Virginia Tech softball kicks off tournament season with the ACC Tournament

As the calendar turns into the middle of May over the next week, that means only one thing, it’s time for the softball season to turn to their postseasons. Virginia Tech begins the ACC Tournament Thursday night in Durham, North Carolina on the campus of Duke. 

The Hokies, seeded third, will play at 7:30 p.m. against sixth-seeded Georgia Tech. If the top seeds hold through the quarterfinals, Virginia Tech and Florida State, seeded second, could be on a collision course in the semifinals on Friday afternoon.

After starting conference play 9-0, the Hokies found things tough as the schedule got tougher, beginning with a sweep by Duke in March. They finished 18-6 in conference play, which included a sweep of the Yellow Jackets in Blacksburg in April and outscoring them 29-10.

When the Hokies take the field, they will be doing so on an eight-day layoff with their last game being on May 1 at Liberty in a 4-1 win. They had their weekend doubleheader at home against Robert Morris postponed and entered the conference tourney at 39-11-1 overall.

This season the Hokies have been crushing the ball with 112 home runs, compared to just 35 for their opponents. Their order doesn’t offer many breaks in it and they tend to struggle against slower pitchers.

Losing two out of three at Syracuse in their final ACC series put a big dent into the Hokies chances of possibly hosting an NCAA Regional next weekend, but winning the ACC Tournament or maybe even getting to the Championship Game Saturday will put them back into the conversation to host as a National Seed. The ACC is loaded at the top of the standings and it should make for an interesting tournament over the next four days.