Pete D'Amour

Head coach Pete D'Amour heads into his sixth season following a fourth straight NCAA appearance in 2023.

The Hokies rewrote the record book during the 2023 season, racking up 100 home runs to set a new program record for home runs in a single season. Tech led the NCAA in home runs for the majority of the 2023 season.  Fourteen different Hokies had at least one home run, with five posting 10+ home runs. Bre Peck led the way with 16.

Kelsey Bennett and Jayme Bailey, who spent all five seasons with D'Amour, now hold spots in the Virginia Tech record book as well. Bennett set the new career RBI record with 170 and also sits in second with 47 home runs. She is second in total bases with 411, while Bailey is the record holder with 412. Bailey is also second in career doubles with 47 and triples with 11.

Tech tallied six All-ACC and NFCA Mid-Atlantic Region selections following the 2023 season, including Emma Ritter and Emma Lemley named First Team All-Region. The Hokies have had 27 All-ACC selections from 2019-2023, compared to 23 from 2008-2018.

The Hokies made their fourth straight NCAA appearance in 2023, playing in the Athens Regional. Tech has reached the postseason in every full season under D’Amour (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023).

D'Amour and his staff were recognized with the NFCA Mid-Atlantic Staff of the Year after yet another historic season in 2022. The staff also earned the award following the 2019 and 2021 seasons.
 
The Hokies advanced to the Super Regionals for the second straight season and hosted a Regional and a Super Regional for the first time in school history in D'Amour's fourth season at the helm. Tech also earned its second ACC Regular Season Title in four seasons, posting a 21-2 record in conference play, the best winning percentage in school history.
 
Virginia Tech had a conference-high 11 members on the All-ACC teams, including D'Amour being named Coach of the Year, Keely Rochard named Pitcher of the Year and Emma Lemley named Freshman of the Year. Rochard was also tabbed a Top-10 Finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year, while Lemley was a Top-3 Finalist for Schutt Sports/NFCA Freshman of the Year.
 
Under D'Amour, Rochard was named a First Team All-American for the second straight season and Emma Ritter earned a spot on the Third Team, marking the first time two Hokies have been honored as All-Americans in the same season. Tech finished the year with a 46-10 overall record, including 14 wins over Top-25 ranked opponents. D'Amour also notched his 200th career win in 2022.

D’Amour led the Hokies to their second ever appearance in the NCAA Super Regionals during the 2021 campaign, doing so in just his second full season. Selected for the NCAA Tournament in both full seasons as head coach, D’Amour’s Hokies were the No. 2 seed at the 2021 Tempe Regional with national No. 15 seed Arizona State as the group’s favorite. Tech emerged from the four-team regional undefeated under D’Amour’s guidance, the first time in school history that the Hokies’ swept an NCAA Regional.
 
2021 was not just a historic year for the Hokies, but for D’Amour as well as he became the fastest head coach in program history to reach 100 wins, doing so in just 127 games. Under D’Amour’s tutelage, pitcher Keely Rochard became Tech’s third NFCA All-American ever and just the second to earn first-team honors. D’Amour and his wife Anna also welcomed their first son, Reaux, to the world prior to the NCAA Tournament.

In his second season leading the Hokies, D'Amour led the team to a 21-4 record and was in first place in the ACC when the season ended. He helped guide the team to an impressive 3-2 record at the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational against five top-25 opponents, including wins over #14 Minnesota and #17 South Carolina. D'Amour guided the progression of Rochard, who was one of the nation's top pitchers in 2020, and also helped the Hokies' offense to the highest scoring in the ACC.

Guiding Virginia Tech to one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA softball history, Pete D’Amour led the Hokies in his first year to a 24-game win improvement in 2019 after posting a 47-11 record, including a 20-4 mark in ACC play.

The 47 wins were the fourth most in school history while the 20 ACC wins were the most in program history. On Tech’s way to 20 league wins, it earned an ACC regular-season title and a Coastal Division crown after being picked 10^th in the ACC preseason poll. By doing so, it also earned the Hokies their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2015, winning two games at the Lexington Regional to pick up their first NCAA win since 2014.

No stranger to success, D’Amour, out of the new 11 Power Five head coaches in 2019, picked up the most wins of the group. The 2019 ACC Coach of the Year earned the nod to mark just Tech's second time winning it, while a school-record five Hokies made an All-ACC first team. Under D’Amour’s direction, pitcher Carrie Eberle was named ACC Pitcher of the Year and third baseman Kelsey Bennett was tabbed Freshman of the Year.

He also tutored two Softball America All-Americans in outfielders Emma Strouth and Darby Trull, who both hit over .400 and tallied 60-plus putouts, as well as a school-record seven NFCA All-Region (Mid-Atlantic) selections and a school-record eight VaSID all-staters. D'Amour also was tabbed VaSID Coach of the Year.

Under his watch, Tech became ranked during the season, something that hadn’t been done since 2015, and got up to as high as No. 19 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No. 22 in the USA Today/NFCA poll. The Hokies were ranked for 11 consecutive weeks in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, breaking the program record set in 2007 of 10 weeks, and picked up two ranked wins on the year, beating then-No. 8/8 Georgia and then-No. 20/17 JMU.

Tech took big strides at the plate in ’19, resetting over 20 individual and team school records, including batting average (.334) and home runs (97), just to name a few. The Hokies led the ACC in batting average and home runs per game (1.67), while also getting it done in the circle with shutouts (22). D'Amour had the Hokies ready to play against in-state rival Virginia in the Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529, sweeping the Cavaliers 3-0 and not allowing a runner to touch third base or home plate in the series, a first in program history, for three shutout wins.

Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock announced D’Amour’s hire on May 31, 2018.

