The Baseball team started this weekend with a weather shortened Tournament Series. We’ll talk about that in the weekly wrap this Wednesday, but the 0-2 start wasn’t ideal. The Hokies open at home tomorrow, so we’ll have a three game report.

Hokie Softball

Meanwhile, the softball team has been playing for nearly a week longer than the baseball players. Their season started in Conway, SC on February 7th. They played all the way to the end of the tournament (Kickin’ Chicken Classic) winning their opening 4 games only to lose a 4-3 8 inning final set against an Iowa team that they had beaten in the tournament opener. This week the Hokies played another tournament, St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational, to go 3-2 over the five game week. The fact that each team was ranked, and constituted some heavy hitters in the NCAA Softball world like Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Missouri, Northwestern, and Minnesota. The only really disappointing outing was a 6 inning blowout shortened opener against OSU. So the Softball team is off to a crackerjack start of 7-3 with a solid two game streak going into the Charleston Invitational starting on the 21st.

The big disappointment is that the closest to home that the Hokies will get, until the 13th of March and the big ACC opener against NCState, is the traditional game against our neighbors, Radford. That will be played at Radford.

Hokie Wrestling

The 7th ranked Hokies have been dominating the non-conference mats with 9 non-conference match wins. The ACC Schedule has started, and the results thus far have split at 2 wins and 2 losses. Their first loss was a disappointing 10-23 drop to UNC back on January 24th. Of course they made up for that with a convincing win over the Wahoos (20-16) the next week in Charlottesville. Unfortunately after thumping Duke 46-3 at home in the Moss Arts Center, they traveled to Raleigh and dropped a tight match (18-21) against NC State. This weekend they travel to Pittsburgh, PA to take on the Panthers in a critical ACC match-up. It’s a dual match, and the last of the regular ACC/NCAA Wrestling season.

The ACC Wrestling Tournament will start on March 8th back in Pittsburgh. It’s really important for the Hokies to grab this dual and set the tone for the ACC. The NCAA Tournament is March 8th, and doing well in the ACC Tournament is a critical part of the equation of getting to Minneapolis.

Hokie Women’s Basketball

We promise we’ll try to get to another game or two as the season steams to it’s conclusion, but one thing is for sure, this team isn’t going to sit out the tournament period and there is a loud possibility of the big show for the Hokie Women. The Hokies are 19-6 at this point in the season, with a 9-5 ACC record. There are four games left, with the final sprint starting at Notre Dame on Feb 20th. Virginia and Duke are due to visit the Cassell for big ACC contests, and the regular season wraps up at Louisville.

There has been a huge turn around in Hokie Women’s Basketball fortunes this season. Coach Kenny Brooks has been working to build a solid outside shooting team with a good inside presence. The team is led by Aisha Sheppard with 385 Points 15.4 average per game, and 81 rebounds, Dara Mabrey with 318 points 12.7 average, and 69 rebounds. Elizabeth Kitley, at 6’ 5”, is quietly dominating inside with 289 points at a 11.6 point per game clip. There are other names like Taja Cole (who tore it up against Wake Forest last night), Trinity Babtiste, and Lydia Rivers contributing steady numbers with critical in game contributions. This has to be the best Women’s basketball team in quite a while. They are fun to watch and should do well in the post season.

Taja Cole has some moves. Wake sort of watch this gem.

So, Wake Forest ended up on the short end of the scoring last night.

This team is fun to watch, and more Hokies should pay the modest gate and do a better job of filling up Cassell. This team really deserves the love because they are, first, Hokies, and second... REALLY GOOD...

The Wahoos are coming on the 23rd, and it’s time to get tickets. It’s family 4 pack night. Make a family and cheer for the Hokies as they work to add another notch on the challenge.

Next up Notre Dame.

And that’s the wrap for the week. We’ll be reporting on the first three baseball games on Wednesday. The home opener is at 4 tomorrow at English Field.

GO HOKIES!!!!