New softball thread

[BlackwellSooner]

To your #4, Norm, this observation:

Great pitching tames great hitting. Both teams today had some very salty pitchers.

 

[YCN]

ASU/LSU tied at 3 going into the 8th...

 

[BlackwellSooner]

Nothing against the LSU women's softball team, but any athletic team that has LSU on their jerseys, I gotta root against.

LSU-ASU now in extra innings, 3-3

 

[sybarite]

I,too, would have had Kady lay down a bunt in the top of the seventh, for two reasons. First, I like the shot of getting someone across with runners on second and third and one out with Nirschl and Ellis coming up. Secondly, Kady had a horrible hitting day today, unlike Kady.

 

[womenssports]

It may be a blessing in disguise that OU had trouble scoring this weekend. This team is overdue to bust out of that funk.

BTW, bizarre mental error for the LSU shortstop, as ASU takes a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the 7th. Fielder thought she'd cleanly caught a line drive and tossed the ball to third, thinking she'd catch the runner off base for the 3rd out. But the ball clearly hopped off the infield right in front of her glove, and what would have been an easy double play to end the inning ended up with the potential winning run crossing the plate, and a runner out at second.

Huge mistake, and now LSU is 2 outs from elimination with a runner on 2nd in the bottom of the 7th.

LSU hasn't had a great tournament. I wouldn't be surprised to see ASU win it. I was hoping that Nebraska would pull an upset and win that regional. They aren't a bad team but just not quite there. They did get to the finals of the Big 10 tournament but then lost to Michigan.

 

[sybarite]

#15 James Madison is out, NC State won that region
#2 Oregon won easily
#10 Missouri struggled twice to beat Kansas, but moved on to face #7 UCLA.
#6 run ruled Fairfield, Washington, and Washington to move on to #11 OU
#14 Georgia lost to Western Kentucky and almost to North Carolina, but they run-ruled Western Kentucky in the finals for the opportunity to play #3 Michigan who coasted to three easy wins.
#r Auburn won three close games to play the winner of the Baylor/Louisiana-Lafayette game.
#5 LSU is in extra innings of the deciding game with ASU. The winner gets the #12 Arizona/Minnesota winner.
#9 Florida Sate didn't kill anyone, but won three to play the #8Tennessee/Utah winner.
#1 Florida didn't allow a run in three games. Kentucky beat #16 Notre Dame to meet Florida.

 

[sybarite]

LSU scored in the bottom of the ninth to beat Arizona State, 4-3.

 

[BanjoCharley]

#15 James Madison is out, NC State won that region
#2 Oregon won easily
#10 Missouri struggled twice to beat Kansas, but moved on to face #7 UCLA.
#6 run ruled Fairfield, Washington, and Washington to move on to #11 OU
#14 Georgia lost to Western Kentucky and almost to North Carolina, but they run-ruled Western Kentucky in the finals for the opportunity to play #3 Michigan who coasted to three easy wins.
#r Auburn won three close games to play the winner of the Baylor/Louisiana-Lafayette game.
#5 LSU is in extra innings of the deciding game with ASU. The winner gets the #12 Arizona/Minnesota winner.
#9 Florida Sate didn't kill anyone, but won three to play the #8Tennessee/Utah winner.
#1 Florida didn't allow a run in three games. Kentucky beat #16 Notre Dame to meet Florida.

Sorry, easily confused, we play Washington?

 

[sybarite]

Sorry, easily confused, we play Washington?

Sorry. I left out that it was Alabama that run-ruled Fairfield and Washington twice.

 

[YCN]

LSU just won on a centerfield single with a runner at second with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th. Final 4-3. LSU had to win 3 straight to advance.

 

[scrybe]

Four comments:

1. Great win!!!

2. Ellis made a great play on a bunt in the 3rd inning. I played catcher and I can attest she made a tough play look routine. She is a great defensive catcher.

3. With runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, I didn't understand why we didn't bunt the runners over to 2nd and 3rd (yes, I know someone will remind me that we should never disagree with a coach).

