Softball

I see that the top five have not changed this week: 1. Florida State
2. UCLA
3. Florida
4. Oklahoma
5. Washington

The next three are suspect

6. Alabama
7. Tennessee
8. Georgia

9. Texas
10. LSU
11. Louisiana now 14-2, losing to Baylor and North Texas
12. Arizona

Then, three more that are overrated.
13. South Carolina
14. Arkansas
15. Arizona State

16. Indiana 14-0 and they beat Georgia
17. Kentucky, tough schedule
18. Texas Tech 13-1 very much underrated, also lost to Team Japan
19. James Madison
20. Oregon, up and down.
21. Oklahoma State
22. Auburn, again, SEC overrated team
23. Minnesota
24. Baylor---also a bit overrated
25. Oregon State

Others who should be considered:

Nebraska 8-5, lost twice to Texas Tech, team Japan, San Diego State, Arizona State, and UCLA in Cathedral City, beat BYU and NC St in Raleigh

Wisconsin 13-1 only loss is to Texas Tech

Illinois 10-3 lost to Oklahoma State, Sam Houston State, and Stephen F Austin (also beat Miss St) beat Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Georgia Tech twice

Northwestern 11-3 lost to Loyola Marymount, North Carolina and Washington, beat Louisville 3 times, BYU, Duke, Utah, and North Carolina

Stanford 11-2 lost to Weber State and Colorado State (also beat Oklahoma State, Utah, and Bethune-Cookman), beat LSU and Michigan
 
OURed said:
Every softball game is radio broadcast on The Franchise 2 1560. You can stream the broadcast on the Tune In app. No excuse for anyone in the world to miss the Sooners.:OU-logo:
Click to expand...

I use the Tunein app but the Sooner Sports link there only occasionally has softball. If men's basketball, for example, is on at the same time, that's what I get.

But I'll certainly use one of the other links provided above next time.
 
"G" Juarez is the National Pitcher of the Week. I am tickled to see "G" throwing more like we anticipated. IMHO she is the key to the girls winning their 3rd natty. But I want to see "G" against more quality opposition and unfortunately Arizona while ranked #14 have been playing far below expectations. The Wildcats are 9-5 with losses to Florida, Alabama, OU, NCS (6-6), and South Florida (8-7). Their best wins are Oklahoma State (10-5) and Michigan (6-8).

Unfortunately our schedule for the remainder of the season has only limited competition we have 3 games against #8 Texas, #14 Tech and #19 OSU. We also play #23/#25 Northwestern 2 games, #24 Oregon State 2 games and #25/#22 Illinois. That is 14 games against ranked opponents with OSU, Northwestern, Oregon State and Illinois possibly not be ranked by seasons end because of Pac 12/SEC RPI. The top teams in the Pac 12 and the SEC will all have at least twice that many games against the top 25 elevating their RPI possibly above the #4 Sooners.

My guess is a #6 is about our best bet unless we go 11-1 or 10-2 against the ranked teams and undefeated against the others. An OU team with only 5 losses will be difficult to keep out of the top 4. A 7-8 loss team will be scrambling to make the top 8 and get the home field for the super regionals due to RPI. It could easily be a replay of 2016 when we had to go to Auburn for the super regional on the way to the national championship. But I do not want to have t hoe that row again.

I want to avoid having to play FSU, UCLA or Florida in the first round of the WCWS. To me winning the first round game is key to winning the natty.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d1/espncom/usa-softball
 
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SoonerSpock said:
"G" Juarez is the National Pitcher of the Week. I am tickled to see "G" throwing more like we anticipated. IMHO she is the key to the girls winning their 3rd natty. But I want to see "G" against more quality opposition and unfortunately Arizona while ranked #14 have been playing far below expectations. The Wildcats are 9-5 with losses to Florida, Alabama, OU, NCS (6-6), and South Florida (8-7). Their best wins are Oklahoma State (10-5) and Michigan (6-8).

