March 28, 2023

An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903

BEST OF BLACKSBURG 2023 WINNERS

BEST PLACE FOR BREAKFAST

Our Daily Bread Bakery & Bistro

BEST MEXICAN FOOD

Cabo Fish Taco

BEST BAKERY

Carol Lee Donut Shop

BEST BURGERS

The Maroon Door

BEST INTERNATIONAL FARE

The Cellar Restaurant

BEST SUBS

Sub Station II Restaurant

BEST PIZZA

Benny Marzano’s

BEST SUSHI

Green’s Grill & Sushi Bar

BEST WINGS

Buffalo Wild Wings

BEST VEGETARIAN FARE

Green’s Grill & Sushi Bar

BEST DELIVERY SERVICE

The Beast of Blacksburg

BEST LATE-NIGHT FOOD

Benny Marzano’s

BEST COFFEE

Coffeeholics

BEST SWEETS

Sugar Magnolia

BEST DINING ON CAMPUS

West End Market

BEST OVERALL RESTAURANT

Cabo Fish Taco

BEST OVERALL BAR

Top of the Stairs

BEST FESTIVAL

Steppin’ Out

BEST HIKING TRAIL

Cascades National Recreational Trail

BEST GOLF COURSE AND DRIVING RANGE

Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech

BEST DATE SPOT

Blacksburg Wine Lab

BEST KARAOKE

Top of the Stairs

BEST LIVE MUSIC

The Milk Parlor

BEST PLACE TO WATCH SPORTS ON TV

Buffalo Wild Wings

BEST PLACE TO PLAY POOL OR SHOOT DARTS

PK’s Bar & Grill

BEST PLACE TO SEE A MOVIE

B&B Theaters Blacksburg 11 with B-Roll Bowling

BEST HAPPY HOUR

Sharkey’s BEST COCKTAIL

Twisted Liquid

BEST SALON OR SPA

Top Nails

BEST GYM

Blacksburg Boxing and Fitness

BEST PLACE TO GET TATTOOED

Live Wire Tattoo and Piercing

BEST GROCERY STORE

Kroger

BEST WINE SELECTION

Vintage Cellar

BEST BEER SELECTION

Eastern Divide Brewing Company

BEST BOOKSTORE

Blacksburg Books

BEST PLACE FOR FLOWERS

Blacksburg Farmers Market & Market

Square Park

BEST CLOTHING STORE

VT Thrift

BEST PLACE TO GET VT GEAR

Campus Emporium

BEST APARTMENT COMPLEX

The Edge Apartment and Townhomes

BEST PLACE TO GET A CAR

SERVICED

South Main Auto Service

NEWSROOM 231-9865

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For those students who rely on coffee to get through a day of classes, finding a good coffee shop close to campus that you can depend on can make or break your college experience. Luckily, voters in the annual Best of Blacksburg Poll have spoken, and Coffeeholics was given the 2023 award for best coffee in town.

Coffeeholics was founded in 2021 by a local couple of Virginia Tech Hokies, Lilly and Al. Al graduated from Tech in 2006 with a masters and doctorate in architecture, and the two met on a tour of campus. They bonded over their love of coffee and soon found themselves wanting to provide that same love for the campus that brought them together.

Coffeeholics was created post-COVID, and according to the couple, started out with only three baristas — now, they have 15. With his background in architecture, Al was able to design the space from scratch.

“We had a dream of opening a coffee shop, but, I mean, it was just a dream,” Al said. “We both just loved coffee, so when the opportunity came to open a coffee shop, it was challenging and fun at the same time.”

Their main goal was to own a coffee shop where they can give back to the community. Located a short distance from Squires Student Center, this downtown shop aims to provide a comfortable spot for students and community members alike to do work and socialize with others.

“I wanted young professionals (and) Virginia Tech students to have a nice place to go and study, to have meetings, for example (and) to just enjoy a nice cup of coffee,” Al said.

