Photos courtesy of Tony Coats | theACC.com

Angela Tincher was named the ACC tournament MVP for the second straight year.

Virginia Tech celebrates winning its second straight ACC title after defeating North Carolina State in the tournament championship game.

Virginia Tech third baseman Charisse Mariconda makes a play for the Hokies.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- In March, the Virginia Tech softball team reveled in a stunning upset of the U.S. national team.

On Sunday, the Hokies got to rejoice over another accomplishment after capturing the ACC championship for the second year in a row.

Angela Tincher was mobbed by her teammates after she threw a two-hitter to help Tech beat North Carolina State 2-0 in the ACC tournament title game on a windy afternoon at Maryland's Robert Taylor Stadium.

"It hit me after the game was over that this was our last ACC game, so it meant a lot," said Tincher, a senior who was named tournament most valuable player for the second straight year.

"It's always hard to repeat."

The second-seeded Hokies (44-15), who were in the final for the third time in Tincher's four years at the school, snared an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Last year, the Hokies won the first conference tournament crown in their history. But Sunday's repeat was also special to the team.

"It's hard to go two in a row, so that's a feat in itself," said first baseman Beth Walker, a Galax graduate. "When you win it one year, you always have pressure to do it again the second year."

"It's even cooler," catcher Kelsey Hoffman said. "We knew we could do it again this year. We're really starting to make our mark in developing such a great program. It's exciting to have two. Now we're ready to move forward."

This will be Tech's fourth straight year in the NCAA tournament, but the 17th-ranked Hokies have yet to win a regional.

"It's definitely the year [for that]," Hoffman said. "We've got everything going for us right now. We're hitting the ball well, we're playing defense solid, and [Tincher] is looking great."

Tincher (33-6) went 3-0 in the tournament, including a no-hitter against Florida State in Saturday's semifinal.

The James River graduate struck out 14 and walked one Sunday.

"She's got a great riseball and she just kept us off-balance the whole game," said All-ACC shortstop Shanna Smith, who struck out three times Sunday. "[The riseball] was up in the zone and we just chased it."

It was the university's ninth ACC crown in its four years in the conference. It was Tech's fourth ACC title this school year, following football and women's indoor and outdoor track.

Rain Friday and Saturday caused the tournament to be shortened. Two losers' bracket games were cancelled Saturday. Two non-elimination, winners' bracket games Saturday were turned into single-elimination semifinals.

The fifth-seeded Wolfpack (31-27) upset top-seeded North Carolina 1-0 in one of those semifinals Saturday, sparing the Hokies from a title-game showdown with the only ACC team to win a series against them this year.

"It's always good to see No. 1 go down," Walker said.

The Hokies banged out nine hits against Lindsay Campana, who shut out UNC on Saturday. They left the bases loaded three times.

"We just had to focus on swinging at our pitches and not chasing her dropball," said Hoffman, whose team swept the Wolfpack in the regular season.

Tech scored its runs in the top of the second inning. Walker singled to left and advanced on a sacrifice. Jenna Rhodes got an infield single with two outs and stole second. Both runners scored on a fielding error by Smith, who let a groundball hit by Erin Ota bounce past her.

"It just ate me up," Smith said.

In the bottom of the second, State got a runner on second base thanks to a walk, a fielder's choice and an illegal pitch. But Tincher struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning.

Allison Presnell doubled off the left-field fence in the fifth, but Tincher retired the next three batters on two strikeouts and a grounder.

Alyssa Allbritten doubled off the center-field fence in the bottom of the seventh. But Claudia Cooper popped up to shortstop Misty Hall, Presnell struck out, and Kristine Bechtholdt -- who had homered against UNC -- popped up to Hoffman to end the game.

Walker, Hoffman, Ota and Rhodes had two hits apiece. Rhodes and Ota joined Tincher on the all-tournament team.

Unlike last year, Tech did not win the regular-season title. UNC took two of three from Tech in late April to claim the regular-season crown.

But the Hokies got to hoist the championship trophy Sunday.

"The tournament's really what was important to us," Tincher said. "After what happened that series, ... we definitely had a lot to prove to get the title again."

Virginia Tech 020 000 0 -- 2 9 0

N.C. State 000 000 0 -- 0 2 1

Tincher and Hoffman; Campana and Allbritten. W-- Tincher (33-6). L-- Campana (19-18). Attendance-- 471.