LEXINGTON, Ky. – Traveling to the Bluegrass State on Tuesday, the No. 22/21 Virginia Tech softball team is beginning to get acclimated and will practice at John Cropp Stadium this afternoon in preparation for the NCAA Tournament on the campus of Kentucky.
A four-team, double-elimination tournament awaits Tech (45-9, 20-4 ACC), which will begin the Lexington Regional with a bout with Illinois (32-23, 9-14 B1G) on Friday at noon ET. The next game of the day will be between No. 23/20 Kentucky (33-22, 14-10 SEC) and Toledo (29-26, 10-9 MAC) at 2:30 p.m.
Both games will be broadcast on ESPN3 and are available to watch on the WatchESPN app. Dave Baker (play-by-play) and Francesca Enea (color) will be on the call, while Mike Cappetto will be producing the contests. For ticket information, click here, and for an NCAA Tournament printable bracket, click here.
The Hokies, who are making their first regional appearance in four years (2015) and ninth overall, will be playing in Lexington for the second time in the NCAA Tournament. In 2013, Tech went 3-2 and fell in a 1-0 heartbreaker to the Wildcats in the regional's final game.
Tech is 12-15 all-time in regionals and is looking to get back to super regionals, something it has done only once (2008) in its 24 years as a program. A tall task, the Hokies are 9-6 against the NCAA Tournament field, playing eight teams that made the tourney and are 1-1 versus the SEC, 2-0 against the Big Ten and 1-0 versus MAC teams.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday, May 17
Game 1 – Illinois vs. Virginia Tech – Noon ET – ESPN3
Game 2 – Toledo vs. Kentucky – 2:30 p.m. ET – ESPN3
Saturday, May 18
Game 3 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 – Noon ET
Game 4 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Game 5 – Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 – 5 p.m. ET
Sunday, May 19
Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 – Noon ET
Game 7 – (If necessary) – 2:30 p.m. ET
*** Times subject to change for TV
The last time out, the second baseman Maddi Banks and catcher Mackenzie Lawter homered last Thursday in the quarterfinals of the ACC Championship, but it would not be enough as the Hokies fell 3-2 to NC State (31-27, 9-15) at JoAnne Graf Field.
In the polls earlier this week, the Hokies remained at No. 22 in the USA Today/NFCA poll and fell one spot to No. 21 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball.
Representing one of five teams from the ACC in the NCAA Tournament, Tech comes to UK with three statistics that is sits on top of out of the league, including the best batting average (.338), home runs per game (1.70) and shutouts (22).
SCOUTING KENTUCKY
Record: 33-22 (14-10 SEC)
Head coach: Rachel Lawson (429-276, 12th season)
All-time series: Tech leads 3-2
The Wildcats are coming off a semifinals appearance in the SEC Tournament, with first run-ruling No. 17/19 Ole Miss (37-17, 13-10) 8-0 in five innings before falling to the top seed in the tourney, No. 5/4 Alabama (52-7, 18-6), 6-3.
SCOUTING ILLINOIS
Record: 32-23 (9-14 B1G)
Head coach: Tyra Perry (144-83, 4th season)
All-time series: Illinois leads 3-0
The Fighting Illini picked up a win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, downing eighth-seeded Nebraska (21-31, 9-14) 6-4, but came up short in the quarterfinals against top-seeded and No. 19/11 Michigan (43-11, 22-1) 1-0 in extras (8 inn.).
SCOUTING TOLEDO
Record: 29-26 (10-9 MAC)
Head coach: Joe Abraham (29-26, 1st season)
All-time series: Tech leads 2-0
The Rockets got hot at the MAC Tournament last weekend, stringing together seven wins in a row to win the conference tournament title and punch their ticket to NCAAs. On the final day, Toledo got three clutch wins to win its first-ever MAC tourney title in program history.Gallery: (5/16/2019) 2019 NCAA SOFTBALL REGIONAL PRACTICE
