Softball

[OUFinalFour]

Congrats to Patty and the entire staff and of course the players. National title number 3! I think more titles are certainly in our future.
Parker was awesome tonight.

 

[SoonerSpock]

Wasn't it Carasone who made the post-game comment after Game 1 something to the effect that "we are just getting warmed up"?

I wonder if she is warmed up yet?:chestram2:

Yes it was Carasone that made the comments in game one presser. She was succinctly complimentary of the Sooners. Ditto for a couple other Auburn players and Myers.


http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/06/raw_video_of_auburns_emotional.html

 

[sybarite]

I want to see the play by play summary to verify this. But, it appears that after Rhodes hit the home run in the fourth as a leadoff hitter, Fagan walked. Then, Paige set down the last twelve batters of the game in a row. That is dominance under pressure.

 

[BlackwellSooner]

Well, after watching their postgame presser, I'll give the players and the Auburn coach props for being good sports.

Perhaps their postgame presser after Game 1 was their way of trying to pump themselves up, although I still maintain that it smelled of arrogance.

Tough to be arrogant in defeat.

 

[BlackwellSooner]

I want to see the play by play summary to verify this. But, it appears that after Rhodes hit the home run in the fourth as a leadoff hitter, Fagan walked. Then, Paige set down the last twelve batters of the game in a row. That is dominance under pressure.

I already am ahead of you on this one, Syb. I went back in the PBP right after the game ended, and after the walk, Paige retired the last nine Auburn batters in order.

Game over.

 

[sybarite]

I already am ahead of you on this one, Syb. I went back in the PBP right after the game ended, and after the walk, Paige retired the last nine Auburn batters in order.

Game over.

Nine or twelve? Four innings, twelve outs.

 

[BlackwellSooner]

I found one aspect of their presser interesting, when Kasey Cooper, in discussing ways in which Auburn could improve, talked about offense, but hardly any mention of improving the defense, which was key in the series. Poor defense, which has been our mainstay all year, almost did us in, and I'll guarantee that Pattie will not let up on pounding to maintain or improve our D.

Kasey said something to the effect that if you score more runs than the other team, you'll win. True, of course, but it seemed to me that the emphasis might've been a bit misplaced.

 

[BlackwellSooner]

Nine or twelve? Four innings, twelve outs.

You are correct, I miscounted. She retired the last 12 batters. Fantastic performance!

 

[SoonerTraveler]

Just loved Paige Parker's expression after the final out. Joy and relief all wrapped up in one. This photo says it all. Wonderful!

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=211006387&KEY=

 

[Max Power]

I found one aspect of their presser interesting, when Kasey Cooper, in discussing ways in which Auburn could improve, talked about offense, but hardly any mention of improving the defense, which was key in the series. Poor defense, which has been our mainstay all year, almost did us in, and I'll guarantee that Pattie will not let up on pounding to maintain or improve our D.

Kasey said something to the effect that if you score more runs than the other team, you'll win. True, of course, but it seemed to me that the emphasis might've been a bit misplaced.

It's times like these I'm reminded of something my high school basketball coach said to us

"if you give up 40 points you only have to score 41 to win, if you give up 80 you have to score 81"

 

[SoonerSpock]

This series had lots of great plays by both defensive but our defense made more key big plays. But we did see the pressure of the WCWS venue on both defenses. Both teams committed 4 errors in the three game series (1.27 e/7 innings). For the regular season we averaged 0.41 errors and Auburn 0.97.

Auburn scored fourteen runs and OU twelve. Five of OU's runs were unearned. Auburn scored only two unearned runs.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

OU Softball Articles from espnW

10 fast facts about Oklahoma's national championship
http://espn.go.com/espnw/sports/art...a-sooners-2016-softball-national-championship

Top 6 plays from Oklahoma-Auburn championship series
http://espn.go.com/espnw/sports/art...ooners-auburn-tigers-wcws-championship-series

For Oklahoma, the glory was in the journey to the national title
http://espn.go.com/espnw/sports/art...win-national-title-women-college-world-series

Title tracks

A look at Oklahoma's road to the national championship.

