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ON THE DIAMOND
The Virginia Tech softball team (27-12, 6-2 ACC), coming off a sweep of the University of Maryland on the road this past weekend, will host 21st-ranked Florida State University (33-7, 8-1 ACC) this weekend for a three-game series at Tech Softball Park.

THE WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Because of Easter weekend, the schedule will be a little different. The Hokies and Seminoles are scheduled to play the single game on Friday at 7 p.m. and will then play the doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon.

AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
With the Seminoles coming in ranked 21st in the country, it’s time to break out Tech’s record against ranked foes. The Hokies have played 97 games against ranked opponents and sport a 32-65 record in those games. Tech is 1-2 against ranked opponents this year, beating No. 17 Oklahoma State earlier in the year.

THE WEEKEND FORECAST
Here’s the early weekend forecast for Blacksburg.

LIVE STATS
Live stats for every Hokie softball game this season will be available on through hokiesports.com. It will always be this link.

HOKIES ALL-ACCESS
All of the action from this weekend can be seen on Hokies All-Access, a subscription-based platform.

TWITTER
Fans can follow Hokie softball online through Twitter as well. In game thoughts, stats and notes, as well as links to articles and other miscellaneous items can be found at the official Twitter page for Virginia Tech softball, @VT_Softball.

PROMOTIONS THIS WEEKEND
Friday night will be Military Appreciation Night and the Hokies and Seminoles will be wearing special jerseys honoring the members of the military. Additionally, the first 250 fans will receive Virginia Tech tumbler cups. On Saturday, the HokieBird Easter Egg Hunt will take place at noon on the turf practice field located behind Tech Softball Park. It is also Stroke Awareness Day and the first 250 fans will receive color-changing cups. For the complete list of weekend promotions, click here.

RPI RELEASED
The NCAA released the second of its weekly adjusted RPI rankings on Monday and the Hokies check in at No. 35 in the second one after being 47th in the first one last week. Florida State is ranked 17th. Tech is 1-7 vs. top 25 competition (.0026 bonus per win) and 4-7 against 26-50 competition (.0013 bonus per win). Tech’s best win is against No. 24 North Carolina. The RPI is an important tool in selecting the at-large teams to the NCAA Tournament and focusses on quality wins (bonuses for wins over top 25 and 26-50). The formula used factors in a team’s winning percentage, a team’s opponent’s winning percentage and a team’s opponent’s opponent’s winning percentage, and then adds in bonuses for quality wins. So for the math wizards out there, the formula used is ((WP+(2*OWP)+OOWP)/4)+bonus points.

Last year, only three teams ranked 40 or below in the final adjusted RPI before the selection show received at-large bids (San Diego State, 43rd; Penn State, 47th; Memphis, 48th) and no team ranked 50th or below earned an at-large bid. Several squads that finished in the 40s (North Carolina, 42nd; Longwood, 45th) didn’t make it. Tech finished the regular season with an RPI of 54 last year.

You can find the adjusted rankings here.

ACC STANDINGS
This weekend’s series is a big one as it features the top two teams in the league’s standings up to this point. Florida State is 8-1 in the ACC after taking two of three from North Carolina at home this past weekend. The Hokies are 6-2 in the league after sweeping Maryland on the road last weekend. The entire ACC standings can be found here.

NEW FAN GUIDE
A new online fan guide replaces the printed media guide this year for the softball team. This guide includes videos, color photos, links and much more. It will change throughout the year with new items as they happen so bookmark it and come back as the season progresses. The guide can be found at this link.

WIN NO. 600 IN YEAR NO. 17
Scot Thomas is in his 17th season at the helm of the maroon and orange and reached a coaching milestone on April 1 when the Hokies beat Maryland 5-1. The win was his 600th career victory and he now enters this weekend with a record of 600-402. In his career, he has led the Hokies to a berth in the Women’s College World Series (2008), two ACC titles (2007, 2008), four NCAA bids (2005-2008) and an exhibition win over the U.S. National Team (2008).

