No. 22 Virginia Tech (36-17) heads to South Bend, Ind. this week for the ACC softball tournament. The Hokies are the No. 5 seed and face No. 4 seed Louisville in the first round on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET. All games will be televised on the ACC Network.
No. 3 Florida State (47-8, 22-2 ACC) is the top seed and the favorite to win its eighth tournament in the last nine years (no tournament in 2020 due to Covid). However, the conference has five other teams in the RPI top 50 that are hopeful for NCAA tournament bids: Duke (7), Clemson (16), Virginia Tech (24), Louisville (31) and Notre Dame (42).
“The ACC tournament will be as competitive as any tournament in the country,” Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour told Tech sideline. “Louisville has had a great year. We’re looking forward to competing against them.”
The Cardinals, who were picked to finish seventh in the ACC preseason poll, completed the regular season with a record of 35-17 and an ACC mark of 16-7. In the conference, they swept series from Pitt, NC State, Syracuse (two games), Virginia and Boston College. On top of that, they went 1-2 against both Duke and Notre Dame.
Other than Duke, Louisville’s biggest wins were against UCF (a split) and Missouri, two squads in the top 45 of the RPI.
The Cardinals returned seven starters from last year’s team, a group that forms the nucleus of the lineup. Louisville is fourth in the ACC in batting average (.317), led by sophomore outfielder Korbe Otis, who is hitting .399 and has started every game (102) in her two-year career. She leads the ACC in runs scored (61) and triples (7).
Freshman catcher Sarah Gordon has made the transition to college look easy, hitting .385 with 10 home runs.
But the leader of the Cardinals is graduate student and two-time NFCA All-Southeast Region selection Taylor Roby, who is one of the best two-way players in the conference. Roby, who owns the Louisville career home run record with 62, leads the ACC in homers (22) and RBIs (55) while pacing the pitching staff with an ERA of 2.42.
Louisville will also run if given the chance, having stolen 80 bases in 92 attempts this season. Senior Daisy Hess is second in the ACC in steals with 24 (in 28 attempts) while Otis is fifth with 20 (in 20 attempts).
Here’s a look at the Cardinals’ bats:
In the circle, Roby (10-6, 2.42 ERA) and freshman Alyssa Zabala (14-8, 2.84 ERA) have combined to start 43 of Louisville’s 52 games. However, they only have eight complete games between them, so expect head coach Holly Aprile to go to her bullpen quickly if they run into trouble.
The Cardinals are not big strikeout pitchers, ranking ninth in the ACC in strikeouts at 5.09 per seven innings. However, they have only surrendered 25 home runs this season, which is a stark contrast to the Hokies’ strength (92 HRs).
Aprile is in her fifth season as the head coach at Louisville. Her 35 wins this year have matched her total from her inaugural season in 2019 when the Cardinals qualified for the NCAA tournament. She has an overall record of 128-106 at Louisville, a job she took after spending 10 years at Pitt where she was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2018. In her last four years at Pitt, the Panthers won 30 or more games three times.
The Hokies enter the tournament with a little bit of momentum having won three of their last four games against Clemson and Liberty.
“I like how our team is trending,” D’Amour said. “We need to keep playing clean softball. We have a chance against anybody when we make basic plays, limit our pitching ‘misses’ and compete in the batter’s box.”
Here’s the tale of the tape:
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Let’s Go….HOKIES!
Very good analysis! Teams look pretty even…except for home runs (VT) and stolen bases (Louisville). Got to keep those bases clean!!
GO HOKIES
Thanks Chip. Great job as always.
Thanks for reading!
Go Hokies. Let’s win it.