NCAA Softball Tournament

[SimpleDawg]

Well... Alabama just totally crapped the bed. Might as well they exit from this embarrassment.

Coming into today, I was rooting for 4 outcomes to go my way. Mississippi State baseball, anti Arkansas baseball, Oklahoma softball, and Alabama over Florida St. I figured 2 of them wouldn't go my way, so I'm glad the main one (or two) did.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

OK, I have to laugh. And remember the line. Because I can assure you that I can say "I hate mayo" with 100% accuracy.

As to the Monday night football, they were only the one time per year when ESPN has 2 games, she was never part of the "A" team. She also does some college games, while I find it discordant to hear a women's voice (it is so rare) she has, as I said, been professional.

What I like about her is she is knowledgeable about the sport, doing "podcasts" with Antonelli for WBB and several folks for softball. I don't listen to them, but she apparently knows her stuff.

The one that seems to me to misspeak (much more than I would expect) is Pam Ward. Very surprising.

 

[undersized]

You have a bad defensive possession in basketball, you might give up 3 points in a game where 100+ are scored between the two teams. But if you throw one bad pitch in softball... you give up multiple runs that may well decide the game.

 

[Ozimoto]

FSU didn't look offensively challenged last night. IF they can keep hitting, the final series could be interesting. Ultimately I think Oklahoma will have too much offense for the Seminoles. They are on a roll as well.

JMU just didn't have the depth of pitching to make it to the finals.

 

[Ozimoto]

I think Patrick Murphy figured FSU didn't have the offense to keep up with his team and he could go with his number two starter and still win the game. I'm sure that he wanted Fouts rested for the first game of the championship series against Oklahoma and with the additional rest she would be available for game three of the championship series if needed. That play got torpedoed when the Seminoles forced a second game that Alabama then had to win. I don't think anyone expected FSU to get this far in the tournament as the 10th seed. Heck, they didn't even win the ACC regular season title or their conference tournament.

Loni Alameda has done a great job managing her staff. No, she doesn't have a dominant pitcher, but she has three effective pitchers who are different enough in their style that she can get through a game without having the opposing team face any one of her three pitchers more than two or at most three times as they go through their order for most games.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

At a guess, as @Ozimoto suggests, the move was probably strategic. Actually, sans the weather issues, there was a real possibility that Alabama would have to play 2 games against FSU on Sunday (the 2nd, as well as JMU / Oklahoma's 2nd ended up postponed). While they might have known by game time that if FSU won it would be postponed (I'm not sure when the decision was made), it was probably to late to "switch plans" if he even wanted to. By having his 2nd pitcher go (and recognizing this was still a good pitcher, actually) he would be assured that Montana would not have to pitch 2 games in 1 day and she would be fresher for either game 3 of the semi's or game one of the Championship Series. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, but I can see his logic.

 

[triaddukefan]

come on ACC

 

[SimpleDawg]

That base running.... for god's sakes. Should've went straight to the middle to get that obstruction call, like Florida St. did.

Anyways..... this should be a fun series. Only quibble I have is Game 3 starting at noon Pacific. WHY? Because of the NBA?

Oklahoma needs their best 2 efforts in the next 2 days. Florida St. scoring 8 runs feels somewhat of an anomaly, but they'll need 1 more of those kinds of efforts to win. Oklahoma needs to get out to a better start tho. Having all 9 retired the first time around the order is just not gonna cut it at this point.

 

[Ozimoto]

Hitting is contagious and FSU has caught lightning in a bottle at just the right time. I thought the FSU coach left her starter in one inning too long. Worked out though. Glad the kid from FSU seemed to be ok after the play at the plate. Looks like she slid head first into the catcher's knee. I'm sure she got her bell rung on that one.

 

[donalddoowop]

Somehow, that seven run lead did not seem like it was going to be enough. FSU did not help itself with bad base running and taking it self out of a possible bigger inning. The obstruction call helped.

 

[undersized]

Somehow, that seven run lead did not seem like it was going to be enough. FSU did not help itself with bad base running and taking it self out of a possible bigger inning. The obstruction call helped.

Agree with you that in retrospect FSU took some base running risks that didn't pay off. But aggressive base running is what got FSU this far. Can't blame them for sticking with what got them there and helped them score all those runs to begin with. Until OU proved they can make a clean throw in from the outfield, might as well continue to push the envelope. OU's base running was just as bad if not worse, IMO. i.e. Mendes getting thrown out at 3rd and Jennings getting thrown out at home.

 

[donalddoowop]

Agree with you that in retrospect FSU took some base running risks that didn't pay off. But aggressive base running is what got FSU this far. Can't blame them for sticking with what got them there and helped them score all those runs to begin with. Until OU proved they can make a clean throw in from the outfield, might as well continue to push the envelope. OU's base running was just as bad if not worse, IMO. i.e. Mendes getting thrown out at 3rd and Jennings getting thrown out at home.

I was thinking of the player who did not look ahead to see the player ahead of her was being held up at third base. Plus, she did not try to get caught in a rundown. That was not aggressive, that was careless. However, the third base coach did not help.

 

[eebmg]

Terrible out call on 3rd out for OU takes them out of the top of first.

 

[Centerstream]

Terrible out call on 3rd out for OU takes them out of the top of first.

I can't recall such an obvious missed call in the WCWS.