This Weekend’s Headlines
• The Virginia Tech softball team will begin its 11-day Spring Break trip, playing 10 games in that span in two states and two different time zones.
• The Hokies will head to Orlando, Fla., for the UCF Spring Fling Tournament, where they will play five games and will then head west to Tempe, Ariz., for the Diamond Devil Invitational, hosted by Arizona State.
• In Orlando, Tech will open with Monmouth at 2 p.m., followed by the host UCF Knights later that day. On Saturday, the Hokies will take on South Alabama at 9:30 a.m., and will then play Florida A&M at 2 p.m. On Sunday, Tech wraps up with a single game in either the third-place game at 9 a.m., or the championship game at 11 a.m. UCF will not participate in Sunday’s games.
• Tech is 1-1 all-time against Monmouth, playing the Hawks back in 1997 in Ft. Myers, Fla. Tech is 1-0 against UCF, beating the Knights 2-1 in 2007 in Altamonte Springs, Fla. The Hokies are 4-0 against the Lady Rattlers of Florida A&M, last playing them in 2005 and this will be the first meeting on the diamond between Tech and South Alabama.

About Florida A&M
• Florida A&M is 8-5 after taking two games against Savannah State.
• Tera Gainer is leading an offense that bats .300 as a squad. She is hitting .425 with three home runs and 13 RBI to lead the way. Whitney Robinson is hitting .378 with 12 RBI, Jasmin Donaldson is hitting .375, Tenisha Dixon is hitting .366 and Francesca Singletary is batting .351 for the Lady Rattlers.
• In the circle, Whitney Robinson and Jenn Lindsey have seen most of the action. Robinson is 5-3 with a 2.96 ERA in 49.2 innings with 23 strikeouts while Lindsey is 3-2 with a 3.13 ERA in 31.1 innings with 29 strikeouts.

About Monmouth
• Monmouth opened its season last weekend in Norfolk and went 3-1, falling to Iona, a team Tech beat twice in the opening weekend.
• The Hawks are hitting .233 so far with Christine Scheer leading the regulars with a .364 average while Alicia Desanto (.333) and Emily DeLong (.308) are also off to good starts.
• In the circle, Lauren Sulick is 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA in 15.0 innings with 13 strikeouts while Dara Palms is 1-1 with a 3.36 ERA in 8.1 innings.

About South Alabama
• South Alabama is off to a good start, posting a 12-3 record after three weekends.
• The Jaguars feature a powerful offense as they hit .390 as a team with 26 home runs, 115 RBI and 28 stolen bases in just 15 games. All nine regular starters hit .310 or higher with Meghan Collins leading the way at .500. Three others are hitting .417 or higher and two players have six home runs.
• In the circle, Lindsey Croft is 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA in 26.0 innings to lead the way. Hannah Campbell is 4-2 with a 2.50 ERA in 39.2 innings and Morgan Druhan is 3-1 with a 3.41 ERA in 29.0 innings pitched.

About UCF
• UCF is 4-11 after finishing one of its home tournaments last weekend.
• The Knights hit .260 as a team with six home runs, led by Allie Jest, who is hitting .381 and Tawny Swan, who is hitting .325. Abby McClain leads the way with three home runs.
• In the circle, the staff ERA is 4.28 with just 44 strikeouts in 99.2 innings. Diana Rojas has seen the most action, pitching 36.1 innings. She is 3-3 with a 5.01 ERA. Haley Douglas (0-3, 4.38 ERA in 24.0 IP), Ashley Schmitt (0-3, 3.79 ERA in 20.1 IP) and Lacey Dinney (1-2, 3.32 ERA in 19.0 IP) have also seen significant time in games.

Tough Losses
• All three of Tech’s losses have been by one run and all three came on walk-off hits. Ohio got a single in the bottom of the seventh to win 2-1; Charleston Southern got a single in the bottom of the ninth inning to win 10-9 and Coastal Carolina got a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning to win 6-5.

After This Weekend
• After this weekend's tournament, the team will stay in Orlando for two days to relax and train before heading to Arizona on Wednesday morning. Tech will have two days to get acclimated to the new time zone before beginning play in the Diamond Devil Invitational, hosted by Arizona State, on Friday. The times listed on the hokiesports.com schedule are Eastern, so those going to the games need to adjust two hours difference.

For updates on Virginia Tech softball, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Softball).