Nike Softball Camp at Virginia Tech

Camp Coaches

• 

  Pete D'Amour

  Camp Director

  Head coach Pete D'Amour heads into his eighth season at the helm of the Hokies following a sixth straight NCAA appearance in 2025. In Coach D’Amour’s 19 year coaching career, his teams have made the post season every year.

  View Pete's Bio
  

  Pete D'Amour

  Camp Director

  At 43-13, the 2025 season marked the third 40-win season under D’Amour in the past four seasons.

  The Hokies had seven All-ACC selections – headlined by ACC Player of the Year Cori McMillan. Leading the nation with 31 home runs, McMillan broke the Virginia Tech single-season home run record (31) and slugging percentage record (1.047). She is one of just nine players in Division I history to hit 31 home runs. Aditionally, six Hokies garnered NFCA All-Region honors.

  Tech went 18-6 in ACC play against some of the nation’s best schools and earned 10 wins against ranked opponents in 2025. Finishing second nationally with 2.00 home runs per game, Tech recorded history when the team hit 11 home runs in a single game at Pitt – the second-most home runs ever hit in an NCAA softball game.

  Tech finished 40-14-1 in 2024 – the second 40-win season for the Hokies in the past three years. The Hokies finished the year ranked No. 17 in the final NFCA poll. As a team, Tech finished in the top five in the nation in several major offensive categories – No. 2 in home runs per game (2.09), No. 3 in slugging percentage (.633), No. 4 in runs per game (7.58) and fifth in batting average (.342).

  Collectively, Michelle Chatfield, Addy Greene, Cori McMillan and Emma Ritter combined for seven All-American honors, with Greene (First Team), Ritter (First Team) and McMillan (Second Team) earning NFCA All-American honors. Additionally, nine Hokies were represented on the All-ACC team.

  Tech shattered single-season program records throughout the 2024 season. The Hokies finished the year with a program-best 115 home runs as well as setting the single-season program records with a .633 slugging percentage, .342 batting average, 518 hits, 399 RBIs, 417 runs and a .424 on base percentage.

  The Hokies also rewrote the record book during the 2023 season, racking up 100 home runs to set a new program record for home runs in a single season. Tech led the NCAA in home runs for the majority of the 2023 season. Fourteen different Hokies had at least one home run, with five posting 10+ home runs. Bre Peck led the way with 16.
  
  Kelsey Bennett and Jayme Bailey, who spent all five seasons with D'Amour, now hold spots in the Virginia Tech record book as well. Bennett set the new career RBI record with 170 and also sits in second with 47 home runs. She is second in total bases with 411, while Bailey is the record holder with 412. Bailey is also second in career doubles with 47 and triples with 11.
  
  Tech tallied six All-ACC and NFCA Mid-Atlantic Region selections following the 2023 season, including Emma Ritter and Emma Lemley named First Team All-Region. The Hokies have had 27 All-ACC selections from 2019-2023, compared to 23 from 2008-2018.
  
  The Hokies made their fourth straight NCAA appearance in 2023, playing in the Athens Regional. Tech has reached the postseason in every full season under D’Amour (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023).
  
  D'Amour and his staff were recognized with the NFCA Mid-Atlantic Staff of the Year after yet another historic season in 2022. The staff also earned the award following the 2019 and 2021 seasons.
  
  The Hokies advanced to the Super Regionals for the second straight season and hosted a Regional and a Super Regional for the first time in school history in D'Amour's fourth season at the helm. Tech also earned its second ACC Regular Season Title in four seasons, posting a 21-2 record in conference play, the best winning percentage in school history.
  
  Virginia Tech had a conference-high 11 members on the All-ACC teams, including D'Amour being named Coach of the Year, Keely Rochard named Pitcher of the Year and Emma Lemley named Freshman of the Year. Rochard was also tabbed a Top-10 Finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year, while Lemley was a Top-3 Finalist for Schutt Sports/NFCA Freshman of the Year.
  
