No surprise, the Virginia Tech Hokies are headed to the NCAA Division I Softball Championship. However, the Hokies are heading south to the Baton Rouge Regional, where they’ll face South Alabama on Friday at 4 p.m. ET. That’s right, Virginia Tech will not be hosting a regional this year.
LSU, which finished the year 37-13, is hosting the regional. That means the Hokies will face South Alabama, LSU and Akron.
It was a bit controversial why the Hokies weren’t considered one of the top 16 seeds, since
they spent much of the year ranked in the top 16. Of course, once the brackets were revealed and people questioned why Virginia Tech wasn’t hosting a regional, the excuses began to trickle in.
There were rumors of hotel issues, graduation and other reasons why the Hokies wouldn’t be in Blacksburg this weekend. Tech Sideline obtained a statement from the NCAA, which simply said they didn’t believe Virginia Tech was a top-16 seed. The NCAA also used the hotel excuse, which hasn’t seemed to be an issue in the past.
The Hokies had a compelling case to host the regional. Virginia Tech finished the regular season No. 3 in the ACC, and lost to the No. 1 seed 2-1 in the ACC Championship. The Hokies were also 6-0 against the SEC, including two wins against Georgia, which is a No. 3 seed in the Athens Regional — yes, that’s right, the Bulldogs are hosting a regional.
If the Hokies can get out of the Baton Rouge Regional, they’ll face the winner of the Tuscaloosa Regional, which features Alabama, Southeastern Louisiana, Belmont and USC Upstate.
While it’s disappointing that the Hokies aren’t hosting a regional, the good news is that this is their seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA Division I Softball Championship.
Prove ‘em wrong, ladies!!