Coffeeholics also prides itself on their ability to promote other businesses through pop-up shops and special events to introduce local products to their customers. Some of the most recent events include a PINK Pop Up shop, Lola Lou Sip and Shop event and another Sip and Shop event in collaboration with Law Thrifts.

The two creators of Coffeeholics found it incredibly special and rewarding to lift up these other businesses in times of need, just like others did for them when they were first starting out.

“We always get feedback from them,” Lilly said. “So after a few months, they’re like, ‘Nobody ever knew us and now we have a lot of sales, people are coming to us, and they’re asking us to come back,’ and it’s always positive

Colleen Henneberry | Managing Editor

feedback,” Lilly said.

The menu at Coffeeholics is extensive — not only do they serve breakfast all day, like waffles and bagels, but they also serve a wide variety of sandwiches, like smoked salmon bagels and pesto caprese paninis. They also offer baked goods and desserts such as cake pops, muffins, brownies and danishes.

Coffeeholics doesn’t miss an opportunity for their customers to save money. They offer punch cards that award the customer a free drink of any size once they come a certain number of times, and they offer specials every day of the week. These specials include Bottomless Mug Monday, Half Off Tuesday, Double Punch Wednesday and multiple others throughout the week.

Of course, the heart of Coffeeholics is their coffee selection. This shop offers more traditional coffees like drip, espresso, Americano and Cuban coffee, as well as the hot or iced lattes or macchiatos. However, they also serve more creative espresso drinks like their Chocoholics Latte and the Busy Bee. The couple also created three signature drinks named after their kids that they created at home: the Lulyatte, the Ruby and the Tatto.

This top-rated coffee shop continues to strive for improvement. Recently, the shop implemented an online ordering system and placed QR codes on the table, making it convenient for students to order while in class or on the walk over, or simply skip the line. They’ve also increased their engagement on their social media, often receiving feedback and suggestions for new specials or menu items.

“It’s been an amazing journey, and we will keep getting better and better,” Al said.

Coffeeholics has quickly become a staple to the downtown community of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech. This shop offers students and others downtown a comfortable place to study, work or relax, all while drinking — in Al’s words — a “nice cup of coffee.”

Coffeeholics is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and updates, visit their website (www.coffeeholicsva.com) or their Facebook, Instagram (@coffeeholicsva).

AMBER WILLIAMS / COLLEGIATE TIMES

Coffeeholics in downtown Blacksburg, Sept. 22, 2021.

THE MILK PARLOR WINS BEST LIVE MUSIC IN BLACKSBURG

david vu | lifestyles staff writer

This unique downtown bar-and-restaurant creates opportunities for local artists to showcase their talents.

Walking around Downtown Blacksburg near Benny’s Pizza and Coffeeholics, there is a giant artistic mural of two fat cats having a martini and a smoke painted on the side of the building. Around the corner of the mural, there is a staircase leading down and entering into an underground restaurant-bar with a stage at the front and center. These are some signs that you’ve stumbled across the hottest music venue that was voted Best Live Music in Blacksburg 2023: the Milk Parlor.

The Milk Parlor, established and opened in August 2019, is the central place for the people of Blacksburg to relax and enjoy a variety of live entertainment events as well as some delicious food and drinks.

Michelle Berry, the general manager of the Milk Parlor, has been working in the underground establishment for about 10 years, including when the space was

UP 86

Guest Curator Series

occupied by the previous restaurant beforehand called Sycamore Deli. She revealed that the founders of Benny’s Pizza, Chris Brown and Zach Toth, were actually the ones to come up with the idea for the Milk Parlor after Sycamore Deli closed down.

“They were really interested in trying to support live music in Blacksburg and being a part of the community more,” Berry said. “They’ve been so unbelievably successful with their pizza restaurant that they were able to go back and support the community in a way that they felt that the community needed to be supported, and that was through live music.”

According to Berry, The Milk Parlor encompasses all sorts of genres for their live music events. Some prominent examples of the variety of genres include satirical pop, punk rock and bluegrass. In addition to live

A trio of spring performances curated by North Carolina artist Shirlette Ammons, who is serving as the Moss Arts Center’s first independent guest performing arts curator. Ammons brings a new perspective to the center’s lineup, creating a foucs on Black Southern artists who effortlessly cross genres and revitalize time honored music traditions.