  Under D'Amour, Rochard was named a First Team All-American for the second straight season and Emma Ritter earned a spot on the Third Team, marking the first time two Hokies have been honored as All-Americans in the same season. Tech finished the year with a 46-10 overall record, including 14 wins over Top-25 ranked opponents. D'Amour also notched his 200th career win in 2022.
  
  D’Amour led the Hokies to their second ever appearance in the NCAA Super Regionals during the 2021 campaign, doing so in just his second full season. Selected for the NCAA Tournament in both full seasons as head coach, D’Amour’s Hokies were the No. 2 seed at the 2021 Tempe Regional with national No. 15 seed Arizona State as the group’s favorite. Tech emerged from the four-team regional undefeated under D’Amour’s guidance, the first time in school history that the Hokies’ swept an NCAA Regional.
  
  2021 was not just a historic year for the Hokies, but for D’Amour as well as he became the fastest head coach in program history to reach 100 wins, doing so in just 127 games. Under D’Amour’s tutelage, pitcher Keely Rochard became Tech’s third NFCA All-American ever and just the second to earn first-team honors. D’Amour and his wife Anna also welcomed their first son, Reaux, to the world prior to the NCAA Tournament.
  
  In his second season leading the Hokies, D'Amour led the team to a 21-4 record and was in first place in the ACC when the season ended. He helped guide the team to an impressive 3-2 record at the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational against five top-25 opponents, including wins over #14 Minnesota and #17 South Carolina. D'Amour guided the progression of Rochard, who was one of the nation's top pitchers in 2020, and also helped the Hokies' offense to the highest scoring in the ACC.
  
  Guiding Virginia Tech to one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA softball history, Pete D’Amour led the Hokies in his first year to a 24-game win improvement in 2019 after posting a 47-11 record, including a 20-4 mark in ACC play.
  
  The 47 wins were the fourth most in school history while the 20 ACC wins were the most in program history. On Tech’s way to 20 league wins, it earned an ACC regular-season title and a Coastal Division crown after being picked 10^th in the ACC preseason poll. By doing so, it also earned the Hokies their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2015, winning two games at the Lexington Regional to pick up their first NCAA win since 2014.
  
  No stranger to success, D’Amour, out of the new 11 Power Five head coaches in 2019, picked up the most wins of the group. The 2019 ACC Coach of the Year earned the nod to mark just Tech's second time winning it, while a school-record five Hokies made an All-ACC first team. Under D’Amour’s direction, pitcher Carrie Eberle was named ACC Pitcher of the Year and third baseman Kelsey Bennett was tabbed Freshman of the Year.
  
  He also tutored two Softball America All-Americans in outfielders Emma Strouth and Darby Trull, who both hit over .400 and tallied 60-plus putouts, as well as a school-record seven NFCA All-Region (Mid-Atlantic) selections and a school-record eight VaSID all-staters. D'Amour also was tabbed VaSID Coach of the Year.
  
  Under his watch, Tech became ranked during the season, something that hadn’t been done since 2015, and got up to as high as No. 19 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No. 22 in the USA Today/NFCA poll. The Hokies were ranked for 11 consecutive weeks in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, breaking the program record set in 2007 of 10 weeks, and picked up two ranked wins on the year, beating then-No. 8/8 Georgia and then-No. 20/17 JMU.
  
  Tech took big strides at the plate in ’19, resetting over 20 individual and team school records, including batting average (.334) and home runs (97), just to name a few. The Hokies led the ACC in batting average and home runs per game (1.67), while also getting it done in the circle with shutouts (22). D'Amour had the Hokies ready to play against in-state rival Virginia in the Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529, sweeping the Cavaliers 3-0 and not allowing a runner to touch third base or home plate in the series, a first in program history, for three shutout wins.
  
  Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock announced D’Amour’s hire on May 31, 2018.
  
