Pete D'Amour reacts to Virginia Tech's draw in NCAA Tournament

Ahead of the NCAA Tournament, Virginia Tech softball coach Pete D’Amour reacted to the draw his Hokies got this season.

Virginia Tech is going to be traveling across the country to compete in the Los Angeles Regional. That group is highlighted by UCLA. Along with those Bruins, San Diego State and Grand Canyon are the other two teams in the Regional, making the Hokies the only East Coast team in that draw.

It’s an interesting Region and one that D’Amour likes to this point. Still, he also added that the Hokies need to take more time to get ready for those matchups.

“I like it so far,” Pete D’Amour said. “I haven’t really looked at any of those teams. We played Grand Canyon. But, yeah, we’ll just get in and see where we’re going and prepare the best we can.”

D’Amour also did admit he expected to be traveling this year for the NCAA Tournament. So, he doesn’t mind going out to the West Coast.

Virginia Tech’s first game is going to be on May 17th. That’s when the Hokies are going to take on San Diego State. The winner then gets the winner of UCLA and Grand Canyon. Meanwhile, the two losers are then sent to an elimination bracket within the Regional. Because of that format, it’s possible that Virginia Tech doesn’t play either UCLA or Grand Canyon at all.

UCLA is the headline team of this bracket. This season, the Bruins finished up at 37-10 with a 17-4 record in Pac-12 play. That ended with a conference championship for UCLA. Meanwhile, Grand Canyon had a 48-11 record this season with a 23-3 record in the WAC. Like UCLA, the season ended in a conference championship for Grand Canyon. Virginia Tech played Grand Canyon during the 2024 season, in the Littlewood Classic back in February. In that game, Grand Canyon beat Virginia Tech 11-2.

Virginia Tech’s first game is against San Diego State, though. The Aztecs had a 31-18 record this season overall and a 15-7 record in the Mountain West. Again, San Diego State was able to win its conference championship.

Unlike the other three teams in the Los Angeles Regional, Virginia Tech didn’t win its conference. Still, the Hokies had a strong 39-12-1 record with an 18-6 record in ACC play this season. Grand Canyon is the only team the Hokies have played this season.

The Hokies are going to be looking to Pete D’Amour for his leadership during this NCAA Tournament run. He’s been at Virginia Tech since 2019, making it to at least an NCAA Regional in every season where the postseason tournament was held.