Everything From Virginia Tech Softball HC Pete D'Amour At 2026 Softball Media Day

Virginia Tech softball head coach Pete D'Amour spoke to the media ahead of the 2026 season at the team's Media Day. Here's the entirety of what D'Amour had to say:

On how the offseason has gone:

"We're in a good spot. We got five or six days outside. Getting in here, getting our work in and getting ready for this week."

On not having Emma Lemley, Cori McMillan anymore:

"Let me remember when he asked me about that with Keely [Rochard] and Emma Ritter. The train keeps rolling. And it's hopefully the kids that have been here. It's their time now. And so every coach goes through it, and I'm sure years ago, Coach [Frank Beamer gets asked, 'What are you gonna do without Michael Vick?' Well, be thankful you had Michael Vick. OK, who's next? Let's see if we can do it again. So, I'm encouraged by what I see so far. Like I said, it's, it's somebody else's turn to swing back and just fall."

On still having McMillan, Lemley and Bre Peck around as mentors over the fall:

"Yeah, they've been through our program for four years, so they know what's expected. And so, just to have that wisdom on your staff, to console players if they need it, is beneficial. And good thing about Lem is, she's in shape, and she's a pro pitcher. She gets to throw to our kids a lot, so I don't think you can, you can replicate that. So, yeah, it's been great to have them."

On who steps up as the ace with Lemley having graduated:

"Yeah, there's a lot of people. Six pitchers on our staff. You look at [Emma Mazzarone], you look at Sophie [Kleiman], you look at two freshmen [, Avery Layton and Addyson Fisher]. You look at Bree Carrico, who's the most improved player on our team? So, there's a lot of innings to be thrown around and we'll see the most. But in a perfect world, nobody's shouldering the load all by themselves."

On two-way player Emma Mazzarone:

"She's in a better headspace. I think she knows what her role is capable of being, getting the ball more if needed. She's been able to compartmentalize the offensive and defensive part of the practice. Swinging the ball as well as anybody on our team. So to be able to do that, two-way player, I think she's wanted to hit a lot. Just hadn't had the need for her to hit so much the past couple years, but she's gonna hit this year. So, just being able to juggle all that, she's another year older. She's commanding the strike zone, just throwing hard. She's had a great, great year so far. In practice, from the fall to now, there's certain times that we can't hit her. You can't hit her and we can hit."

On if D'Amour feels that the lineup will have just as much firepower this year with no McMillan or Peck:

"I learned my lesson last year when we graduated, I think, 50 home runs the year before, and we still hit. So, I think on paper, it might be one of the deeper lineups we've ever had. Are we going to hit 100 homers? I don't know. We certainly could, but we can swing it. So, yeah, I wish we had those two in the lineup still, and that they're still around, but they're not, so who's going to pick up the slack?"

On if retaining two-thirds of the batting order gives D'Amour comfort:

"Yeah, they're experienced, and see some of the swings that we have from our returning players, and everybody got better. So, we'll see when we play for real."

On how exciting this year is for D'Amour:

"I'm always enjoying it. I don't enjoy when kids leave. You get all these questions about the kids that graduate. That's part of the job, but you're also excited to see who's going to step up. How can I make this player better this year, to be able to keep us making our eighth regional in a row? So, that's what keeps me going, bringing the kids in and seeing them develop and be the best version of themselves, going out and competing against anybody you play against."

On what D'Amour has seen from infielder Jordan Lynch:

"Bigger leadership role. Kids listen to her. She's a fun kid to be around. Playing-wise, just another year older. Had a great year last year, so there's not a lot you have to squeak with her. It's more of a more mental. 'Hey, let's figure this out. Bad out, a pitch will be funny. It's deeper than just go out and see it and hit it. So, she's had great fall rates, great spring so far. So same old, same old her."

On who's starting in the new-look outfield:

"Don't know yet. There's a lot of combinations we're rolling through. Addie Foster's had a great spring for us. Seasoned player, came from Stetson, just been a middle infielder, but we're gonna play her in the outfield. Couple kids that have really impressed us so far: Kylie Aldridge is swinging the bat as well as she ever has, she's been able to play outfield. Nora Abromavage, she's got more power than anybody on our team right now, and so, another year older in our program. So, we've got options. And Lyla [Blackwell] is still here. She's having a good spring. And you have Sara McNelly, who's swinging the crap out of it. And Bre Warren still around. We got a lot of options."

On the three players Virginia Tech acquired in the transfer portal (Foster, Warren, Haley Luginbill) and what the appeal was to D'Amour:

"Yeah, I think the first one was outfield depth, and Addie and Bre were able to go out there and catch it. You look at Bre, and she's left-handed power, and you look at Addie, and she's a high on-base player. You look at Haley, and she had a great career at her previous school [UMBC]. Just, that was a power base thing. And so, yeah, there's reasons for all of it, but you look at all transfers that potentially come in. They're going to be good players, and it's, do they fit the culture of a program? That's everybody. So, every team, you have to see if those players obviously can play here. But did they fit here? And all three of them did."

On potential imapcts from freshmen:

"Yeah, we got pitchers that are really, really good. They have high potential. We got a couple position players that have a chance to get a lineup. So, we'll see. I don't like to mention them right off the bat, and just say, 'Well, this kid is a freshman, and she's starting at second base.' And they see this on TV, and they say, 'Well, man, I got to perform the way I need to.' You got a lot of pressure on them, so don't really single them out for freshmen, but there's some talented ones."

