When Pete D'Amour arrived, the expectations were that D'Amour would be able to take Virginia Tech softball back to the heights of the Scot Thomas era where the Hokies were consistently competing for ACC titles and even reached a Woman's College World Series. However, no one had the expectations that Virginia Tech softball would compete for an ACC title after back-to-back losing seasons.
Instead, D'Amour and the Hokies surpassed all expectations on their way to a historic regular season that reached it's high point today.
Virginia Tech won the 2019 ACC regular season title after going on the road and winning all three games at Boston College to end conference play. The Hokies beat Florida State by one game with a 20-4 conference record including a perfect 12-0 road record in ACC games, clinching the top seed in the ACC Tournament.
The fact that the Hokies have turned it around so quickly is a testament to the job that Pete D'Amour has done in his first year at the helm. Even D'Amour is impressed by how his team has bought in as he told HokieSports.com after today's win.
It's really unbelievable," D'Amour said. "I almost have to pinch myself every time I come to the park because everything has been clicking this year. The buy in has been huge and there are really good players here, so it's a combination. When you have those two things, you have the season that we're having."
D'Amour has done an incredible job leading the type of turnaround that should make him the clear favorite to be the National Coach of the Year.
However, Scot Thomas also deserves some credit for not only building the program from nothing but also pushing for facility improvements including a new softball practice facility and upgrades to Tech Softball that Virginia Tech softball is definitely benefiting from.
The Hokies' success has been built around their impressive 1-2 pitching combination of Carrie Eberle and Keely Rochard. The pair has been dominant with Eberle leading the ACC with 24 wins (24-5 record) while Rochard has a 19-3 win and multiple elite pitching performances. Additionally, both Eberle and Rochard have ERAs below 1.75 as arguably the ACC's two best pitchers and a pitching combination that makes the Hokies a sleeper to make a run to the Woman's College World Series.
Congrats to Virginia Tech softball on winning the ACC Regular Season title.
Photo Credit: Virginia Tech Athletics
Stay up with The Tech Lunch Pail for the latest on Virginia Tech. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Subscribe to our email updates.
You must login in order to comment on this post.
