Thursday, May 19, 2005
Berth of a program
The Hokies' improbable ACC run puts them in the NCAAs for the first time.
Add another highlight to the list. The Virginia Tech softball team knew it would have to make a splash in the ACC tournament in order to make up for its 4-13 ACC record in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee. The odds weren't great, considering the Hokies were the bottom seed and ace Angela Tincher hadn't pitched a complete game in a month.
Tech rode the arm of Tincher all the way to Sunday's ACC title game, though, and reaped an NCAA at-large bid later that day.
"That was amazing," junior right fielder Kelly Brown said of the ACC tournament run. "Nobody saw that one coming at all."
The Hokies (43-23) will face the College of Charleston on Friday in the first round of a double-elimination regional at 11th-ranked Tennessee. It will be the NCAA debut for the Tech softball program, in its 10th year at the varsity level.
"It's long overdue," coach Scot Thomas said.
"We just have a tremendous team chemistry," senior catcher Megan Evans said. "We're not letting things outside of softball bother us on the field."
The Hokies failed to reap an at-large bid in 1999, when they went 54-16 and fell in the Atlantic 10 tournament final, and in 2002, when they went 42-18 and lost in the Big East final. But the NCAA field expanded from 48 to 64 teams two years ago, giving Tech a better shot at a bid this time. Tech also had a better strength of schedule and was in a better softball conference this time.
The nonexistent NCAA resume hindered recruiting, said Thomas.
That didn't stop a talented local recruit from coming aboard. Tincher, a freshman who graduated from James River High School, is 21-7 with a 0.92 ERA and a school-record 338 strikeouts.
Tincher was sidelined with two stress fractures in her left fibula last month. After pitching in a 1-0 loss to North Carolina on April10, she didn't return to the circle until an April30 loss to Virginia, when she was limited to one inning under doctor's orders. Her only other outing before the tournament was a May5 game against Winthrop in which she was restricted to four innings. Tech, which went 6-8 in between the April10 game and the ACC tournament, informed the NCAA selection committee of Tincher's return in hopes of boosting its at-large hopes.
Tincher started Tech's first five games in the ACC tournament at Maryland, going 4-1. She set four ACC tournament records in her three days of work, including most innings pitched (39) and most strikeouts (62).
"I was surprised my endurance held up so well," said Tincher, who will start again Friday. "I kind of pitched myself back into shape, pitching so many innings and running on adrenaline."
Thomas had figured Tech needed to win at least three games in the tournament to land an at-large bid. That's why he kept turning to Tincher.
"We had no idea she was going to be able to pitch the number of innings she did. She was just a warrior," said Thomas, the only coach the program has had.
Wearing an air-filled cast on her lower left leg, Tincher struck out a tournament-record 21 batters in 12 2/3 innings to lead the seventh-seeded Hokies to a 3-2, 14-inning upset of second-seeded Florida State in the Hokies' tournament opener last Thursday. Tincher pitched all but the sixth inning and part of the seventh.
"After we beat them, we're like, 'We beat Florida State, we can beat anyone in this tournament,'" Brown said.
Tincher struck out 16 batters, a tournament record for a seven-inning game, in a 3-2 win over Virginia on Saturday that put the Hokies into the finals.
The Hokies would have had to beat top-seeded Georgia Tech twice on Sunday to win the crown. Figuring the Hokies had wrapped up an at-large bid, Thomas started Katie Maynard in the 1-0 loss to Georgia Tech. If the Hokies had forced a second game, Tincher would have started.
Tincher was joined on the all-tournament team by Evans, who hit a pair of two-run homers in a 4-0 win over North Carolina on Friday, and Brown. All three also made the All-Northeast Region second team Wednesday.
Evans, an All-ACC second-team pick from Mansfield, Pa., is batting .321 with 46 RBI and a school-record 14 homers. Brown, an All-ACC second-team pick from Dale City, Va., is hitting .322 with one homer, 12 RBI and a school-record 75 hits. They are the only Hokies hitting better than .282, so they don't see a lot of great pitches.
"I have to make sure I have really good pitch selection because I'm not seeing the pitches down the middle," Brown said. "I'm really having to focus on driving the outside pitch because I'm seeing so much of that."
"You have to learn to hit bad pitches," said Evans, who has walked a school-record 48 times this year.
The NCAA tournament selection show on ESPNEWS was Sunday night, when the Hokies were heading home from Maryland. The team bus had satellite TV, so the Hokies were able to watch the show. The bus driver pulled off I-81 because the team wanted to make sure the satellite wouldn't cut out. Late in the show, the nervous players finally saw that Tech had been picked.
"Everybody just went nuts - jumping up and down and screaming, running off the bus to get on our cellphones and call everybody we knew," Tincher said.
A celebration 10 years in the making.
ANGELA TINCHER
Freshman pitcher
Stats: 21-7, 0.92 ERA, 338 strikeouts and 63 walks
in 197 innings
Honors: ACC all-tournament team; All-Northeast Region
second team
KELLY BROWN
Junior right fielder
Stats: .322, 1 homer, 12 RBI, 75 hits, 41 runs, 16 doubles,
16 stolen bases
Honors: All-ACC second team, ACC all-tournament team, All-Northeast Region second team
MEGAN EVANS
Senior catcher
Stats: .321, 14 homers, 46 RBI, 48 walks, 112 total bases, .599 slugging percentage, .467 on-base percentage
Honors: All-ACC second team, ACC all-tournament team, All-Northeast Region second team
NCAA REGIONAL in Knoxville, Tenn.
Friday's games
College of Charleston (51-16) vs.
Virginia Tech (43-23),
5 p.m.
Miami of Ohio (34-24) vs. Tennessee (59-13),
7:30 p.m.
Sizing up the competition
A look at the other teams in the Knoxville regional:
Tennessee (59-13): The Lady Vols and Hokies have met the past eight years in Bristol, Tenn., in the State Line Classic; this year's meeting was rained out. The series is tied 5-5. Tech's five-game winning streak in the series was snapped with a 1-0 loss last year. The 11th-ranked Lady Vols finished fourth in the SEC standings and lost in the SEC semifinals.
College of Charleston (51-16): Tech beat the Cougars 1-0 in Mount Pleasant, S.C., on Feb. 25 on Megan Evans' RBI single in the bottom of the seventh. Angela Tincher threw a one-hitter, striking out 12. Tech is 2-0 in the series. The Cougars, making their first NCAA appearance, won the SoCon regular-season and tournament titles.
Miami of Ohio (34-24): Tech beat the RedHawks 2-0 in Chattanooga on Feb. 20. Katie Maynard threw a two-hitter. Tech is 4-1 in the series. The RedHawks, making their first NCAA appearance, finished third in the Mid-American Conference standings but won the MAC tournament.
Notes: Tech's games will air in the New River Valley on WPIN (AM 810) and WZFM (FM 101.3) and will be streamed live on hokietv.com.
The winner of this regional plays the winner of the Missouri regional at a campus site next weekend in a best-of-three super regional for a berth in the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