Unfortunately our schedule for the remainder of the season has only limited competition we have 3 games against #8 Texas, #14 Tech and #19 OSU. We also play #23/#25 Northwestern 2 games, #24 Oregon State 2 games and #25/#22 Illinois. That is 14 games against ranked opponents with OSU, Northwestern, Oregon State and Illinois possibly not be ranked by seasons end because of Pac 12/SEC RPI. The top teams in the Pac 12 and the SEC will all have at least twice that many games against the top 25 elevating their RPI possibly above the #4 Sooners.

My guess is a #6 is about our best bet unless we go 11-1 or 10-2 against the ranked teams and undefeated against the others. An OU team with only 5 losses will be difficult to keep out of the top 4. A 7-8 loss team will be scrambling to make the top 8 and get the home field for the super regionals due to RPI. It could easily be a replay of 2016 when we had to go to Auburn for the super regional on the way to the national championship. But I do not want to have t hoe that row again.

I want to avoid having to play FSU, UCLA or Florida in the first round of the WCWS. To me winning the first round game is key to winning the natty.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d1/espncom/usa-softball
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Pitching isn’t the problem with this team. We had national championship pitching last year and bats were almost silent in last years WCWS. Early on, I’m very afraid of history repeating itself this year.
 
No question the missing ingredient in last year's WCWS appearance was out bats be silenced. But last year we had a pitching staff that had a team era of 1.12, Parker a 0.82 and Lowary a 1.09. This year the team era is 1.60, Lopez 1.04 but Lopez is no Parker, Juarez 2.16 and Saile 2.04. That means their era is up 43% and the #2 pitcher is up 98%.

I will stand by my statement that we need for "G" to step up as I see her needing to be the team ace and stopper with Lopez the #2 starter and Saile the closer. But all three need to throw the ball better than they have been if we are going to meet the girl's goal of a 3rd natty.

Allow a run a game more (2.25) in the WCWS than our season era (1.12) which we did last year and is probably close to normal playing WCWS qualifiers. Do that the way this staff is pitching and it will be far more difficult to win it all. An additional 0.5 runs per game is a big step in the WCWS.

https://stats.ncaa.org/team/522/stats?id=14800&year_stat_category_id=14661

https://stats.ncaa.org/team/522/sta...id=13430&id=13430&year_stat_category_id=13301
 
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"G" is certainly exciting to watch. I expect her to improve and solidify. What happened to Brooke Vestal? I expected her to be playing some here and there. Am I missing something?
 
Stringmusic said:
"G" is certainly exciting to watch. I expect her to improve and solidify. What happened to Brooke Vestal? I expected her to be playing some here and there. Am I missing something?
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Someone on the internet has posted she is being redshirted. I cannot confirm that as fact but hope that is the truth as she has not thrown this year. Only Conrad 4 innings, "G" 32.1 innings, Lopez 33.2 innings, Mendes 1.2 innings, and Saile 20.1 have been in the circle.

If she is redshirting I wonder what the reason. Is she injured or is it a performance issue. She was injured sometime prior to her H.S. senior season and her performance was not up to her junior year. But who knows as Patty is a QT as anyone in the game. She has never allowed SoonerSports to publish any team statistics on the Sooners you have to get that info from the NCAA.

https://stats.ncaa.org/team/522/stats?id=14800&year_stat_category_id=14661
 
Brooke elected to redshirt.

1. She has been injured for the past year or year and a half and wanted to work it out.

2. She simply wasn't needed. We suddenly had an entire staff of good pitchers, all of whom are juniors. Why lose time on the mound to them? She can get her feet on the ground next year, and have an open field for three years. She can learn more now as she regains her health.
 
Latest from Eric Bailey...

Oklahoma
Record: 13-2

Looking ahead: Oklahoma hosts the annual Courtyard Marriott Tournament this weekend. Weather has changed the schedule a bit. OU will play doubleheaders on Friday against Oregon State (2 p.m.) and No. 11 Louisiana (4:30) and Saturday against Louisiana (2 p.m.) and Oregon State (4:30).

