Throughout a 162-game MLB regular season, in the end, all games matter. The same could be said for an 82-game schedule in the NBA and NHL. Some people will tell you that not all games matter, but in the end, yes, they do. Ask teams who miss out on a playoff berth by a few games or a few points.
The same could be said for college sports as well, regardless of the sport. In baseball and softball, the 50ish games are all big ones when it comes to the end of the season and selection time for the NCAA Tournament. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different. One team that found that this spring was Virginia Tech softball.
Virginia Tech softball slip ups in games cost them at seeding time
Taking care of business daily is huge. Whether it’s a non-conference game or series or an ACC series, all games and series matter. That’s even the case in the conference tournaments. Again, Hokies coach Pete D’Amour and his team found that out a little over a week ago when it came to seeding for the NCAA Tournament.
When it came to the 16 National Seeds, Virginia Tech had done enough to get a seed, whether it was No. 14, 15, or 16; they did enough to play the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in Blacksburg. Or so they thought. When the dust settled, they just missed out and were sent to the Tuscaloosa Regional at Alabama, and ended up having their season end on Sunday night against the Crimson Tide.
In the end, Alabama was the better team that came up with timely hits and defensive plays, as well as better pitching in the circle, but if there is one thing that the last eight days showed, all games matter. For instance, three games in the last month of the regular season were ultimately games that were the difference between travling for the first weekend of the tournament or staying home.
The first hiccup occurred in April when they traveled to Pittsburgh to face the struggling Panthers and dropped two out of three games. Talk about bad losses. Pittsburgh ended up making the ACC Tournament because of those two wins. Yes, Virginia Tech won the middle game, 21-0, but the other two losses were bad losses.
Then there was the ACC Tournament disaster, which was the semifinals against Clemson. Leading 9-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Hokies allowed eight runs in the inning with their pitching walking in runs in the pouring rain. Whether or not that game had an impact on the seeding for the NCAA Tournament is anyone’s guess, but the Tigers had to pitch in the same conditions, and they were able to escape with the win.
Now I’m not saying that Virginia Tech even advances past the weekend if they played at home, but being home instead of traveling is clearly much better. Twelve of the 16 National Seeds advanced through the opening weekend to the Super Regionals, and playing at home in the end makes a difference. Little things do matter.