First, Coach Patrick-Swift's swing for the fences style may not work in the ACC. The Pack lead the conference in strikeouts - and it's not even close. They have struck out 371 times - Louisville is second in the conference with 257. By comparison, the Hokies have fanned 180 times - half as much. If you put the ball in play, anything can happen.

In a related vein, they are 10th in the conference in batting average at .250. That's about where VT was last year, and we all know how that turned out.

Third, their pitching has really gone south. Early in the year, they were (statistically) the best staff in the conference. When I wrote my preview on March 10th, they were leading the league in ERA at 1.84. Now their ERA is 3.51, Those two runs can make a huge difference if you're not hitting.

Finally, I'm still not sure about Patrick-Swift having her husband as an Assistant Coach. Having a husband-wife coaching team may work in Tennessee, but that may be the exception. Sometimes, you need the good cop/bad cop roles and it's hard to do that if they're going home together. That's just Chip's theory and it could be totally off-base, so take it with a grain of salt.

Whatever the reason, they are struggling.