Looking back: The Sooners won four of five games at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, with victories over BYU, Arizona, Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara. The only setback was a 7-1 decision against No. 2 UCLA.

Notable: Junior Giselle Juarez was named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA national pitcher of the week. Juarez, also the Big 12 pitcher of the week, was 2-0 with 29 strikeouts and only four hits allowed in 14⅓ innings. … Sydney Romero earned Big 12 player of the week honors after going 8-for-15 (.533) with eight hits, including two home runs, and eight runs. … Shay Knighten (.467), Romero (.417) and Caleigh Clifton (.400) are leading an OU offense that’s hitting .358 as a team. … Mariah Lopez is 6-1 with a 1.04 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 33⅔ IP.
Click to expand...
 
tycat947 said:
Pitching isn’t the problem with this team. We had national championship pitching last year and bats were almost silent in last years WCWS. Early on, I’m very afraid of history repeating itself this year.
Click to expand...

I believe you're correct about our pitching, tycat. It's fairly obvious that the problems G experienced early in the season were due to rust (she had been in Norman less than a month when she pitched for the first time as a Sooner). She appears to be very much back on track now and ready to be just as dominant – if not more so – than ever. Saile also appeared to be a more confident pitcher and was hitting her spots more consistently in the MNC last week.

*My* concern is not for the pitching OR the hitting. I'm much more concerned that our defense, especially on the infield, may have taken a step back. We've been one of, if not the, best defensive teams in the nation the past three years, but we've got two freshmen (Lyons and Green) starting (at least part of the time) in the infield and basically a first-time player (Elam) or another freshman (Koeltzow) behind the plate. I believe all four of these girls will get better defensively as their playing time increases, but miscues by Lyons, Green and Elam cost us big-time against UCLA. And the Bruins are the type of team that will take advantage of every mistake an opponent makes.

We'll face other talented teams this season, both in Big 12 play and in the postseason. I just hope our younger players can get the spotty defensive play out of their systems before we have to face that level of competition again.
 
scrybe said:
I believe you're correct about our pitching, tycat. It's fairly obvious that the problems G experienced early in the season were due to rust (she had been in Norman less than a month when she pitched for the first time as a Sooner). She appears to be very much back on track now and ready to be just as dominant – if not more so – than ever. Saile also appeared to be a more confident pitcher and was hitting her spots more consistently in the MNC last week.

*My* concern is not for the pitching OR the hitting. I'm much more concerned that our defense, especially on the infield, may have taken a step back. We've been one of, if not the, best defensive teams in the nation the past three years, but we've got two freshmen (Lyons and Green) starting (at least part of the time) in the infield and basically a first-time player (Elam) or another freshman (Koeltzow) behind the plate. I believe all four of these girls will get better defensively as their playing time increases, but miscues by Lyons, Green and Elam cost us big-time against UCLA. And the Bruins are the type of team that will take advantage of every mistake an opponent makes.

We'll face other talented teams this season, both in Big 12 play and in the postseason. I just hope our younger players can get the spotty defensive play out of their systems before we have to face that level of competition again.
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Yes, the defense seems to be an issue as well early in the season. Lots of newbies in the infield and hopefully that can work itself out.

My concern with hitting is against the elite teams. No clutch hitting at all. I think it really started before WCWS last year but really showed up there. Still hard to believe four runs in four games! Our pitching was good enough to win all the games but the juniors, who had won the previous two NCs, were unable to get the clutch hits they had gotten the previous two years! And early on this season, it appears we’re on the same track. Not really seeing promise with the new players this year either. Hopefully it turns around soon.
 