On having Rachel Castine back for a fifth year:

"That's good, another experienced player on our team. And as good of a defender as we have in our program. And anytime you have older kids, it's just beneficial just to be around. They have experience."

On taking the next step after being eliminated in regional play last year:

"Yeah, you could say that about every year we've been here that we haven't made regionals. e get to Sunday, and it's, you know, what happens, except for the one year at UCLA. So, I think as far as the program, we're in a good spot, and you're right. How do you take the leap to get to Supers? How do we get the leap to the World Series? And then for us, I look back on last year and I see the Alabama series. As a coach, there's things that people don't see that happen throughout the year that caused us to go to Alabama. It's a play here that we should have made a month and a half before that, and it's this play that went against us. And those are two losses. Now we go to Alabama, so just to stay game to game, pitch to pitch, like we always talk about. Because every game is important. But you're right, we went to Alabama, you look at a couple of those plays in, I think, the first game, they went against us. So it's kind of flip a coin. If they go for us, it's a different story last year. So, a little bit of luck involved, but also, you could put yourself in position to knock them."

On if it's a question of being better in a certain area:

"I don't think so. I think at times last year, we lost command of the strike zone as far as pitching goes. And so, our offense was able to make up for that, or maybe not, so just to be able to trust our defense. Get early outs, give us a chance to win those games early."

On the chemistry of this team:

"It starts in the recruiting process, and you explain to them, 'This is the way we do things here. There are standards that have to be met, and if they're not met, then you're gonna have trouble.' And then it goes, when the kids come on campus, the new transfers of the freshmen, our returners really bring them up to speed. And so, there's never been an issue culture-wise here. Now, there's offshoots. I mean, every once in a while, you get somebody that wants to do their own thing, and you have 95% pulling in the same direction. Kind of takes care of itself. So, you look at our building, there's not going to be a poster over there that says culture. You live it. You live what you expect. And I think this team is really close. It's similar to last year's. And so, that's a testament to the returners knowing this is how we do things, and that's how we're doing it."

On if D'Amour has a feel yet for what the strong suits of this year's team will be:

"We're going to hit, we're going to defend. We have a lot of options pitching and a lot of good ones. All of our pitchers look different from each other. And so, that's exciting to me, because it's not two pitchers. She's a rise baller, she's a drop baller. And you can't mix and match. If you're a drop baller and you're going against a drop ball team, you got two pitchers, that drop baller has got to stay in there. So, the exciting thing, what I've been working on, is just managing the bullpen. What are the optimal times to make changes? What do you look for? Who do you start? That's going to be a benefit for us."

On if there's anything structurally different about this year's team:

"Not really. I think it went back to the managing the bullpen. I read a book this summer on major league managers, and it was awesome. It's a lot of stuff about culture but what I got out of [it was] in-game decisions. You think about Dave Roberts sitting in the dugout, and what does he do during the game? And everybody says, 'Pinch, hit, shift.' Couldn't do any of that. Manage your bullpen. So, you give the ball to Clayton Kershaw, you're not going saying, 'Clayton, give me nine.' Doesn't happen. So to me, I was really focused on, what are the strengths of our pitchers? Who do we get out? Are we going to start this kid? When do we get them in? So, that's been kind of the mindset for me. We went in and we did a character test for our players, which is kind of a Myers-Briggs detail to softball or just athletics in general. That's been awesome. So, how you set your practice up is dictated by how kids learn. And so, I use the analogy of golf. I'm a fast golfer, and if I play with somebody that's slow, I don't want to do that. If I practice with somebody like that, I'm getting mad. I don't have good practice. So, we're able to see how kids learn. What is the best environment for them to get better? And we'll see. And it goes as detailed as who you're rooming with on the road. Because you want to room with your buddies, but on the road, in the competitive environment, is that the best matchup for our team? So, I'm excited for that."

On how the bullpen will be managed:

"We just don't know. Obviously, if somebody is starting and they can go seven, they go seven. But you have a plan that says, Well, this kid struggles third time through the lineup. Maybe you make a switch then, regardless. And so, we just don't know how that's going to look yet. But also, this summer, I read, why do we label pitchers? Why do we label ace? Why do we label them starter, reliever? They're all pitchers, and their job is to get outs. So, what does it matter when they play, when they throw? It doesn't. The whole objective is to shorten games. So, somebody goes through the lineup one time, and that's three innings. All right, we got to win four now. So, that's kind of what's going through my mind. We'll see if I have the guts to do it."

On how D'Amour feels about his versatility in the infield and outfield:

"We got a lot of kids that play different positions, but we also have established players at positions that you don't really have to move. So, it's good to have different options. If Jordan, for example, somebody went down in the outfield and we had to [substitute], she could play outfield, [Annika Rohs] could play outfield. Michelle [Chatfield] could play outfield. So the more athletic you are, the more positions you can play, the more options we have."

On if D'Amour feels like there's some good tests in non-conference play:

"Yeah, first four weekends, for sure, we should be loaded up on RPi games. Obviously, we haven't been outside in a week and a half, two weeks, so just to be out in the dirt, it's going to be good for us."