The Virginia Tech softball team opened the ACC Tournament late on Thursday night by beating in-state rival Virginia, 3-1. Emma Mazzarone in the circle was dominating with 14 strikeouts. Offensively, the Hokies did something that they have not done much this year: they won a game without the benefit of a home run.
Virginia Tech led the ACC in homers going into the ACC Tournament, but winning a game without one certainly opens some eyes. In the semifinals on Friday afternoon in Charlottesville, Pete D'Amour's team made up for lost time.
Virginia Tech hits four home runs in win over Duke
Playing one of the top offensive teams in the country in Duke and after dropping two out of three to the Blue Devils back in March, the Hokies used four home runs to account for all of their scoring in a 5-0 victory that advances them to Saturday's ACC Championship Game against top-seeded Florida State, which beat Stanford 9-0 in the first semifinal Friday, at 2:30 on ESPN.
The Hokies improved to 46-9 overall with solo home runs from Michelle Chatfield, Nora Abromavage, and Rachel Castine before Kylie Aldridge added some insurance with a two-run shot in the top of the seventh. Bree Carrico and Emma Mazzarone combined for the shutout in the circle.
Things get awfully interesting for Virginia Tech on Saturday. A win over the Seminoles and the Hokies should lock up a Top 16-seed and host a Regional next weekend in Blacksburg, the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. However, did they do enough after some results in other conference tournaments went their way the last couple of days to have their RPI rise enough to host even with a loss to FSU?
It certainly makes things interesting come Sunday night's Selection Show. Last year, the Hokies were snubbed from hosting a Regional in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament after losing to Clemson in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Was Friday the difference in 2026? They can likely take away the drama with a win over Florida State on Saturday.
Add us as a preferred source on Google