  KENNESAW STATE
  
  D’Amour joined the Hokies after two seasons as the head coach at Kennesaw State, where he led the Owls to a 79-37 record and two postseason appearances. Before taking over the Kennesaw State program in 2017, he earned a reputation as one of the nation’s premier recruiters during his 10-year tenure as assistant coach at the University of Missouri, a perennial NCAA tournament participant.
  
  D’Amour coached Kennesaw State to the 2018 Atlantic Sun Conference regular season and tournament championships en route to the program’s first NCAA Regional appearance since transitioning to the Division I level in 2006, as the Owls finished the year with a 39-17 record. In his inaugural year as head coach at Kennesaw State in 2017, he guided the Owls to a 40-20 overall record and a berth in the National Invitational Softball Championship.
  
  Kennesaw State went 39-17 and 14-3 in the ASUN in 2018 and earned a No. 3 seed in the Tallahassee Regional. D’Amour was named ASUN Coach of the Year and seven Owls earned ASUN all-conference accolades, including ASUN Pitcher of the Year Alley Cutting and ASUN Freshman of the Year Patricia Awald. Awald was one of 25 finalists up for NFCA National Freshman of the Year. Kennesaw State entered this year’s NCAA tournament ranked No. 34 in the RPI, a program-best, while competing in arguably the best mid-major conference in the country.
  
  In D’Amour’s first season at Kennesaw State, the Owls went 40-20, the program’s first ever 40-win season, and reached the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Softball Championship. The Owls peaked at No. 47 in the RPI and led the ASUN in all major offensive categories, including batting average (.303), runs scored (302), hits (505), doubles (83), triples (19), home runs (45) and slugging percentage (.456). D’Amour also helped Courtney Sutter and seven other student-athletes earn ASUN postseason accolades.
  
  MISSOURI
  
  Prior to accepting the head coaching job at Kennesaw State, D’Amour spent a decade at Missouri as an assistant coach, serving as associate head coach for his final two seasons in 2015-16. During his tenure in Columbia, the Tigers qualified for the NCAA tournament in each of his 10 seasons on the staff, reaching five NCAA super regionals and earning three consecutive trips to the Women’s College World Series from 2009-11.
  
  The Monrovia, Maryland native made a name for himself nationally as a staunch recruiter and a developer of pitchers and catchers in his decade on the coaching staff at Missouri. D’Amour, who called pitches for 11 no-hitters with the Tigers, mentored 11 NCAA Division I All-Americans, two SEC Freshmen of the Year, three conference pitchers of the year, a national earned run average leader and a defensive player of the year.
  
  The Tigers won two Big 12 championships in 2009 and 2012 and finished in the top three of the SEC twice thanks in large part to D’Amour’s connections in the fertile recruiting grounds of California. In two seasons as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, D’Amour put together FloSoftball’s third-ranked recruiting class in 2017, and the Tigers went to back-to-back super regionals. D’Amour was a part of three coaching staffs that earned NFCA Midwest Staff of the Year honors.
  
  D'Amour earned a bachelor’s degree in general studies with an emphasis in business, English and history, and a master's degree in sports psychology from the University of Missouri. He started throwing underhand at the age of four while serving as batboy for his father's fast-pitch team. He played shortstop and pitched men's fast pitch for seven seasons, including three in the ISC Travel League and was the MVP of the NSA World Series in 2007.
  
  During his last ASA National Tournament, D'Amour hit .500 (7-for-14) with three home runs. He also played one year of college baseball at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, where he was an infielder, in addition to a one-year stint at Frostburg State.
  
  D'Amour, his wife, Anna, and son Reaux, reside in Blacksburg with their dog, Jackson, and cat, Norma Jean.

• 

  Mike Lewis

  Coach

  Mike Lewis joined the Hokies on July 27, 2020 and enters his sixth year at Virginia Tech.

  View Mike's Bio
  

  Mike Lewis

  Coach

  He was promoted to associate head coach in 2024 after serving as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for his first three years in Blacksburg.

