Greatly anticipating June 3-9. Will be a jam packed week. With baseball, and all these softball games I can hardly wait.
Here's my synopsis of each team:
Oklahoma - It feels like the type of batting lineup that wins a championship. Whether they will? Not sure. It is kinda iffy that Gi Juarez is being cautiously used at the most important time. That she didn't even play against Washington is telling of what Patty's mind is thinking. I always preferred Nicole May and Shannon Saile, so Juarez might not be needed as much. Will their pitching fall apart against the elite teams? Don't know, but they've only played 2 teams that made the WCWS and those were the 2 teams that gave them their only 2 losses of the year, so you wonder if their schedule has masked a few things about them. Still, they're the team to beat.
Alabama - They're catching fire lately. If Kilfoy can consistently look as good as she did against Kentucky, they could find themselves in the final series. But that's a question mark, as she has had her freshman moments this year. Don't want to rely on one pitcher. But this is a team that has been strong all year long and has not really slumped. So it would be strange for them to in the last week.
Oklahoma St. - Alison Febrey has been on a tear lately. I think batting over .500 in the postseason? A really sick top of the order. They're not quite as good as Oklahoma, but maybe they might get lucky and steal one from them in OKC and that might be all they need.
Arizona - Sometimes up and down, but they've been playing their best ball as of late. It's no shock a team with Olympians would easily get past Ole Miss and Arkansas. Will they come to a stop against Alabama? Remains to be seen, but should be a heavyweight match and my most anticipated game on Thursday.
UCLA - Top 3 pitchers, and really good batting lineup. Their pitching is definitely #1, but can they mesh together consecutive great pitching performances at this junction of the year? We'll see.
Georgia - Like Arizona, they're up and down. But they are HIGHLY up and down. Towards the end of the year, they looked horrible, got swept by Mississippi State and lost 13 out of their last 15 games, although against some heavy competition. They're not without talent, but... young. Kearney, Fields, Kuma, Fincher are all really good players and stacks up nicely. Avant pitched the games of her life against Florida. Will she continue to be able to against a much more powerful Oklahoma St? I don't know, but obviously there's something to this team we've not been able to see the entire year.
Florida St - I don't find them particularly interesting to watch. I like Sandercock, Danielle Watson, and Sydney Sherill, but I'm not excited about other aspects of their team. What I've seen is they win these pitching gems and low scoring contests with clutch hits at the right time, tho they haven't been challenged by a strong schedule. I expect them to be the first to exit besides James Madison.
James Madison - I don't know anything about this team. I won't even comment. I think they'll be beat badly by Oklahoma, but I won't be awake to watch that so glad that's the first game of the day.
that wasnt called for.
