Softball team tries to break through

Coming off its second consecutive ACC tournament title Sunday, the Virginia Tech softball team will try this weekend to advance in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.

The Hokies play Louisville at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Knoxville, Tenn. Their double-elimination regional also includes Winthrop and Tennessee, the host.

This is Tech's fourth consecutive NCAA bid. The Hokies played in Knoxville in 2005 and 2006. They are 1-2 in each of their previous three NCAA appearances -- the only ones in school history. They beat Louisville in 2006 before losing twice to Tennessee.

Tech coach Scot Thomas knows NCAA experience will help his team, but he also knows that Winthrop made the tournament last season, Louisville is in the event for the fifth consecutive year, and Tennessee has played in the Women's College World Series the past three years.

"I don't know that the experience that's been gained by anybody is better than anybody else right now," Thomas said.

Tech's biggest advantage remains senior Angela Tincher, perhaps the nation's most dominant pitcher. She went 3-0 in the ACC tournament, pitching all 21 innings and striking out 39. She threw a no-hitter, the 14th of her career, in the semifinals against Florida State. She leads the nation with 14.2 strikeouts per seven innings.

Thomas had hoped to host an NCAA regional at Tech's newly renovated stadium, but he understands why Tennessee got it. The Lady Volunteers' stadium can hold about 3,000 fans, compared to 1,000 at Tech, he said.

"It's a $7 million Taj Mahal of softball," he said.

Work on hoops practice facility under way

Construction of Tech's new basketball practice facility began in earnest Monday, said Tom Gabbard, Tech's associate athletic director for internal affairs.

The 56,000-square-foot facility will include two full-length courts, a weight room and men's and women's locker rooms. It is being built on the tennis courts next to Cassell Coliseum and should open in August 2009. The total project cost is $21 million.

Gabbard said Tech saw the need for a separate practice facility -- the Hokies currently practice in Cassell -- when it joined the ACC in 2005.

"If you're going to try to compete to get the kind of athlete it takes to win in this conference, being the basketball conference it is, you're going to have to compete with practice facilities compared to the ones that are out there," he said.

Golf team gears up for NCAA tourney

Tech's golf team enters this week's NCAA East Regional with a stronger top five than the 2001 squad, which finished eighth at the NCAA championships, coach Jay Hardwick said.

The Hokies' top five scoring averages are within 3.3 strokes of one another -- led by senior Jurrian van der Vaart's 71.7.

"That's been the secret of our success," Hardwick said.

The East Regional, one of three in the NCAA tournament, is tomorrow through Saturday in Chattanooga, Tenn. The event comprises 27 teams and six individuals whose teams didn't qualify. The top 10 teams and two individuals from non-advancing teams move on to the NCAA championships May 28-31 at Purdue.

Van der Vaart, from the Netherlands, shot 15 of 29 rounds at par or better this spring. Junior Drew Weaver is second on the team in scoring average (72.3). He struggled this spring while dealing with the distraction of playing in the Masters, which he qualified for by winning last year's British Amateur. However, Weaver but missed the cut as the Masters.

Hardwick has noticed a calmer Weaver since the Masters.

"It was hard for him to focus and stay focused," Hardwick said. "That didn't surprise me." -- Darryl Slater