason poll by the coaches.    

Miami is coached by former Hokie assistant coach Kirin Kumar, who replaced another former Hokie, Clarisa Crowell, who left for Penn State in 2020. Kumar was named MAC Coach of the Year last season, duplicating a feat that Crowell achieved in 2019.

Another former Hokie, Kate Kobayashi, may get the start for the RedHawks in the outfield. Kobayashi started 29 games last season for Miami and finished the year with a .357 batting average, eight home runs and 26 RBIs.

In the circle, Miami is lead by senior Courtney Vierstra, last season’s MAC pitcher of the Year, who finished the season with a 26-5 record and a 1.77 ERA. Junior Brianna Pratt (13-4, 2.77 ERA), a Second Team All-MAC performer from a year ago, also returns.

South Carolina

The Gamecocks missed the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 2012 – a rarity for an NCAA eligible SEC team. They were picked to finish last in the conference again this year by the coaches, but head coach Beverly Smith (12th season, 359-247 at USC) believes those two things are “something that has really been fuel for us to get better.”

South Carolina (8-2) is coming off a successful trip to Myrtle Beach where they went 5-0 in the Bash at the Beach. The Gamecocks recorded a pair of wins over both Marshall and Fordham and a single win over Coastal Carolina. Previously this season, USC lost games to future Hokie opponents North Carolina (8-3) and UNC-Charlotte (6-1). 

The Gamecocks have an explosive offense, averaging almost seven runs per game and hitting .341 as a team.  They have seven regulars hitting .318 or better, led by freshman shortstop Emma Sellers (.464), senior catcher Jordan Fabian (.400, 6-6 stolen bases), and sophomore third baseman Riley Blampled (.400). Left fielder and graduate student Katie Prebble leads the team in home runs with five, while junior Hannah Kumiyama leads the team in RBIs with 13.

After a rough first outing, graduate student Kelsey Oh (3.57 ERA) has two consecutive complete game wins. Junior Karsen Ochs (3.50 ERA) has started a team-high four games this spring.

Troy

Last season, the Trojans won 37 games and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in 25 years. To start this spring, they’ve been red hot.

Troy (9-2) lost its season opener to College of Charleston (1-0), but then ran off nine consecutive wins before falling to Ole Miss (8-7) in the second of two games on Sunday. 

At the plate, Troy is hitting .337 as a team, paced by top of the order. Junior second baseman Kelly Horne and sophomore centerfielder Jade Sinness lead the way.

Horne has been on fire, batting .625 (15-24) and slamming four home runs. Sinness has been the perfect leadoff hitter, batting .444 with an on-base percentage of .535.

In the circle, Troy is led by First Team All-Sun Belt selection junior Leanna Johnson, who led the conference in ERA (1.60), strikeouts (235) and opponents batting average (.163) last year.

Johnson has picked up where she left off last season, with a 1.47 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 43 innings. She has won two consecutive Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week Awards to start the season and went 3-1 last weekend with a no-hitter vs. Eastern Kentucky. She is backed up by sophomore Libby Baker (3-0), who has 20 strikeouts in 14 innings.

Final Thoughts

This will be a challenging weekend for Virginia Tech. Sitting at No. 7 in the country, the Hokies have become “the hunted” and any of these four opponents are capable of beating them if they are not focused. With the bats still cool, it will be up to the pitchers to keep things on the right track.

“This weekend is another challenging schedule of games for us,” Tech head coach Pete D’Amour said. “All four opponents will make a postseason run. We’ve had a couple of good practices this week so I expect us to be ready to compete.”