$15 general admission; $10 students with ID and youth 18 and under All performances in the Cube

Thursday, March 30-Friday, March 31, 8 PM

Rissi Palmer

Rissi Palmer’s gift lies in reaching across all musical boundaries. While Palmer made her mark in country music, she is equally at home in R&B.

Friday, April 7, 8 PM

Shirlette Ammons

Shirlette Ammons is an expressive poet, musician, emcee, and film creative whose highly collaborative work defies genre.

Friday, April 14, 8 PM

Sonny Miles

Citing gospel, funk, and neo-soul as his biggest influences, Sonny Miles fuses catchy, relatable lyrics with soulful compositions to create a unique sound.

music events, they also host other live entertainment events as well such as drag shows, open mic nights, salsa nights and even art vendor events. Berry said that the way for artists and groups to book and schedule a gig is usually through the restaurant’s email, with events even being booked all the way to 2024.

“Typically, we have some sort of event going on Monday through Saturday,” Berry said. “It’s not necessarily limited, we always want to have a space that everybody could play, especially locals and things like that, but a lot of traveling artists and touring bands want to play too.”

Berry’s favorite aspect about the Milk Parlor is seeing the people that come to the establishment have a good time and enjoy themselves at events that are tailored to their interests and passions.

“Ideally, it’s a safe space for everybody to enjoy not only music but art … so really my favorite thing is giving people a space to express themselves in whatever safe way that expressing themselves encompasses,” Berry said.

However, it has not always been smooth sailing. Touching on the effects that COVID-19 had on the Milk Parlor, Berry recalls how tough it was for the restaurant-bar music venue to be shut down around the beginning of the pandemic, with the Milk Parlor being only about six months old at the time. Berry recollects how the Milk Parlor went from having live music events consistently to only being able to have pseudo-tiny desk concerts in the back of the restaurant up to five to ten people, all of which included the band and the staff.

“We were fortunate enough that the owners of the Milk Parlor definitely saw that it served and was going to serve a purpose and were able to keep us going because otherwise, we wouldn’t have survived,” said Berry. “We love to advertise and try to get people to have our food — sandwiches, dinner, lunch, whatever — and just have a good time outside of just the music and events, but (the pandemic) made it very difficult for everybody to survive.”

Berry hopes that people will open up to a wide variety of different things happening in Blacksburg that they can do, as well as find

a safe space to express themselves and their interests.

“We really just want you to have a great time while also knowing that you’re not in a spot where people don’t have your back … we always want to support you and want you to support us,” said Berry. “Hopefully ideally, they had more than one but at least one wholeheartedly fulfilling experience that they can take away and say ‘That place, I had one of the best nights of my life because of what was happening during that time.’”

The Milk Parlor is located at 211 B Draper Rd NW Blacksburg, VA 24060. Its hours are Mondays 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., and closed on Sundays. For more information about the Milk Parlor’s food and drink menu as well as the live entertainment schedule, booking, and ticket purchasing, visit either their website (themilkparlorblacksburg.com) or their social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (@TheMilkParlor).

TAYO OLADELE / COLLEGIATE TIMES

The Milk Parlor in downtown Blacksburg, Sept. 25, 2019.

THE SWEETEST SPOT ON NORTH MAIN STREET: SUGAR MAGNOLIA

Sugar Magnolia isn’t just one of the Grateful Dead’s most famous hit songs, but it is also the name of the first hand-dipped ice cream and paper goods store in downtown Blacksburg. Sugar Magnolia is equipped with the highest quality sweets from a variety of vendors, and offers a wide range of gifts in their paper goods section of the store. If you are looking to satisfy your taste buds, pick up a treat for a friend or gather with your peers, Sugar Magnolia is one of the most comforting places in the New River Valley and has been voted “Best Sweets” in the Best of Blacksburg 2023 Poll.

