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Mark Berman back here in Oklahoma City, where Angela Tincher has pitched her last game for the Virginia Tech softball team.

With Florida beating the Hokies 1-0 in nine innings to send Tech home with an 0-2 World Series record, tribute must be paid -- because who knows when and if Tech will ever get back here again. You don't get pitchers like Angela Tincher all that often, especially if you're Virginia Tech.

"I'm excited about some of the kids we have coming in, and I'm excited in particular about some of the offense we have coming in, but you don't lose an Angela Tincher and just [reload]," Tech coach Scot Thomas said. "She makes coaching a lot easier.

"She's been unbelievable for us. There's been so much thrown on her. ... There's been no other female athlete in the history of Virginia Tech that has had that much attention drawn to her, and the way she has handled it with the media and everything, she's just been a tremendous representative of the university. ... It'll be a big loss."

Tech might be back in the NCAAs before too long, considering the ACC is a weak league but still gets multiple bids. But if it took until Tincher's senior year to get out of the regionals for the first time, don't hold your breath for another Series appearance. It's rare to have a national player of the year who has the third-most strikeouts in NCAA history.

Credit Tincher's supporting cast for getting the clutch hits and playing the good defense to back Tincher in the regionals and Super Regionals. But they really let her down in the Series. No runs for the Series, geez.

Tincher pitched a two-hitter on Thursday and struck out 19 today, when she didn't struggle until the 9th. She certainly pitched well enough to get Tech a win both times. But both times, her backup group let her down.

On Thursday in the 1-0 loss to Texas A&M, Tech left six runners on base because it couldn't get clutch hits off All-American Megan Gibson or lay down bunts. And Charisse Mariconda had the big error to let in the run.

Today, Tech mustered just 2 hits off All-American Stacey Nelson. In 9 innings. But still, Tech should have won it. The Hokies had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the seventh. How could Tech screw that up?

Well, Kelsey Hoffman grounded into a double play -- one double play is rare in softball, let alone the 2 in one game that Tech had today -- and then Jess Everhart grounded out. Poor, poor, poor.

"I was able to command both sides of the plate, which keeps them off-balance, and my changeup also (worked)," Nelson said. "Coming into that game, I knew how good of a pitcher she was and I knew I had my work cut out for me to not let them score until we score."

"What a great game between two outstanding teams and even more impressive, two outstanding pitchers," said Florida coach Tim Walton, whose team later eliminated UCLA. "What a heck of a way to pitch out of the seventh."

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Mark Berman back in Oklahoma City, where Florida beat the Hokies 2-0 in nine innings to end Virginia Tech's stay in the Women's College World Series.

Tech, which left the bases loaded in the seventh, failed to score a run in its two Series games.

Mary Ratliff had a two-RBI double in the top of the ninth off Angela Tincher, who had 19 strikeouts.

Tech had just two hits in the game.

Mark Berman here in Oklahoma City, where Virginia Tech must win twice today to survive Losers' Bracket Saturday. The top two seeds in the NCAA tournament -- and two All-American pitchers -- stand in the Hokies' way.

First up is top-seeded Florida (67-4) at noon on ESPN. Florida's ace is Stacey Nelson, a first-team All-American and the SEC Pitcher of the Year. But she did lose Thursday in eight innings to Louisiana-Lafayette, 3-2, so she could be vulnerable. And the Gators' defense wasn't great Thursday.

If Tech eliminates Florida, next up is second-seeded UCLA at 7 tonight on ESPN. The 10-time Series champs also have a first-team All-American pitcher, Anjelica Selden. But she gave up 4 runs to Arizona State last night. And UCLA has scored just one run in its two Series games, so it is not proving itself to be an offensive dynamo. Keep in mind, though that UCLA faced Arizona ace Taryne Mowatt on Thursday (and beat her) and Arizona State ace Katie Burkhart last night - two very good pitchers.

Can Tech survive? Will the Hokies get the clutch hits that eluded them Thursday? Will they lay down the bunts they failed to do on Thursday? Will Angela Tincher outduel her fellow All-Americans?

Florida isn't used to great pitching like they will see in Tincher today. Don't be surprised if Tech prevails.

Another pitcher from Timesland will be pitching on a national stage Saturday. Casey Hodges, a senior from Franklin County High School, will start for Mount Olive College of North Carolina in the NCAA Division II national championship game against the winner of Friday's game between Ouachita Baptist and Sonoma State. And Hodges will be pitching on TV as well. The game will be telecast on CBS College Sports and MASN. Hodges is 9-1 this season with a 2.67 ERA. He has three complete games and 81 strikeouts in 81 innings. Mount Olive is 55-6. -- Jeff Gilbert

Mark Berman here in Oklahoma City, where the Virginia Tech softball team fell to Texas A&M 1-0 on the opening day of the Women's College World Series.

The Aggies scored in the bottom of the sixth on third baseman Charisse Mariconda's errant throw to first.

"When you've got two kids like [All-American pitchers] Angela Tincher and Megan Gibson going at it, one mistake can make the difference," Tech coach Scot Thomas said.

"We're going to be down for a little while but I don't think it's anything that we can't overcome," first baseman Beth Walker said.

The Hokies would have been in great shape if they had won. Their next foe would have been the only other unseeded team in the Series, Louisiana-Lafayette, which upset Florida today.
Instead, Tech will face Florida (67-4), the top seed in the entire NCAA tournament, in a losers' bracket game Saturday at noon on ESPN.

"Any team we're going to play right now is going to be tough," Tincher said. "They've had a great season and they've got the No. 1 spot, but .... we both lost a couple tough games. They went extra innings."

