A look back at 2019
During the 2019 season – Pete D’Amour’s first as head coach – the Hokies posted a 47-11 overall record, with a 20-4 conference mark. The team won 75% of their home games (15-5) and 83% of road games (19-4).
The Hokies started the season 9-0, cruising undefeated through the first two weeks of the year. A two-game split against Georgia during a weekend tournament in Athens highlighted the remainder of non-conference play, while the squad also recorded a doubleheader split against James Madison later in the season.
Once the calendar turned to ACC matchups, the Hokies got off to a hot and consistent start, winning their first six conference series’. Five run-rule victories highlighted the streak that also included four weekend sweeps, over North Carolina State; Duke; Pittsburgh; and Virginia. After losing two out of three at home to North Carolina, the Hokies finished the regular season with a 3-game sweep on the road at Boston College.
After being crowned ACC regular-season champions, an upset loss in the first game of the conference tournament didn’t hinder the Hokies from earning the #2 seed in the Lexington regional, where they twice bested Big Ten foe Illinois, but a pair of lopsided losses to Kentucky ended VT’s season.
Roster turnover
Graduation hit the Hokies a bit, taking a pair of everyday starters in shortstop Caitlyn Nolan and left fielder Emma Strouth. Lauren Duff – who started both behind the plate and as the designated player, earning seventy at-bats through the course of the year – also graduated following the 2019 campaign, but the Hokies’ biggest loss was pitching ace Carrie Eberle, who elected to enter the transfer portal after the season and now is an Oklahoma State Cowgirl. Eberle made thirty-two starts in 2019, posting a 1.84 ERA and 164 strikeouts.
D’Amour’s roster looks vastly similar as it did in 2019, minus the graduated seniors, as he adds former James Madison outfielder Kelsey Brown in addition to ten freshmen.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths – A lightning-fast start to D’Amour’s tenure in Blacksburg quickly got Hokie fans excited about softball once again. Keely Rochard had herself a breakout sophomore campaign, leading the team in ERA and strikeouts. Kelsey Bennett, Jayme Bailey, and Maddi Banks all made their presences known, even as freshmen, and with a year of experience now under their belts, look out. The Hokies should also get back Olivia Lattin, whose 2019 was cut short due to injury.
Weaknesses – Pitching. Pitching. And also pitching. While Rochard looked quite good, even stellar, at times during the 2019 season, she also performed as part of a 1-2 punch in the circle along with Eberle. With Eberle’s experienced right arm now departed, there are significant questions about the team’s pitching depth.
2020 outlook
Pitching – Pitching coach Doug Gillis is well-renowned for his successes in the circle, both as a player and a coach, but he has a tall order before him in 2020. Rochard will look to build on her impressive sophomore season, but depth behind her in the circle is seriously questionable. Former Georgia transfer Keara Napoli is the most experienced other member of a staff that also includes sophomore Mara Strum and freshmen Molly Jacobson and Kaylee Hewitt.
Offense – The Hokies should be in good shape at the plate with a lineup anchored by Bennett, Bailey, and junior outfielder Darby Trull. Trull led the team in batting average in 2019 with a .406 mark, while Bennett led all returners with fourteen home runs. Maddi Banks led the team with thirteen stolen bases last season, and the Hokies will also see the return of Lattin, who played in just three games in ’19, but owns a career .278 batting average with twenty-one home runs.
Coaching – Let’s call Pete D’Amour the man with the Midas touch; two years at Kennesaw State proved to be no fluke with his swift turnaround of a Virginia Tech squad that had been treading water for a little while prior to his arrival. With the magnifying glass squarely on his team following a regular-season title and reaching the forty-win mark in year one, the Hokies will now be among the hunted instead of a team giving chase.
Wrap-up
A conference title and a victories mark that came close to fifty set the bar high right off the bat for the D’Amour tenure at VT, and 2020 will not come without question marks – how will the pitching hold up, will the Hokies’ young budding stars prove consistent, and more. If those questions are answered positively, however, VT could quickly return to past form as a force in the ACC and nationally.