Beginning in 2015, when Tom and Michelle Raub moved from South Carolina back to Tom’s alma mater in Blacksburg — the couple opened a boutique gift store called the T.R. Collection. After two years living in Blacksburg, Michelle Raub was nominated as the president of downtown Blacksburg and became an active member in the community. Following a series of intensive focus groups from all different ages, it was evident that the town was in dire need of an ice cream parlor.

Michelle included that the combination of the two stores — paper goods and sweet treats — would be a faultless duo.

“Our main goal and mission is to build and foster community,” she said. “We always try to find ways to have our shop be a place where people can gather.”

The mom-and-pop — exclusively located on North Main Street and its second location in Roanoke — has a southern flare, which comes from Michelle’s love for South Carolina and named in tribute to Tom’s favorite band, the Grateful Dead. The couple mentioned that the store’s name fits perfectly with the South Carolina side and the sugary side.

Despite the small business entirely running off of the founders’ operations, the store includes an incredibly extensive product list, which has drawn individuals from all over the New River Valley region.

“Our hand-dipped ice cream is our biggest piece that pulls people in, we have milkshakes and even ice cream flights where you can try four different ice cream flavors,” Michelle said. “We have ice cream nachos — complete with waffle cone chips, three big scoops of ice cream with toppings and also sundae bars for gatherings.”

The owners explained that they do a lot of behind the scenes research on unique products

that are not just your average grocery store item, but rather small hand-crafted lines that are the best quality that they can find. Michelle also highlighted that the ice cream Sugar Magnolia carries has a consistency that makes the treat creamier and sweeter than the majority of popular ice cream brands.

“We have fine chocolates from three different vendors, they’re all high-caliber, highquality sweets and there’s a hot chocolate bar in the winter,” Michelle said. “We have packaged candy, gummies and an incredible line of handcrafted popcorn — It’s called Poppy, and we always keep about 18 different flavors of that in stock.”

A special aspect about the store is the comfortable nature surrounding the business when it comes to the staff and community. Michelle emphasized that she has made friendships and built relationships with regulars over the years, especially Virginia Tech parents when it comes to making personal deliveries with their customers.

“We’ve had Virginia Tech parents call us if there’s a birthday, a breakup or exams coming up and we hand deliver items to students,” Michelle said. “I’ve had everything from a mom saying please give him a hug for me, to please tell him to shave. We know we’re doing our job right because we get that level of comfort with people.”

They explained that they have so many loyal customers that employees know exactly what people will order before they even make their way to the register. Because they build these strong relationships with the clientele, Tom and Michelle have been looking for ways to give back to their community through a potential rewards program.

“We definitely want to offer a rewards system — but just like every other mom-and-pop, our to-do list is about 14 million items long and there’s only two of us and so some days get priority and other days you spend the whole time putting out fires,” Tom said.

As well as implementing these items for customers, the couple included that they collaborate often with Virginia Tech organizations whether it is through percentage nights, community events or department meetings.

When asked about the most memorable experience Sugar Magnolia has seen over the years, the owners had a story like no other. In

2019, Tom and Michelle were approached by Wing, a company in partnership with Virginia Tech Aviation, which were actively contributing to drone research. After an extensive few months of confidentiality because of Wing’s policies, the mom-and-pop was a part of a pilot program to test drone delivery in the U.S. with the Federal Aviation Administration.

The owners mentioned that they were the only mom-and-pop store part of this experience, as Walgreens and FedEx were the other two companies involved with the program. The owners knew this would be an incredibly unique experience to take part in — Tom admitted that the operation didn’t make a lot of money, but it was truly the neatest thing he was involved in.

“I was on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, we were in the Washington Journal,Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, it was insane,” Michelle said. “I had friends when it

was live reaching out to me from all over the place asking ‘Did I just see you on NBC Nightly News?’ — we had international acclaim.”

Tom also poked fun at this impressive achievement. “No matter what we do from now on — we’ve done that,” he said. “We were the first small business ever in America to be delivered by drone.”

