ROANOKE, Va. – Three local teams heard their names called on Selection Sunday, earning spots in the NCAA softball tournament.
Virginia Tech, hoping to crack the top 16 and host at Tech Softball Park, had to wait nearly the entire show to learn its fate. The Hokies will not host and instead head to the Tuscaloosa Regional in Alabama, where they’ll open play Friday against Belmont. They could eventually face a familiar foe they beat earlier this season, at the exact same site, in the Crimson Tide.
Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour said, “I told the team we already beat them (Alabama) once, so I’m glad we went there. It’s a tough environment to play in. Our kids are going to be ready for it. Got a lot of experience in our group, faced a lot of adversity. As the season rolls on, you get bumps in the road and we’ve been able to get through them. I think we’re just a bit tougher now than we were, and we were a tough team to start off.”
Virginia is headed to the NCAA tournament for the second straight year. The Cavaliers are a No. 2 seed in the Columbia Regional and will open against ASUN champion North Florida on Friday at 3 p.m.
Virginia head coach Joanna Hardin said, “What’s nice about going back to Columbia is that we’re really comfortable there. We opened up there the last two years. I think we opened up there three years ago as well. So our seniors have been there three or four years to open up. We’re just familiar with Columbia—familiar with the stadium, familiar with the cages, familiar with the area. That familiarity is really nice.”
Finally, Liberty, the back-to-back Conference USA champion, is headed to College Station, Texas. The Flames will open against Marist in the Texas A&M Regional. Liberty advanced to the regional final in 2024 and will look to make another deep run. But the road runs through the No. 1 overall seed in Texas A&M.