  At 43-13, the 2025 season marked the third 40-win season under D’Amour in the past four seasons.

  The Hokies had seven All-ACC selections – headlined by ACC Player of the Year Cori McMillan. Leading the nation with 31 home runs, McMillan broke the Virginia Tech single-season home run record (31) and slugging percentage record (1.047). She is one of just nine players in Division I history to hit 31 home runs. Aditionally, six Hokies garnered NFCA All-Region honors.

  Tech’s .977 fielding percentage ranked 11th nationally in 2025. The Hokies recorded just 33 errors on the season – the fewest in the ACC. The Hokies ranked tied for second nationally with 22 shutouts on the season.

  2024 saw more offensive success for the Hokies. As a team, Tech finished in the top five in the nation in several major offensive categories – No. 2 in home runs per game (2.09), No. 3 in slugging percentage (.633), No. 4 in runs per game (7.58) and fifth in batting average (.342).

  Collectively, Michelle Chatfield, Addy Greene, Cori McMillan and Emma Ritter combined for seven All-American honors, with Greene (First Team), Ritter (First Team) and McMillan (Second Team) earning NFCA All-American honors. Additionally, nine Hokies were represented on the All-ACC team.

  In his first season with the Hokies, Lewis helped the team reach its second NCAA Super Regional in program history. He was a key component in helping the Hokies become the ACC’s top offense, scoring 5.5 runs per game. The Hokies also ranked second in the conference with a .297 batting average.
  
  Tech continued to strengthen its offense in the 2022 season, finishing with a .315 batting average to rank 17th in the country. Emma Ritter became one of the best hitters in the ACC, ranking second in batting average with .400. She was also one of the toughest to strikeout, striking out only six times in 165 at bats. She was also named a Third Team NFCA All-American.
  
  The Hokies rewrote the record book during the 2023 season, racking up 100 home runs to set a new program record for home runs in a single season. Tech led the NCAA in home runs for the majority of the 2023 season. Fourteen different Hokies had at least one home run, with five posting 10+ home runs. Bre Peck led the way with 16. Since Lewis has been in Blacksburg, the Hokies have made five straight NCAA Regional appearances (2021-25), including hosting a Regional and Super Regional in Blacksburg for the first time in school history.
  
  During the 2022 season, the Hokies had a conference-high 11 members make the All-ACC Team, including Keely Rochard as Pitcher of the Year and Emma Lemley as Freshman of the Year. The Hokies also had four representatives on the First Team. Tech was well-represented in 2021 with five members on the All-ACC Team, as well as in 2023 with six on the All-ACC Team.
  
  Tech has also racked up NFCA Mid-Atlantic All-Region selections, tallying 19 over the last three seasons, including 11 on the First Team. The coaching staff was also named the NFCA Mid-Atlantic Region Staff of the Year in 2021 and 2022.
  
  Lewis joined the Hokies after serving as a volunteer assistant coach for Minnesota for two seasons and graduate manager during the 2018 season. As part of the 2019 Golden Gophers staff, Lewis helped coach the team to its first Women’s College World Series in school history and was a part of the NFCA Great Lakes Region Staff of the Year.
  
  Prior to Minnesota, Lewis was on the Missouri-Kansas City staff for three years, including two years as assistant coach where he managed the pitching staff and infield.
  
  In his own playing career, Lewis continues to play at the highest level of men's fastpitch. In the Fall of 2021, Lewis was selected to Team USA's Men's National Team. Unfortunately, Lewis was forced to withdraw from participation in the WBSC World Championship Qualifier due to pandemic related rescheduling. In 2012, he was a member of the U19 National Team that placed fifth at the World Championships in Argentina.
  
  He currently plays for the Fargo Kegel Black Knights softball club, competing for ISC World Championships and USA Men's Major Championships.bIn 2021, Lewis was selected 1st Team All-World at the ISC World Championships.
  
  Lewis and his wife Maddie reside in Christiansburg.