Sugar Magnolia is the ideal spot to gather for anything sweet, and based on the Best of Blacksburg poll, it is safe to say that the town of Blacksburg couldn’t agree more. Tom and Michelle have truly embraced their passion for this business and have made Sugar Magnolia a landmark of this college town.

“We like to make everybody feel that we’re accepting because Blacksburg holds such a special place in our hearts,” Michelle said.

“People hear about Hokie Nation and it is continued on page 7

continued from page 5

right there in your face and so obvious when we’re always forming such great relationships

with the people that come in for a treat.”

Sugar Magnolia is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sundays from 12 p.m. to 9

p.m. For more information, check out their Instagram (@sugarmagnoliashops) or on their website (sugarmagnoliashops.com).

OPINIONS

A BETTER FUTURE WITH FOUR-DAY WORKWEEKS

Will Frank | opinions columnist

The most beneficial decision a business can make is switching to a four-day workweek.

Today’s workers often feel like beasts of burden — doing their best work day after day, with little to no recognition and appreciation. And the cherry on top is an unfavorable paycheck. Companies have been working on creating healthier and more inclusive workspaces, and one of these solutions is the proposition of a four-day workweek.

The idea behind a four-day workweek, also called “compressed time,” is to attract and retain workers. Instead of eight-hour days five times a week, it would be 10-hour days four times a week. Companies are experimenting with these formats of workweeks and figuring out the most effective way to transition into them. Employees are either kept at the same rate of pay and benefits or less to reflect the reduced production due to shorter hours. A switch from the outdated routine of the nine to five, five times a week, is pivotal to acknowledging the importance of employee mental health and increasing productivity.

The companies that have experimented with this new work schedule have discovered many benefits, including giant corporations like Microsoft and Amazon. Employees’ motivation to complete the work assigned to them increased due to the reduced hours. These shorter hours spent in the offices also reduced facilities and utilities costs. With the opportunity to have an extra day off every week, it was found that employees had the ability to better schedule appointments to not interfere with the work day. A Henley Business School poll found that 62 percent of employees used fewer sick days.

In 2019, Microsoft Japan implemented a four-day workweek and recorded their findings. In their test run of this new schedule, they found that their productivity had increased by 40 percent. They saved 20 percent more on electricity costs compared to the previous year and reduced the number of pages printed by 60 percent. In addition to increased productivity, mental retention saw great improvements. A 2020 Gallup

poll concluded that over 10,000 workers found that workers reported the lowest burnout levels when following a four-day workweek. Due to these findings, it’s clear that fewer days spent in the office correlate to a decrease in a carbon footprint and reduced energy usage due to fewer people commuting to work.

All these pros advocate heavily for a nationwide switch to four-day workweeks. With increased productivity and a decrease in production costs, it seems like a company’s dream situation. However, the same studies and test situations have also discovered downsides to the four-day workweek.

One of the biggest problems found is coverage for customers and employees. With some workplaces taking Fridays off and some removing Mondays from the schedule, it’s hard to determine what’s going to be open and when, and who’s going to be working and when. This leads to scheduling issues between employees and employers. A planned or impromptu meeting will be harder to hold, and brainstorming may find limited input if employees are inaccessible on certain days. People find it easier to collaborate in groups, and if this switch in schedule makes it harder for employees to get their work done, which goes against the supposed increase in productivity that the company was hoping to achieve. However, there is a simple solution: employers need to gauge how flexible the staff levels of responsibility are. Communication between the top and bottom levels is crucial in determining the effectiveness and success of this switch.

The next biggest challenge is the difference between salary and hourly workers. In this case of compressed time, hourly workers are going to cost the company more money if they choose to make the switch due to the laws of compensation for overtime pay. In some states, overtime pay starts after 8 hours per shift, meaning that compressed time could result in employers having to be paid 8 hours of overtime per

week. The switch to just a normal four-day week could result in hourly workers making less money than normal, making their living costs harder to support if the overtime compensation situation is not solved. Legislation would have to be enacted to help counter this result. A 2021 proposal that never made it past Congress tried to lower the federal standard to make 32 hours a full workweek, and mandate overtime compensation for any additional hours worked. Even though it failed, there are still many proponents for this idea that could perhaps be brought up at the state level.