Florida also has an All-American pitcher, Stacey Nelson, who gave up an 8th-inning homer Thursday.

"We're going to find a way to score runs," said Thomas, overly confident considering his team's lack of clutch hits against Gibson today. "it's just a matter of kind of refocusing and battling and going up there with the mind-set that ... we're going to put the ball in play and make things happen."

Florida has only lost four games all year. Although the Hokies did see Florida lose in 8 innings and give up 3 runs on Thursday, so that has to give the Hokies some confidence.

Tech will practice today but won't have a game to play.

"I think it's good in some ways. [The day off] gives us time to adjust and kind of step back from things and focus," Tincher said.

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The Hokies lost to Texas A&M 1-0 on Thursday. They will play Florida on Saturday at noon.

Mark Berman here in Ann Arbor, where Virginia Tech beat Michigan 6-1 in the third and decisive game of the series to earn the school's first trip to the Women's College World Series.

The Hokies will play fifth-seeded Texas A&M on Thursday, the first day of the Series.

"I'm just really proud of ths team," coach Scot Thomas said. "Some people would probably call us overachievers, but the blood and guts of this team is walk-ons and people that were passed over .. and we were fortunate enough to have them, people like Angela [Tincher]. ... People like Whitney [Davis, a former walk-on] stepped up.

"We're going to have fun [at the Series] and enjoy our time and be appreciative of the privilege we've got.... The last couple days, my mornings been spent with a lot of butterfiles. I think I can relax a little more and just have butterlfies of excitement."

Tech needed to beat Michigan twice on Sunday because it lost to UM on Saturday.

"We just wanted to leave everything on the field," said Davis, who homered in the final game. "We didn't want to fall short. We knew that this was elimination Sunday, that we potentially could be going home. But we didn't want that to happen. We wanted to obtain our goals, and we were so close to doing it, we didn't give up."

Tincher threw a pair of three-hitters Sunday, winning the first game 1-0 and the second 6-1, after throwing 107 pitches Saturday.

"I'm starting to feel a little bit [tired] now but I definitely wasn't tired during the game," she said. "Everything was working a lot better today..... When my drop started working better today, we threw that a lot more, and we mixed in the changeup."

Tincher owned Michigan's best hitter, Samantha Findlay, who did not get a hit off Tincher in the series.

"Two years ago, she'd have probably walked and tried to get around some of those people, but she went right at these kids," Thomas said. "It was an incredible feat for her to do what she did there against those hitters."

Tech was shut out by Jordan Taylor on Saturday, so the Hokies moved to the back of the batter's box against her on Sunday. It worked.

"After watching the video and stuff last night, we felt like we weren't aggressive enough in the middle of the zone, and we were chasing ... with Taylor the off-speed pitches and swinging at a lot of non-strikes," Thomas said. "We made the adjustment towards the back of the box to get her to throw the ball a little further. It worked out, to see the ball a little longer from the back of the box."

Coach Carol Hutchins didn't like how Taylor threw in Sunday's first game, which she started and lost, so she went with Nikki Nemtiz to start Sunday's second game. Nemitz had thrown the final inning of Sunday's first game.

Hutchins yanked Nemitz after Davis got on in to start off the third inning, and Taylor gave up three walks, a two-RBI double to Misty Hall and an RBI grounder before being pulled for Nemitz with VT up 4-0.

Tincher with a 4-0 lead? Bad news for UM.

"It's fun to pitch when it's like that and you can just relax and have fun," she said.

Davis hit a solo homer in the fourth inning - her first one of the year.

Assistant coach Al Brauns "always makes fun of me and tells me if I ate one more biscuit, it's going to go over [the fence]," she said.

Mark Berman here in Ann Arbor, where the Virginia Tech softball team has just beaten Michigan 1-0 to force a decisive Game 3 in the NCAA Super Reigonals.

Game 3 will start at about 3:15, with the winner going to the Women's College World Series.

Angela Tincher, who lost Saturday's Game 1 by a 1-0 score, owned Michigan in this game. She struck out 15 and allowed three hits and two walks.

Tech scored in the very first inning off Game 1 winner Jordan Taylor, whose team committed a whopping four errors today. Two of those came in the first inning.

With one out in the first, Erin Ota walked. Charisse Mariconda reached on a fielder's choice; Michigan opted for the play at second, but Ota was safe on a fielding error by the shortstop. Misty Hall singled to center to load the bases.

Kelsey Hoffman grounded to the third baseman, who threw home for the force out. But the catcher then threw to first for the potential inning-ending double play, but the throw was wild and Mariconda scored.

Tincher had some clutch strikeouts.

She struck out Roya St. Clair with runners on first and second to end the top half of the second. She struck out Angela Findlay, who had the game winning hit Saturday, with a runner on second to end the top half of the third. She struck out Alessandro Giampaolo, who had the big double Saturday, with a runner on second to end the top half of the fifth.

Michigan had a runner on first with one out in the sixth, but Samantha Findlay flied out to center fielder Jessica Everhart, who not only made a nice catch but doubled up the runner at first base to get out of the jam.

Men's 5K

Overall

1, Dave Baxter (Roanoke) 16:31.2
2, Andy Sayers (Salem) 16:51.4
3, Jeremy Bartley (Princeton, W. Va.) 17:37.6

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women - overall

1, Stacie Maguire (Roanoke) 20:44.2
2, Katie Roberts (Roanoke) 21:40.8
3, Jillian Hunsberger (Roanoke) 22:03.4

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