Hokies, Flames earn NCAA softball tournament bids

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - The NCAA softball tournament field has been set, paving the road to Oklahoma City for 64 teams around the nation.

For the Virginia Tech Hokies, that road will begin in Athens, Georgia, as Tech received an at-large bid to the regional hosted by the 14-seed Bulldogs.

The Hokies will open play on Friday against Boston University, while Georgia will play NC Central to open the double-elimination bracket.

Tech will hit the road as the nation’s home run leader with 97 this season, and the team says that power needs to travel in order to make a run to OKC.

“When you get against good pitching, you’ve gotta’ be able to score runs with a limited amount of swings,” said Tech head coach Pete D’Amour. “We’ve been able to do that in some games and some games we can’t, but that’s what our bread and butter is this year, so we’re just going to keep swinging it.”

As for the Liberty Flames, they’re going Hollywood, as LU also gets an NCAA bid to the Los Angeles regional hosted by number 2-seed UCLA.

The Flames will play San Diego State in the first matchup on Friday, with the Bruins opening up against Grand Canyon.