SCOUTING FLORIDA STATE
Florida State is 33-7 overall, 8-1 in the ACC and ranked 21st in the country after taking two games against UNC last weekend but falling Wednesday to No. 4 Florida at home. The strength of the team is its pitching staff, which features a team ERA of 1.07, among the best in the country. Junior Monica Perry, a transfer from Illinois, is dominating the competition this season in the circle and is the reigning ACC Pitcher of the Week. She is 15-3 with a 1.21 ERA and 151 strikeouts in 121.1 innings. Freshman Lacey Waldrop has been equally impressive, posting a 15-3 record with a 0.90 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 109.0 innings. Two other pitchers have seen limited action (Bailey Schinella: 2-1, 0.70 ERA in 20.0 innings; and Jessica Nori: 1-0, 1.56 ERA in 18.0 innings), but have been equally effective in their time on the field.

While the pitching has gotten the headlines, the offense has been just as good, posting a team batting average of .274. The Seminoles rely on speed, hitting 39 doubles, 14 triples and 61 stolen bases as opposed to home runs (19), but keeps the pressure on defenses for all seven innings. The Seminoles are led at the plate by Tiffani Brown, who is hitting .319 with three triples and 30 stolen bases. Courtney Senas (.316, 17 SBs) and Shayla Jackson (.309, 4 3Bs) are both hitting over .300 while Briana Hamilton has six home runs and 21 RBIs and Maddie O’Brien has five home runs and 31 RBIs.

The Hokies hold a 14-12 lead in the series against Florida State after splitting four games last season. Tech took two of three from the Seminoles in Tallahassee, but FSU got revenge in the ACC Tournament with a win in the first round. The last time FSU came to Blacksburg, the Hokies won two of the three games and Tech is 6-4 in home games against the Seminoles. Virginia Tech has won five of the seven ACC series played since Tech joined the league in 2005.

FSU’s 2012 stats
FSU’s 2012 roster
FSU’s 2012 schedule/results

PRESEASON ACC POLL
The ACC coaches voted the Hokies sixth in the 2012 Preseason Coaches’ Poll, released prior to the season starting. Georgia Tech is the preseason favorite, according to the coaches, followed by North Carolina, defending tournament champion Florida State, Virginia, Maryland, Virginia Tech, NC State and Boston College.

TECH SOFTBALL PARK
Tech Softball Park, home of Virginia Tech softball since 1998, has been a tough place for opposing teams to play of the years. Nearly 800 permanent seats have been added, along with lights, two more press boxes and a new sound system, making the facility a fine one for the Hokies to play. Over the years, Tech has posted a 193-78 record at home.

A NEW ADDITION
This past offseason, a new scoreboard and video board were also added to enhance the fans’ experiences at TSP. The new board features a scoreboard on the bottom portion like the old one, but this one has LED lights and is capable of putting team names on the board. The new addition will be something to behold as a video board, sound system, netting, side panels and a steel tress up top will all add to the project. Virginia Tech’s video board is the fourth-largest college softball display installed by Daktronics.

The overall dimensions of the structure is 28 feet wide by 21 feet tall, and includes the Sportsound-500HD sound system speakers in the board so the sound will be directed straight to the stands as opposed to over the fans’ heads now.

The 11x18 foot video board is a HD-15mm LED video display that has 216 lines of resolution high by 360 columns of resolution wide. The display can operate as an independent display showing single large images or be divided in multiple zones (windows) to show a wide variety of statistics, information graphics, animations, and live and recorded video.

It also has non-lit sponsor displays on the side and features the accomplishments of the program. The video board allows for an introduction video, player spotlights, replay and other in-game enhancements. The board is protected by a 21x28 foot net that drapes over the front.

Up top is a steel truss with “Tech Softball Park” illuminated for night games.

UP NEXT
The Hokies will play a doubleheader at Longwood on Wednesday before shipping up to Boston next weekend to play a three-game set at Boston College.