There is also a chance that the switch to a four-day workweek could disproportionately distribute more work to others. Managers may have to spend more time scheduling meetings, getting in touch with clients and planning group tasks for when some employees are not on the clock. Some managers may be able to structure their task diffusion more adequately than others, but others may have to take on a bigger workload during the transition. It might not work for all employees, and to achieve all the potential benefits of a four-day workweek, there has to be cohesion between all sections of the office. This switch could highlight how effectively a company runs and manages their employees, and if done successfully, it could be highly beneficial to everyone involved.

Obviously, this switch can not happen at all places of work, at least not as fast as in some other workplaces. A perfect example of this is the healthcare industry. Numerous amounts of medical conditions require around-the-clock care and it’s impossible to plan around accidents and emergencies.

Earlier this month, representative Mark Takano (D-Calif.) proposed amending the Fair Labor Standards Act to shorten the standard workweek by eight hours for non-exempt employees (an employee who is entitled to overtime when they work more than 40 hours in one week). If this bill gets passed by Congress, it would mean

shorter workweeks or more overtime pay for hourly workers. Takano believes that it would contribute to a cultural shift across all industries. The bill is still in its early stages, still needing to pass out of the House of Education and the Workforce Committee to advance to becoming law. The length of the workweek has not been touched since the 1940s, regardless of the gigantic improvements in technology and understanding of mental health, severely dating the whole idea of the standard workweek definition.

COVID-19 changed the world in innumerable ways, and of course, the workplace felt many of the effects. Employee mental health became a frequent topic of conversation during the height of the pandemic. Some of the stressors that many encountered included the isolation of working remotely, changes in daily routine and the distractions and feelings of demotivation, all contributing towards increased levels of anxiety and depression. Productivity, creativity and a person’s social engagement all disintegrate if the employee’s mental health is suffering.

Jazmine Sands, a sophomore at Virginia Tech majoring in business information technology, describes the benefits of implementing a 4-day workweek.

“I am in favor of a four-day workweek because weekends are not long enough,” Sands said. “It can lead to more time spent with family and friends and provide enough time for your brain to fully rest.”

Four-day workweeks provide employees with ample time to rest and recuperate, thus enabling more productivity and higher standards of mental health. Although it’s obvious that a switch would not be viable for all businesses, the trials that have been recorded show that with enough effort put in by employers, a switch to a four-day workweek will prove successful.

SPORTS VIRGINIA TECH SWEEPS SOFTBALL SERIES AGAINST CHATTANOOGA

Michael Planey | Sports Staff writer

Hokies beat Mocs in both games of Saturday doubleheader.

No. 11 Virginia Tech completed the sweep of Chattanooga on Saturday, with wins in both games of their doubleheader.

After a high-scoring game Friday evening, the two teams found more consistent pitching Saturday and kept the combined scores of both games below Friday’s total of 19 runs.

Game one was a pitchers’ duel early between Moc Peja Goold and Hokie Emma Lemley. It wasn’t until the fourth inning that either team was able to register a hit.

Then, both teams recorded their first hit of the game but were unable to do any damage and the game remained scoreless.

In the fifth, Virginia Tech designated player Grace Chavez opened the scoring with a two-run home run to left center. Had it not been for a 5–3 double play the at bat prior, the Mocs could’ve found themselves in a larger deficit at the end of the inning.

The Hokies added two runs in the sixth, surrendered one in a tough top of the seventh, and won game one 4–1.

Game two began two hours and thirty-eight minutes after the first pitch of game one.

Facing off in the circle were Taylor Long for Chattanooga and Molly Jacobson — making her fourth start of the season — for Virginia Tech.

Long appeared briefly Friday evening, throwing 11 pitches, allowing two walks and recording no outs.