KENNESAW STATE

D’Amour joined the Hokies after two seasons as the head coach at Kennesaw State, where he led the Owls to a 79-37 record and two postseason appearances. Before taking over the Kennesaw State program in 2017, he earned a reputation as one of the nation’s premier recruiters during his 10-year tenure as assistant coach at the University of Missouri, a perennial NCAA tournament participant.

D’Amour coached Kennesaw State to the 2018 Atlantic Sun Conference regular season and tournament championships en route to the program’s first NCAA Regional appearance since transitioning to the Division I level in 2006, as the Owls finished the year with a 39-17 record. In his inaugural year as head coach at Kennesaw State in 2017, he guided the Owls to a 40-20 overall record and a berth in the National Invitational Softball Championship.
 
Kennesaw State went 39-17 and 14-3 in the ASUN in 2018 and earned a No. 3 seed in the Tallahassee Regional. D’Amour was named ASUN Coach of the Year and seven Owls earned ASUN all-conference accolades, including ASUN Pitcher of the Year Alley Cutting and ASUN Freshman of the Year Patricia Awald. Awald was one of 25 finalists up for NFCA National Freshman of the Year. Kennesaw State entered this year’s NCAA tournament ranked No. 34 in the RPI, a program-best, while competing in arguably the best mid-major conference in the country.
 
In D’Amour’s first season at Kennesaw State, the Owls went 40-20, the program’s first ever 40-win season, and reached the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Softball Championship. The Owls peaked at No. 47 in the RPI and led the ASUN in all major offensive categories, including batting average (.303), runs scored (302), hits (505), doubles (83), triples (19), home runs (45) and slugging percentage (.456). D’Amour also helped Courtney Sutter and seven other student-athletes earn ASUN postseason accolades.

MISSOURI
 
Prior to accepting the head coaching job at Kennesaw State, D’Amour spent a decade at Missouri as an assistant coach, serving as associate head coach for his final two seasons in 2015-16. During his tenure in Columbia, the Tigers qualified for the NCAA tournament in each of his 10 seasons on the staff, reaching five NCAA super regionals and earning three consecutive trips to the Women’s College World Series from 2009-11.

The Monrovia, Maryland native made a name for himself nationally as a staunch recruiter and a developer of pitchers and catchers in his decade on the coaching staff at Missouri. D’Amour, who called pitches for 11 no-hitters with the Tigers, mentored 11 NCAA Division I All-Americans, two SEC Freshmen of the Year, three conference pitchers of the year, a national earned run average leader and a defensive player of the year. 

The Tigers won two Big 12 championships in 2009 and 2012 and finished in the top three of the SEC twice thanks in large part to D’Amour’s connections in the fertile recruiting grounds of California. In two seasons as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, D’Amour put together FloSoftball’s third-ranked recruiting class in 2017, and the Tigers went to back-to-back super regionals. D’Amour was a part of three coaching staffs that earned NFCA Midwest Staff of the Year honors.
 
D'Amour earned a bachelor’s degree in general studies with an emphasis in business, English and history, and a master's degree in sports psychology from the University of Missouri. He started throwing underhand at the age of four while serving as batboy for his father's fast-pitch team. He played shortstop and pitched men's fast pitch for seven seasons, including three in the ISC Travel League and was the MVP of the NSA World Series in 2007. 

During his last ASA National Tournament, D'Amour hit .500 (7-for-14) with three home runs. He also played one year of college baseball at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, where he was an infielder, in addition to a one-year stint at Frostburg State.

D'Amour, his wife, Anna, and son, Reaux, reside in Blacksburg with their dog, Jackson, and cat, Norma Jean.



WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
“Not only did Virginia Tech get one of the greatest coaches I’ve ever played for, its athletic department gained one of the best people I’ve ever known. I can’t wait to see the positive impact Pete has on this program and his student-athletes. If it’s anything like my experience with him as my coach, these student athletes will walk away from their four years at VT and be the best people and players they can be! Virginia Tech is lucky to have him!” – Chelsea Thomas, three-time All-American at Missouri.

"I’ve been playing softball for 20 years and Pete is easily one of my favorite coaches. Pete can coach every single part of the game well, as well as develop great relationships with his players, and not many coaches out there can do that. Virginia Tech made a great hire and I’m excited for Pete and the future of the program." – Sami Fagan, 2016 NPF Rookie of the Year, JWSL player for Japan's Honda Reverta, All-American at Missouri.

"To say Virginia Tech is lucky is a complete understatement. Coach Pete turned our team from barely making the conference tournament to winning our first-ever conference championship, which led to Kennesaw State’s first NCAA Regional appearance. For me personally, he altered my style of hitting from slapping to power hitting. Coach Pete transformed me into a player that could make a difference on and off the field! The last two seasons of my college career with Coach Pete as head coach were definitely the highlight of my softball campaign. He enhanced my love for the game, and I will cherish it forever. Thank you, Coach Pete." – Noelle Winkles, second-team All-ASUN at Kennesaw State.

"Coach Pete put the KSU softball program on the map. He helped me take my game to a level I never imagined I could play at. I will forever be thankful for him stepping into my life as my coach for two years. I wish I could have played for him longer. Virginia Tech is so lucky to have him!” – Lauren Bennett, Kennesaw State.

"It’s easy to see from the stats and outcome of this past season that Coach Pete knows how to get the job done on the field, but what’s most important is what he does off of it to get those results. From day one of being hired at VT, Coach has embraced his role as our leader and got our team to buy-in to his goals for our upcoming season. The trust he was able to gain from our existing program members was huge. He has a ‘get better’ mindset 24/7 that leads to his innovative and adaptive coaching style that works so well. I will forever be thankful to Coach for coming in my last year as a Hokie and trusting us seniors to work alongside him to transform our program."  – Kinsey Johnson, Virginia Tech.