In May, Kelsy Rokey hit a two-run homer to give the Virginia Tech softball team a 2-0 win over Georgia Tech in the title game of the ACC tournament.

Now the rising junior is giving up softball.

Rokey, a Tucson, Ariz., native, is transferring to her hometown university, Arizona. Her mother, Karlyn Rokey, said her daughter could have joined the two-time defending NCAA champs as a walk-on but has instead decided to focus on academics. She is a pre-med major.

"She just wanted to be closer to home," Karlyn Rokey said. "Sometimes things just don't work out and it's time to change."

Rokey started 20 games as a backup catcher last spring before becoming Tech's starting third baseman late in the season so coach Scot Thomas could keep her bat in the lineup. She made the ACC all-tournament team.

Thomas said Rokey wasn't happy because she wanted more chances to catch ace Angela Tincher. Thomas wanted to stick with Kelsey Hoffman as the starting catcher.

Tech, by the way, will play Arizona in a round-robin tournament in Tucson next season.

n While Tech is losing Rokey, Thomas did add some transfers.

Pitcher Elly Gosby, an Australian who sat out as a junior at South Carolina last season, will make Tech her fourth college stop.

Gosby went 14-0 for a junior college in 2006 before transferring to South Carolina. Thomas said she wasn't eligible for the Gamecocks this spring because of a Southeastern Conference transfer rule, but she is eligible to play for Tech.

Tech is also adding Misty Hall, a Turner Ashby High School graduate who hit .496 as a freshman at Louisburg College, a junior college in North Carolina.

Walk-on Amber Walker, a Galax graduate who is the sister of Tech infielder Beth Walker, is transferring from Roanoke College. She hit .309 as a freshman catcher last spring.

n The recruiting class once included Chasity Covington, a 2006 second-team prep All-American who signed with Tech last fall. She decided not to play for Tech after her sister Destiny left the Hokies and the university in mid-March.

Thomas said Tech did not grant the sisters releases, so they will play for a junior college instead of another Division I team next spring.

He said Destiny wasn't granted a release because she quit the team during the season.

He said Chasity wasn't given a release because Tech wanted to "protect our interests."

"You kind of have to set the standard because if it gets around [in] recruiting, you'll have kids sign and want to leave all the time," Thomas said about not giving Chasity a release.

n The school will spend about $900,000 to expand Tech Softball Park in the fall.

Tech withdrew its bid to host an NCAA regional in May because the NCAA's minimum requirement is 500 seats; Tech's park has only 350 permanent seats. So the school will expand the park to about 1,000 seats in time for next season.

Hokies heading for Alaska, New York

The Virginia Tech men's basketball team will spend Thanksgiving week in Anchorage, playing three games in the Great Alaska Shootout.

The field also includes Texas Tech, Michigan, Gonzaga, Butler, Western Kentucky, Alaska-Anchorage and a school yet to be announced. The Hokies don't know their first-round foe.

Tech will also play two games in the ECAC Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden. Tech will play Hofstra in the first round. St. John's will face Marist in the other first-round game.

The nonleague home games are George Washington, UNC Greensboro, UNC Asheville, Liberty, Charleston Southern and Elon. Tech will visit Old Dominion and Richmond, as well as the previously announced game at Penn State for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Tough opponents for Radford, VMI

Radford men's basketball coach Brad Greenberg said his team will visit Georgetown this season.

The Highlanders will open the season at Michigan.

Other nonleague road games include South Carolina, Air Force, Eastern Michigan and James Madison.

Greenberg has finalized plans to host West Virginia; that game will be on Dec. 19.

Radford will also play future Big South members Gardner-Webb and Presbyterian both home and away.

n VMI's 107-69 loss at Ohio State last November didn't scar coach Duggar Baucom. He has scheduled another visit to Ohio State for this season.

The Keydets will open the season against Northern Colorado in a tournament at Air Force. The Falcons will face Dartmouth in the other first-round game.

VMI will host JMU, Army and Howard. The Keydets will visit Richmond, William and Mary, South Carolina State and Mercer.

Tech women bound for the Bahamas

Tech women's basketball coach Beth Dunkenberger said her team will play in a tournament in the Bahamas.

The Hokies will face Southern California in the first round of the Bahamas event. Georgia will face Prairie View A&M in the other first-round game.

Tech will also play in a tournament at Tulane.

The field also includes Texas-Arlington and Robert Morris; the Hokies don't yet know their first-round foe.

Tech will again host a tournament in December. The Hokies will play Furman in the first round. The other first-round game pits Georgetown against East Carolina.

The rest of the nonconference schedule includes visits from Liberty, Dartmouth, Winston-Salem State, High Point and North Carolina A&T, as well as a game at Charlotte.

It was previously announced that Tech will host Minnesota in the inaugural ACC-Big Ten women's challenge.