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Virginia Tech Softball Advances to Super Regionals Against UCLA

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For only the second time in program history, Virginia Tech is moving on to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament. The Hokies went 3-0 in the Tempe Region to earn a spot in the Super Regional round, emerging victorious from a pool that featured No. 15 Arizona State, in addition to BYU and Southern Illinois.

Let’s take a look at Virginia Tech’s path to the Super Regional round.

The Hokies took on BYU in their opening game of the NCAA tournament, winning 5-2 after trailing early on.

Virginia Tech trailed BYU almost immediately in Game One, as Keely Rochard only threw four pitches before Rylee Jensen blasted a homer into center field to give the Cougars the early lead.

After Kelsey Bennett homered in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game, the Hokies imposed their will an inning later, racking up three runs to grab a comfortable lead.

Another run in the fourth inning cemented the win for Virginia Tech, earning a spot in the 1-0 game.

The Hokies faced No. 15 Arizona State in the 1-0 game after the Sun Devils fended off Southern Illinois in the first round, 7-4.

Virginia Tech needed a strong start to compete with Arizona State and the team did that and more, snagging four runs in the top of the first inning to give the Hokies a lead that the Sun Devils could never reach.

Arizona State was only able to muster up two solo home runs on six hits in the game, leading to an impressive 8-2 upset victory for Virginia Tech.

The win punched the Hokies a ticket to the Regional Championship game against BYU, only needing one victory to move on to Super Regionals.

It only took Virginia Tech five innings to secure a trip to Oklahoma City, as Alexa Milius popped a solo home run to give the Hokies an 11-3 lead and trigger a mercy rule victory.

Defending national champion No. 2 UCLA awaits Virginia Tech in a best-of-three series in the Super Regional round. The Bruins hosted and won the Los Angeles Region, beating out Fresno State, Long Beach State, and Minnesota for a spot in the Super Regional round.

UCLA finished the regular season with an astounding 43-4 record, the best mark in the Pac-12. The Bruins are headlined by star two-way player Rachel Garcia, who has hit 12 home runs this season in addition to 32 RBIs. Garcia has also been stellar on the mound for UCLA, sporting a superb 0.78 era that has propelled her to a 16-0 record this year.

The series kicks off tonight at 9:30pm Eastern on ESPN.

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