May 20: Def. Wichita State 7-2
May 21: Def. Ole Miss 9-1
May 22: Def. Ole Miss 3-0
May 26: Def. Louisiana Lafayette 8-2
May 27: Def. Louisiana Lafayette 7-6
June 3: Def. Alabama 3-0
June 4: Def. Michigan 7-5
June 5: Def. LSU 7-3
June 6: Def. Auburn 3-2
June 7: Lost to Auburn 11-7
June 8: Def. Auburn 2-1

 

[SoonerMGB56]

As much as I vented on here about the SEC arrogance of Auburn (and the SEC is arrogant), I have to give them credit. They were very respectful and complimentary during their presser. They certainly are a good team.

And as nicely as this year turned out, the next few hold no guarantees for this group. They must continue to work hard and keep that team chemistry going. Auburn, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and others in the SEC will be working hard, and have legions of talent. And the Pac 12, Michigan and ULaLa, and others as well. OU will have target next year, and will have to be even better, probably much better to replicate this result, or even get close.

But I have high hopes that the returners and next year's class will meld nicely and great confidence in the coaching staff. My guess is this group has more WCWS appearances and even championship series appearances ahead of them.

I hope this can help other Big 12 teams with their recruiting. The Big 12 getting stronger can only help us. I am sure that Patty will continue to schedule as tough a nonconference schedule as she can, to prepare the ladies. It's all up to the team. If they work and play as a family, great things are possible.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

I almost guarantee that Lopez will be the #2 starter - she is so good that she might overtake Paige. Yeah, that is right. I think the OF will be Taukelaho in left, Pendley in CF, and Aviu in RF. You can mix in Hatfield and Mendes. I don't know what they are going to do with Lundberg. She is not really an outfielder and 1B is now owned by Knighten.

Just curious. Which schools had the highest rated 2016 recruiting classes? Thanks!

 

[BlackwellSooner]

This series had lots of great plays by both defensive but our defense made more key big plays. But we did see the pressure of the WCWS venue on both defenses. Both teams committed 4 errors in the three game series (1.27 e/7 innings). For the regular season we averaged 0.41 errors and Auburn 0.97.

Auburn scored fourteen runs and OU twelve. Five of OU's runs were unearned. Auburn scored only two unearned runs.

Excellent point, which only underscores what I was saying earlier: DEFENSE (along with offense, of course) wins championships.
Sure, you can't win if you can't score, so offense is important, too, but all of the great softball teams I have seen were great defensive teams, and of course had great, shutdown pitchers.

In the bolded portion above IRT to number of unearned runs by each team, I'll take an assist from the other team every time, just makes our team have to score less runs on their own!

 

[SoonerSpock]

Just curious. Which schools had the highest rated 2016 recruiting classes? Thanks!

The Flosoftball ranking I saw before the season had OU with the #1 class but I also saw a later Flosoftball ranking after the season had begun that had Oregon with the #1 class and OU ranked at #4.


http://www.flosoftball.com/article/36479-this-just-in-top-25-recruiting-classes-2016s

 

[BanjoCharley]

Do we know anything about the all tournament team? Seems there should be some Sooners on it.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

The Flosoftball ranking I saw before the season had OU with the #1 class but I also saw a later Flosoftball ranking after the season had begun that had Oregon with the #1 class and OU ranked at #4.

http://www.flosoftball.com/article/36479-this-just-in-top-25-recruiting-classes-2016s

Thanks! According to that list, 6 of the top-11 recruiting classes belong to SEC teams. Only 2 Big-12 teams make the top-25 .. #4 OU and #21 Texas.

 

[SoonerSpock]

Thanks! According to that list, 6 of the top-11 recruiting classes belong to SEC teams. Only 2 Big-12 teams make the top-25 .. #4 OU and #21 Texas.

Perhaps the quality of SEC schools recruiting classes explains in part the reason the SEC had 5 schools in the WCWS in 2015 and 4 schools in the WCWS this year. Also illustrates the difficulty why OU has difficulty getting a high ranking in the RPI playing in the B12. OU's only solution to the problem is to play the toughest non-conference schedule in the country.

 

[SoonerSpock]

Do we know anything about the all tournament team? Seems there should be some Sooners on it.

The Norman Transcript listed the all tournament team as Paige Parker, Shay Knighten and Sidney Romero from OU; Emily Carosone, Kasey Cooper, Tiffany Howard, Jada Rhodes and Makayla Martin from Auburn; Jessica Burroughs and Alex Powers from FSU and Mysha Sataraka from UCLA.