Virginia Tech Softball: Six Hokies Honored with NFCA All-Region Mid-Atlantic Teams

Starting off with the first team nominations, seniors Emma Lemley and Cori McMillan earned bids along with sophomore Michelle Chatfield, rounding off the first team. Senior Bre Peck earned Tech's only second-team honors--with two catchers, Kylie Aldridge and Zoe Yaeger, finishing the third team nominations.

It is no surprise to see Lemley and McMillan earning first-team nominations after they were selected back-to-back in the first round of the AUSL draft.

McMillan is currently a top-10 finalist for USA Softball's Player of the Year award as well, after one of the best single seasons the ACC has ever seen at the plate. McMillan was the first ACC player to ever notch 30 homers in a season, a mark she will look to grow upon in the postseason. A batting average over .450 with 41 walks on the year shows that it is almost impossible to get her out--using great hand-eye coordination and amazing discipline at the plate.

McMillan's best game of the season came in an away victory against Pitt, when she helped propel the Hokies to a 21-0 victory with three solo shots.

Lemley's best contest is hard to pinpoint, however, as she is tied for the national lead in no-hitters this season, along with two perfect games--a 16-strikeout perfect game would have to take the cake against Northwestern in February. This game truly showed what we would bear witness for her senior campaign, recording 180 strikeouts in 22 starts with a 2.74 ERA. Also passing Angela Tincher for first place in all-time Hokie saves in the last game of the regular season.

Chatfield finished off the Hokies' first-team nominations, improving into a much more rounded hitter at the plate from her freshman season. Sacrificing a little bit of her power for in return a .110 increase in her batting average up to .382 with half as many strikeouts, dropping down to only 17 K's in her sophomore season.

On the road against Cal is where Chatfield had her best game of the season--a six-RBI affair with two home runs in the course of a shutout victory, 9-0.

As the only second-team selection, Peck earned her spot after another excellent year at the plate. She is a four-year D'Amour program veteran, spending all four years in Blacksburg to grow her game. Peck has remained consistent throughout her years, with her average never dropping below .300 on the season.

In a home victory against Charlotte, Peck clobbered three home runs over the fence in the wake of her smashing Megan Evans' home run record that stood for two decades, surpassing the 50 mark.

With the two-thirds selections, two catchers from Blacksburg were chosen--with Aldridge and Yaeger settling into different roles to share the field. Yaeger took the workload for most of the season behind the dish while Aldridge honed her skills at the plate, getting penciled in at DP for most of the season.

With the fewest games played of her career, Aldridge made each at-bat she received this season count. While appearing in 38 games so far this season, the fewest of her career, Aldridge has seen almost a .100 increase in her batting average while knocking in 27 runs throughout the season.

The southpaw Aldridge contributed to the game in any way she could, showing how flexible she was, being able to take on a majority role spent at the plate. Helping her team to a 10-0 victory over the Louisville Cardinals, Aldridge had her best game of the season. Tallying three hits with a homer and four RBIs kept the Hokies' win streak at the time rolling along.

Yaeger nearly doubled her workload between her freshman and sophomore seasons with Aldridge moving to DP to alleviate the dual-catcher roles. It is to nobody's surprise that Yaeger increased on her freshman statistics, but even the averages increased.

Most specifically, her slugging percentage increased from .440 to .595 in just one season with increased action. Last season, only 20% of Yaeger's hits went for extra bases compared to 33% this year. Yaeger has stretched many doubles by great hustle out of the box on what could have been a routine single.

The Hokies will look to start regional play off strong in a contest today against the Belmont Bruins at 3:30 p.m. Tech is in search of its third Super Regional appearance in the last five seasons.

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