Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 13 No. 6 | June 2021

inside.hokiesports.com 23 T he 2021 season was a memorable and historic one for Virginia Tech softball. Not since 2008 had the Hokies advanced past the regional round of the NCAA Tournament. A nationally-ranked team all season, Tech was one of the last 16 teams still competing in the NCAA Super Regionals with a shot to advance to the Women’s College World Series. Despite their season coming to an end versus defending national champion UCLA in the deciding Game 3 of supers, the 2021 team joins a list that consisted of only 2008’s team to make it to NCAA Super Regionals. Current softball director of operations Whitney Davis Showalter has the honor of being the only person to be a part of both historic teams, as she was a player on the 2008 team that reached the Women’s College World Series. “Having a dominant pitcher is the one thing that stands out to me about both teams,” Showalter said. Hokies’ pitcher Keely Rochard did things in the circle in 2021 that no one else in the maroon and orange has done since Angela Tincher. She joined Tincher as the only pitchers in school history to win three games at NCAA Regionals. However, Rochard became the first pitcher for Virginia Tech to post an undefeated, 3-0 record in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. If you’ve ever watched Rochard in the circle, the first thing you may notice is the stoic manner in which she pitches. You would not be able to tell by watching her demeanor whether Rochard holds a five-run lead or just gave up a game-changing home run. “Getting mad or happy about something isn’t going to change whether I do well or not,” Rochard said. “If I give up a home run, what’s getting mad about it going to help? Nothing. I just think of it like that. There’s no need for me to show if I’m mad or happy.” While you wouldn’t know it watching her, Rochard had a lot to be happy about in 2021. Rochard ended her season in the Top 3 in all of NCAA Division I in shutouts (13), strikeouts (348) and wins (29). She was also named the ACC’s Pitcher of the Week three times and the NFCA’s Division I Pitcher of the Week twice throughout the year. To Rochard, the accolades are just a result of the work she puts in on the practice field. “I just trust my spin and trust the team behind me that we’ll get the win.” Rochard said. “The rest just falls into place.” Being one of the top pitchers in the country was not a 2021 exclusive for Rochard, who also led the NCAA in shutouts, strikeouts and wins in the shortened 2020 season, her first year as the “ace” for the Hokies after splitting time with Carrie Eberle in 2019. However, Tech head coach Pete D’Amour has always seen Rochard as a top pitcher since his arrival in Blacksburg prior to the 2019 season. “I don’t think she wasn’t the ace the first year. I think she became the ace as the season went on,” D’Amour said. “What I saw the following year was she got more innings. Her stats go up of course when she throws more. “That first year, she split time, but she won us both games at NCAA Regionals that year,” D’Amour continued. “Looking back at 2019, it was sort of a 1A and 1B situation, but she was still considered somewhat of an ace by me.” In her four seasons at Virginia Tech, Rochard has made her presence in the Hokies’ softball record book known. Following the 2021 season, the right-hander holds the best winning percentage in school history at .798, is third with 782 strikeouts and 31 shutouts, and has the fourth-most wins for the program at 71. “This is what I had hoped for,” Rochard said about her career. “After my first year, I didn’t really expect it.” Her freshman season in 2018 would not have led you to think Rochard would be in the position in Hokies’ history that she finds herself in today. She went 5-4 in 11 starts and held a 3.03 earned runs average, by far the highest of her collegiate career and a full run over her career average of 1.71. However, it all changed for Rochard when D’Amour and his staff came in. “I saw some old film on her, just some archived video that was laying around, I knew she threw firm,” D’Amour said of his first impressions of Rochard. “We couldn’t tell how hard she threw but she had some good potential to spin the ball up. She was throwing curveballs and not a lot of riseballs then, but we saw the ball go up a little bit.” The riseball has been Rochard’s signature pitch ever since. A pitch that starts at batters’ knees and finishes at eye level has produced the majority of her swinging strikeouts and helped Rochard climb up the Continued on page 24