From Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times:

When head coach Scot Thomas got his first look at Virginia Tech’s 2017 softball team on the field Wednesday, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

It wasn’t a foregone conclusion, either.

Thomas, who is preparing for his 22nd season at the Hokies’ helm, suffered a heart attack July 25 and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery.

“I would consider myself fairly young,” said Thomas, who turned 49 on Friday. “Obviously, it was a shocking kind of deal.”
Thomas had been experiencing pain in his shoulder “but I thought it was more of a nerve-type thing,” he said.

He took a swing by the Tech athletic training room, where he visited with director of sports medicine Jimmy Lawrence, a trainer for a myriad of Tech sports over a span of five decades.

Lawrence called for a rescue squad that took Thomas to LewisGale Hospital Montgomery, where he required emergency treatment and was later transferred to the intensive-care unit.

“The biggest thing was to get back to normal as quick as I could, which was actually the next week,” he said. “I’ve been able to play a little golf, but it was scary for everybody. I was put into a hypothermic coma-type thing.”

Thomas, who grew up in Blacksburg with aspirations of becoming the Tech coach, has won more than 750 games in a 21-year career that has included eight NCAA appearances.

He said the Hokies won’t have a full practice until Sept. 1, “but I’ll be throwing [batting practice] maybe as soon as next week,” he said. “I’m good to go. The things they’ve got me doing, like eating right, are things we all should be doing.”