After being snubbed from a National Seed and hosting this weekend in the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament, the Virginia Tech softball team will begin the tournament on the road. The Hokies are headed to the Tuscaloosa Regional at Alabama as the second seed and will get Belmont in the opening game on Friday at 3:30 on ESPN+.
Alabama will get Jackson State in the second round on Friday night, but in the case of the Hokies, they are getting a Belmont team that is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. They won the Missouri Valley Conference to earn their berth.
Virginia Tech is facing a tough pitcher in Maya Johnson
Virginia Tech will be facing a very good pitcher in Maya Johnson, who has struck out 355 batters in 197 innings pitched, and as a staff, the Bruins have an MVC-leading 1.24 ERA. In fact, they led the conference in ERA and fielding percentage this season. They don’t beat themselves much.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Hokies respond after having a week off and blowing a 9-2 lead to Clemson in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament last Friday at Boston College, losing 10-9 after allowing eight runs in the bottom of the sixth in brutal rainy conditions. It was a game that shouldn’t have been played.
Johnson has faced some good lineups this season, but Virginia Tech’s when they are swinging the bats as well as they can, they can be tough. As far as pitching goes, it’ll come down to Emma Lemley and the rest of the staff and how they respond after the struggles in bad weather conditions against Clemson. If Lemely is on of her game like she has been so many times this season, then the Hokies could have a good weekend. If not, it could be a quick NCAA Tournament stay for Virginia Tech.