"My concern with hitting is against the elite teams. No clutch hitting at all. I think it really started before WCWS last year but really showed up there. Still hard to believe four runs in four games! Our pitching was good enough to win all the games but the juniors, who had won the previous two NCs, were unable to get the clutch hits they had gotten the previous two years! And early on this season, it appears we’re on the same track. Not really seeing promise with the new players this year either. Hopefully it turns around soon."
I agree exactly. Patty will wear out the infield and practice will gety them on track.________________
 
tycat947 said:
Yes, the defense seems to be an issue as well early in the season. Lots of newbies in the infield and hopefully that can work itself out.

My concern with hitting is against the elite teams. No clutch hitting at all. I think it really started before WCWS last year but really showed up there. Still hard to believe four runs in four games! Our pitching was good enough to win all the games but the juniors, who had won the previous two NCs, were unable to get the clutch hits they had gotten the previous two years! And early on this season, it appears we’re on the same track. Not really seeing promise with the new players this year either. Hopefully it turns around soon.
Click to expand...

You are right on, we have not hit elite pitchers well but really no one does. Instead we need to have clutch hits when the opportunity presents itself. Personally I think this is an outgrowth of ending the season playing in the Big 12 prior to the post season.

That is one of the advantages that Pac 12 and SEC schools have. They get to play against more quality pitching in the regular season and are more attuned to facing quality pitching come the post season. Difficult to document but facing 3-4 "A" pitchers back to back to back is much better preparation than facing 1 real ace every 4-5 pitchers prior to the post season where most pitchers are quality pitchers. We hit .344 in the conference season, .416 in the Big 12 Tournament, .296 in the regional, .313 in the super-regional and .220 in WCWS. As you advance the better the pitching you face.

The Pac 12 was our nemesis last year we lost 5 games 4 (4-4) were to 3 different Pac 12 teams. Last year the Pac 12 had 5 teams with an era below 2.00 the Big 12 had one and it was the Sooners. So our hitters did not see a staff with an era below 2.00 in the conference.

Patty does everything she can to upgrade our level of competition and really does a miracle getting the gals ready for post season and the quality competition but the Big 12 gives her a tough row to hoe. JMHO.

http://www.soonersports.com/SportSe...D=750355&q_season=2017&spids=&conf_school_id=

http://www.big12sports.com/fls/10410/pdfs/softball/2018 Conf Only Statistics.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=10410

https://stats.ncaa.org/player/game_...ctl_id=13430&org_id=522&stats_player_seq=-100

https://pac-12.com/content/softball-statistics
 
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I was a little nervous about this game against Louisiana, given they're highly ranked, have a very good offense and they dominated Oregon State earlier in the day, but the Sooners are coming through very well in this game. It's on delayed broadcast here in NYC (I'm a couple of innings behind), but so far, they're playing great.
 
And the Sooners complete the rule-run win, 9-1, in five innings. A very impressive win.
 
9-1 run-ruled win.

Aviu, Knighten, and Skelly had home runs for OU. We got the winning run on a bases-loaded one out single by Romero in the fifth with only one out. Probably would have scored two if they would have counted. The rally was:

Skelly, home run
Elam single
Rogers double to right center
Clifton walk
Alo infield fly rule out
Romero single to left to score Elam.
 
One observation today was that Shay knighten was wearing her baseball cleats today instead of the sneakers she has been wearing all season. I take that as an indication that her knee must be getting stronger and she can better take the pressure that swinging with cleats on produces.

Also the added traction wearing her cleats should give her a lot more power and she did hit a very long home run in the first game today. She is also starting at first base in the second game and they have not had a pinch runner for her when she got on base. Better yet after be the designated hitter in game 1. All positives.
 
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skyvue said:
I was a little nervous about this game against Louisiana, given they're highly ranked, have a very good offense and they dominated Oregon State earlier in the day, but the Sooners are coming through very well in this game. It's on delayed broadcast here in NYC (I'm a couple of innings behind), but so far, they're playing great.
Click to expand...

Delayed here in Norman too. Both games and don’t know why.
 
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