ROANOKE, Va. – The road to Oklahoma City will run through familiar territory for both Virginia Tech Hokies and Virginia Cavaliers after each program earned a berth in the 2026 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament on Sunday.
Virginia Tech secured its seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Pete D’Amour and will travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for the LSU Regional. The Hokies, the No. 2 seed in that regional, will open play against South Alabama Friday at 4 p.m. Tech enters postseason play with a 46-10 record after advancing to the ACC championship game before falling 2-1 to Florida State on Saturday.
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The regional field includes No. 16 national seed LSU, South Alabama and Akron. Virginia Tech will look to build on a season that featured one of the nation’s top pitching staffs and another 40-win campaign under D’Amour.
The Hokies reached the ACC title game behind dominant performances from pitchers Emma Mazzarone and Bree Carrico, including a 5-0 semifinal victory over Duke and a quarterfinal win over Virginia.
While Virginia Tech would have like the opportunity to host a regional, the team is ready to take its talents on the road.
“We are prepared to host.We’re prepared to go on the road. So I’m confident that we had the strategy to host here, and we’re not,” said head coach Pete D’Amour. “So we’re going to go to plan B and go on the road and see what we can do.”
“I think it’s exciting, but it’s part of the reason I committed to Virginia Tech, knowing that there is this standard of excellence here,” said Hokies utility player Kylie Aldridge. “So, making the tournament and just going out there and competing is something that we do year in and year out under Coach Pete.”
Meanwhile, Virginia earned its third straight NCAA Tournament bid and will head to Knoxville, Tennessee, as the No. 2 seed in the Knoxville Regional. The Cavaliers will join host and No. 7 national seed Tennessee, Indiana and Northern Kentucky in the four-team field.
Virginia, which finished the regular season with 38 wins, continues one of the strongest stretches in program history. The Cavaliers previously reached the regional championship round in Knoxville during the 2024 tournament and now return seeking the first super regional appearance in school history.
Led offensively by standout hitter Macee Eaton and anchored in the circle by Appomattox County grad Courtney Layne and Rustburg grad Eden Bigham, Virginia positioned itself for an at-large berth despite a loss to Virginia Tech in the ACC quarterfinals.
The NCAA Tournament begins Friday with 16 regional sites across the country. Regional winners will advance to the super regionals May 21-24, with the Women’s College World Series scheduled for May 28 through June 5 at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.