The Hokies came out swinging and scored two runs in the bottom of the first to take an early lead.

Addy Greene added two to her team’s lead in the fourth with her ninth four-bagger of the season. She briefly tied Bre Peck for the team lead in home runs, but Peck took it back in the fifth with a grand slam.

The Hokies traded runs with the Mocs in the fifth and sixth, eventually ending the game 9–5.

Unsurprisingly, Virginia Tech’s success in game one was due in large part to their ace pitcher, Lemley. Fresh off a relief role Friday, the righty pitched an impressive game, holding

Chattanooga to a total of three walks and four hits — none of which went for extra bases.

Lemley’s first six innings were nearly perfect. Through those six, she gave up two hits, one walk, and no runs.

Having already thrown 104 pitches coming into the seventh, Lemley struggled to end the game but managed to almost completely minimize the damage done on the scoreboard. She faced seven batters — allowing two walks and two singles — and gave up one run.

Lemley retired the side in order in three of her seven innings pitched, doing so in the third with three successive strikeouts. In only the seventh did she require more than four batters to end an inning.

Needing 137 pitches to do so, Lemley struck out an even dozen and brought her ERA down to 1.68 in her 15th complete game of the season, earning her 15th win in the process. Conversely, a surprising star in the series was freshman catcher Kylie Aldridge.

Coming into the weekend, she was a career.103 hitter but managed a perfect 1.000 OBP through the first two games of the series.

Aldridge drew four of the record-setting 15 walks recorded by Hokie batters Friday evening.

The backstop was two-for-two in the batter’s box in the first game Saturday with an RBI. She added her fifth walk of the series in her first plate appearance.

It wasn’t until Saturday’s second game that Aldridge was sent to the dugout with nothing to show for an effort at the plate. Undeterred, she tallied her second RBI of the series with a sacrifice fly in her next trip to the batter’s box.

By the end of the series, she was able to bring her average up by 40 points.

“I think I was seeing the ball a little bit better this weekend than I have been,” Aldridge said. “(I’m) putting in the extra work when I can.”

While the Hokies were relatively lucky in the batter’s box all series long, they could’ve used some additional defensive luck.

They were charged with four errors across the three-game series and had several

additional bounces go Chattanooga’s way.

DEREK MEMMESHEIMER / COLLEGIATE TIMES

Virginia Tech’s bad luck manifested in the sixth inning of Saturday’s second game. With one out, Chattanooga’s Shayna Glass hit a line drive into the face of Jacobson. Jacobson was able to finish the inning and earn her third win of the season.

The wind was also a factor Saturday, making it hard for both teams to play the way they wanted to.

“It got in our eyes a little bit,” Aldridge said. Blowing in from right field with gusts upwards of 40 mph, it made it hard for batters, and catchers in particular, to see.

Virginia Tech, however, was able to make its own defensive luck in a tough jam in game three of the series.

With the score 5–2 and the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, first baseman Jayme Bailey made the most impressive defensive play of the series. Bailey dove to catch a low line drive from Moc pinch hitter Anna Dovey. She then crawled back to first to record a force out and get Jacobson out of the jam.

Although they left themselves room for improvement, the Hokies added three wins to their record between Friday and Saturday.

They’re now at the halfway point of their eight-game homestand with a record of 25–6 and sit third in ACC standings.

Virginia Tech now has 22 games left in the regular season, including 15 against ACC foes. Its homestand will continue Tuesday against Liberty and conclude with a series from March 31 through April 2 against Duke.

Head coach Pete D’Amour thinks there’s more to his team than what they showed this weekend.

“I don’t think we played as well as we did against Oklahoma St. and UCLA,” he said. “We played very average, so we’ve got to be better.”

The Hokies will certainly need to play better defensively than they did against Chattanooga to be in title contention, but if their bats stay hot, they shouldn’t need as much improvement to hit well against highly ranked opponents.

Virginia Tech Hokies freshman Emma Jackson (14) swinging at the ball, March 24, 2023.