RANDOM STATS AND NOTES
Did you know: The Hokies enter this weekend’s big series against No. 21 Florida State on a nine-game winning streak, but it’s nowhere near the longest in school history; in fact it’s only tied for the seventh-longest in program history. The Hokies won 26 consecutive games in 1999 to set the school mark. The second-longest streak is 18 games (2005), followed by 13 games (2002), 12 games (2002), 10 games (2006 and 2007) and then the current nine-game streak this year and in both 1999 and 2008.

Career Grand Slams (active)
K. Froehlich vs. Charlotte, 2/12/11
B. Rose vs. Liberty, 3/27/11
K. Banks vs. UNCG, 3/29/11
K. Mericka vs. Wagner, 2/24/12
B. Rose vs. Cornell, 3/20/12 (walk-off)

Career Walk-Off Home Runs (active)
M. Hvozdovic vs. Western Michigan, 3/8/09 - solo home run in B7 with 1 out to win 1-0
B. Rose vs. Cornell, 3/20/12 - grand slam in B7 with 1 out to win 8-4

Career Games Stated - by position (active)
K. Froehlich: 182 total - 58 RF; 46 2B; 24 3B; 20 1B; 19 LF; 14 DP; 1 SS
B. Smith: 145 total - 113 2B; 31 SS; 1 LF
C. Liddle: 139 total - 76 1B; 56 C; 7 DP
B. Rose: 101 total - 87 C; 9 DP; 5 LF
M. Hvozdovic: 68 total - 41 LF; 23 RF; 2 CF; 2 DP
D. Anderson: 89 total - 53 SS; 23 LF; 13 DP
K. Banks: 69 total - 48 CF; 11 RF; 10 LF
J. Harrell: 63 total - 63 P
L. Gaskill: 39 total - 39 CF
K. McGoldrick: 39 total - 39 2B
K. Mericka: 39 total - 34 3B; 3 DP; 2 C
L. Spaw: 22 total - 22 DP
B. Liddle: 16 total - 13 P; 3 RF
L. Wolff: 8 total - 6 RF; 2 CF
I. Corrao: 5 total - 5 P
K. Smith: 3 total - 3 DP

Hokies by States (22)
Virginia: 9
North Carolina: 4
California: 2
New Jersey: 2
Florida: 1
Georgia: 1
Missouri: 1
New York: 1
Tennessee: 1

Hokies by Class (22)
Seniors: 2
Juniors: 4
Sophomores: 5
Freshmen: 11

Walk-Off Home Runs in Program History (14)
Bronwyn Blair vs. Charlotte, 3/25/98 - two-run home run in B8 to win 8-6
Tiffany Hurt vs. Radford, 2/21/01 - two-run home run in B7 to win 2-0
Amy Voorhees vs. Connecticut, 3/31/01 - solo home run in B10 to win 3-2
Megan Evans vs. Seton Hall, 5/5/02 - solo home run in B9 to win 1-0
Megan Evans vs. Virginia, 4/27/04 - grand slam in B8 to win 6-3
Stephanie Savre vs. Georgia Tech, 4/23/05 - grand slam in B7 to win 9-5
Caroline Stolle vs. Winthrop, 5/5/05 - solo home in B7 to win 2-1
Stephanie Savre vs. Radford, 3/1/06 - two-run home run in B9 to win 3-2
Beth Walker vs. North Carolina, 4/26/08 - three-run home run in B10 to win 5-2
Misty Hall vs. Louisville, 5/16/08 (NCAA Regionals) - solo home run in B7 to win 1-0
Jessica Everhart vs. Appalachian State, 2/21/09 - three-run home run in B8 to win 5-4
Misty Hall vs. Florida State, 4/17/10 - solo home run in B7 to win 5-4
Marra Hvozdovic vs. Western Michigan, 3/8/09 - solo home run in B7 to win 1-0
Betty Rose vs. Cornell, 3/20/12 - grand slam in B7 to win 8-4

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