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Pressbox

Florida, UCLA in Tech's way

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.

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    The Press Box blog will post entries on a variety of sports at both the high school and collegiate levels in Southwest Virginia. Contributions come from staff writers of The Roanoke Times sports section.

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