A semifinal loss was not the ACC Tournament fate the Hokies envisioned, but an early exit was just what the doctor ordered for head softball coach Pete D’Amour and his wife, Anna. “I think he’s coming,” Anna D’Amour said over the phone. Her call caused a frenzy somewhere near Charlestown, W. Va., where Pete D’Amour frantically rerouted himself towards the hospital. “I took the wrong exit while I was on the phone with her,” said D’Amour. “That cost me an extra 20 minutes and I don’t think I talked for a long time after that.” He arrived at the hospital around 10:30 p.m. Friday, in plenty of time to witness the birth of his son, Reaux, who was born around 7 a.m. the following day. “We thought he was going to be born in the first week of June,” D’Amour said. “When we went to the conference tournament in mid-May, I didn’t think we would have any sort of conflict.” Things could have very easily turned out differently considering how well the Hokies were playing at the time. A 4-1 win over Notre Dame Thursday set up the matchup with Clemson in the semifinals on Friday. “You don’t ever want to lose but being able to see him being born, everything worked out the way it was supposed to,” D’Amour said. After Reaux was born, the next few weeks were a whirlwind, and with the NCAA Tournament looming in the immediate future, father-son time was scarce. “The Selection Show for regionals was Sunday night and I probably got an hour of sleep,” D’Amour said. “It was funny, I was sitting in the dugout when the girls arrived and they said, “What are you doing here?” I said that he was with the nurses now and there wasn’t much for me to do.” “I was dead tired but I was there for the players,” D’Amour said. “It was important for me to be there for the practice and the regional show.” The tournament sent the Hokies westward to Tempe, Ariz., and the quick turnaround between the end of the ACC Tournament and the beginning of NCAA Regionals wasn’t great news for the D’Amour family. “After the Selection Show, it was hard to leave,” D’Amour said. “We left for Arizona on Tuesday but I got to spend all of Monday with Reaux.” Success in Tempe was a double-edged sword for D’Amour, and while the Hokies advanced to just their second Super Regional in program history, the extended stay out west meant more time away from Reaux. Early 24 Inside Hokie Sports
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