4. We have to get the bats hot if we are going to have a chance of winning the super regional.

Agree on all four points, Norm (except for the part about never disagreeing with the coach :ez-laugh. It WAS a great win. We out-hit A&M 11-3 (I believe) and Paige pitched a truly great game. I'm guess I'm just echoing what the broadcasters were saying, but it's obvious to me that Paige is way more effective when she mixes in that rise ball in her repertoire of pitches. That pitch is almost unhittable when batters have to be on the lookout for that good curve and killer change-up.

And like another poster stated already, we're getting by pretty handily on pitching, defense and (very little) timely hitting. We're due to get those bats cranked up – and we'll probably need them if we face Bama in the Supers. We'll have our work cut out, playing the Tide in Tuscaloosa; but we've got a team that's more than capable of beating Alabama and making it back to the CWS.

 

[sybarite]

http://www.rolltide.com/sports/w-softbl/stats/2014-2015/teamcume.html

Bama's season stats. Some are interesting. Opponents stole 39 bases in 44 attempts?

 

[BlackwellSooner]

LSU just won on a centerfield single with a runner at second with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th. Final 4-3. LSU had to win 3 straight to advance.

In what I would call a weak regional, and LSU playing at home, they still struggled. I hate all things LSU...

 

[YCN]

A few minutes ago Baylor finished off Louisiana-Lafayette 6-2 in game 6 of that regional. It was ULL's first home loss in almost 2-1/2 months.

Game 7 will be shown live on ESPNU, starting at about 8:50.

 

[SoonerNorm]

OU plays Alabama Friday at 6pm central time.

 

[SoonerNorm]

The game will be carried on ESPN.

 

[SoonerNorm]

http://m.soonersports.com/mobile/ViewArticle.dbml?atclid=210094689&DB_OEM_ID=31000&

 

[NMSooner'80]

Of course I'm glad they lost, but it was interesting to see what the four aTm seniors did after the game. They got in a circle by themselves, standing around home plate, and removed their cleats. I've heard that's sort of a symbolic thing to do when you've played your last game in various sports - leaving your shoes on the field of play when the final game is done.

 

[Speedy17]

Agree on all four points, Norm (except for the part about never disagreeing with the coach :ez-laugh. It WAS a great win. We out-hit A&M 11-3 (I believe) and Paige pitched a truly great game. I'm guess I'm just echoing what the broadcasters were saying, but it's obvious to me that Paige is way more effective when she mixes in that rise ball in her repertoire of pitches. That pitch is almost unhittable when batters have to be on the lookout for that good curve and killer change-up.

And like another poster stated already, we're getting by pretty handily on pitching, defense and (very little) timely hitting. We're due to get those bats cranked up – and we'll probably need them if we face Bama in the Supers. We'll have our work cut out, playing the Tide in Tuscaloosa; but we've got a team that's more than capable of beating Alabama and making it back to the CWS.

I totally agree on the bunt, Kady was not hitting the ball well all day. However, there was another blunder in the first inning. Lauren was thrown out stealing. They got Shelby out but the next two batters Erin and Georgia walked. Paige's single would have scored two instead of one and we would have gotten a second run on a fly out with only one out. It should have been 3-0 after the first inning.

However, while I criticize a single play - I can't complain about Patti's coaching, it is superb. We are #3 in the nation in fielding, #13 in ERA, and lead the nation in hitting, slugging, and scoring.

The ladies played a great game today and had a nice senior tribute after the game. Those seniors are 210-39 over 4 years.

 

[tycat947]

Of course I'm glad they lost, but it was interesting to see what the four aTm seniors did after the game. They got in a circle by themselves, standing around home plate, and removed their cleats. I've heard that's sort of a symbolic thing to do when you've played your last game in various sports - leaving your shoes on the field of play when the final game is done.

Never heard of this until yesterday listening on the radio broadcast. But it marked the 3rd year in a row that aggy had left their shoes in Norman! I also read some comments by aggy coach Evans and doesn't sound like she's too thrilled to come to Norman either! :ez-roll: