OT: NCAA Softball

[nwhoopfan]

Well that's better. 5 runs is a whole lot better than 1 run. Still left too many runners in scoring position for my taste but they got another shut out. They've only given up 1 run in 5 post season games. That's pretty darn good!

 

[nwhoopfan]

So...it took 13 SEC teams in the Regionals to get 2 into the World Series? That's not very good. Big 12 matched them with a whole lot less teams in the Regionals and Pac 12 got 3 in the World Series (out of 5 in the post season). 3 conferences accounted for all but 1 of the teams going to OKC. Competitve balance across the country isn't quite there yet.

 

[DefenseBB]

So...it took 13 SEC teams in the Regionals to get 2 into the World Series? That's not very good. Big 12 matched them with a whole lot less teams in the Regionals and Pac 12 got 3 in the World Series (out of 5 in the post season). 3 conferences accounted for all but 1 of the teams going to OKC. Competitve balance across the country isn't quite there yet.

Softball is more highly concentrated than even WCBB. So far with only I deciding game left (#5 FL vs. #12 TN) only one top 8 seed lost-#4 FSU to Ok State. Even If Tennessee wins, that were/are a top team. Does the hosting of the super regionals help promote this monopoly or if the games were on neutral sites would more upsets happen? The attendance has been pretty good (for softball) and this format follows the patterns of the other sports on who hosts. But yes Virginia, there is not parity in Softball.

 

[eebmg]

Well, the only game 3 in TN/Fl at 2PM on ESPN. Got to hand it to TN , they hung in against Barnhill who was clearly overworked and not near her best and took a 3-2 win in 9 innings.

 

[DefenseBB]

What’s a clutch HR by Tennessee in the top of the 7th, essentially bailing out the boneheaded actions of the 6th with runners on 1sr/2nd with 1 out, they have the left handed batter try yo bunt, who pulls it back and the catcher nails the runner by a lot. Left handed batter allows the catcher a clear line of sight and throw, so why the girl pulled the bat back was an utterly bad play.

 

[DefenseBB]

Going into EXTRA INNINGS in Gainesville! Tied at 1-1. Great theatre

 

[eebmg]

FL with a clutch 2 out base hit wins it in the bottom of the 8th.

 

[DefenseBB]

Walkoff win by Florida 2-1. So the WCWS is set:
1. Oklahoma vs. #8 Alabama
2. UCLA vs. #7 Minnesota
3. Washington vs. #6 Arizona
5. Florida vs. #13 Oklahoma State

The top 7 of 8 seed made it to OKC. PAC12 is on one side of bracket (UCLA/AZ/ WA) and the Big12/SEC on the other (OK/ OK St & FL/AL) with the 1 Big10 entry trying to ruin the PAC12 ascension.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Yeah I kind of hating seeing all 3 Pac 12 teams on the same side of the bracket, but it does nearly guarantee one of them will be among the last 4 teams standing.

 

[Centerstream]

FL with a clutch 2 out base hit wins it in the bottom of the 8th.

I was shocked that Coach Walton had Hoover bat in that situation after she struck out the previous three times against the same pitcher, and looked terrible when striking out. But I guess that is why he is a very good coach and I was sitting in my chair at home.
Looking forward to watching the games in OKC.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I was shocked that Coach Walton had Fowler bat in that situation after she struck out the previous three times against the same pitcher, and looked terrible when striking out. But I guess that is why he is a very good coach and I was sitting in my chair at home.
Looking forward to watching the games in OKC.

Sometimes rolling the dice can make you look like a genius. UW was clinging to a 1-0 lead in the 6th when Coach Tarr opted to pinch hit Noelle Hee, with a season batting average around .200 and 1 HR. She promptly hit a 2 run dinger that all but sealed the win.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Softball is more highly concentrated than even WCBB. So far with only I deciding game left (#5 FL vs. #12 TN) only one top 8 seed lost-#4 FSU to Ok State. Even If Tennessee wins, that were/are a top team. Does the hosting of the super regionals help promote this monopoly or if the games were on neutral sites would more upsets happen? The attendance has been pretty good (for softball) and this format follows the patterns of the other sports on who hosts. But yes Virginia, there is not parity in Softball.

Hosting of the Super Regional is a strong opportunity to advance (Arizona blew it a couple years ago). It is a system that works, while there are a limited number of teams that make it to the world series over the years, the mix is different every year.

Attendance is pretty much sold out for all the regionals and super regionals - the stadiums are small, some smaller than others. Neutral sites wouldn't work at all.

No, there isn't a lot of parity. Top half of the Big 12 and PAC, top third of the B1G, all the SEC, maybe 1/3 of the ACC plus select miscellaneous teams (often the same each year, such as ULL, James Madison, Fordham, DePaul, etc). Not so sure why the disparity - a lot of players out there. But, it is what it is.

 

[Ozimoto]

I don't remember this many extra inning games in the supers in the past. Made for some great theater this weekend. Teams cannot expect to be successful by riding the arm of only one pitcher anymore, but there were some gutty performances by girls whose arms had to be fatigued. Next weekend will hopefully be more of the same for fans, although without any bizarre injuries.

 

[Centerstream]

No, there isn't a lot of parity. Top half of the Big 12 and PAC, top third of the B1G, all the SEC, maybe 1/3 of the ACC plus select miscellaneous teams (often the same each year, such as ULL, James Madison, Fordham, DePaul, etc). Not so sure why the disparity - a lot of players out there. But, it is what it is.

I wonder if parity is not there due to the fact that players can transfer and don't sit out a year. Look at this year's Texas team, new Coach from Oregon and transfers followed him and had an immediate impact. Isn't OK's star pitcher a transfer (from AZ???), along with one of AL's star pitchers who transferred from Hofstra? The good teams just keep reloading due to the transfer rules.

 

[Ozimoto]

And for the most part the elite teams are from the west coast and the southeast where the weather is conducive to year round play and where the majority of the elite players are developed through their youth programs. There are elite players in other parts of the country, but the majority come from those two areas.

 

[DefenseBB]

Hosting of the Super Regional is a strong opportunity to advance (Arizona blew it a couple years ago). It is a system that works, while there are a limited number of teams that make it to the world series over the years, the mix is different every year.

Attendance is pretty much sold out for all the regionals and super regionals - the stadiums are small, some smaller than others. Neutral sites wouldn't work at all.

No, there isn't a lot of parity. Top half of the Big 12 and PAC, top third of the B1G, all the SEC, maybe 1/3 of the ACC plus select miscellaneous teams (often the same each year, such as ULL, James Madison, Fordham, DePaul, etc). Not so sure why the disparity - a lot of players out there. But, it is what it is.

Thanks for the comments and to be clear, I am not advocating for Neutral Sites. Attendance is important and Softball mirrors how the other team sports conduct their NCAA Championships for the most part.
Different schools prioritize different sports (some just outright don’t compete like Washington State/SoCal/Colorado or Vanderbilt) and some like BU and James Madison make a huge effort to be competitive with the P5 (thus dominating their conference). There are 286 D1 Softball and 352 D1 WCBB programs. That’s 23% more Hoop teams.

 

[DefenseBB]

Hosting of the Super Regional is a strong opportunity to advance (Arizona blew it a couple years ago)....

BTW, I am a huge Mike Candrea fan after having gone out to Tucson in 1989 and seen a few of his practices in February and a few games. Obviously with seeing them fairly regularly at the WCWS and his Olympic success, I always root for them 1st and foremost. Their offense was really good this year and has sustained during the 1st two sets Of playoffs. I worry that their pitching is not quite as dominant as it needs to be. It should be a good 1st game vs. Washington and I may have make a bet with @nwhoopfan ! Winner gets UCLA/Minnesota winner. Go ‘Cats!

 

[nwhoopfan]

Their offense was really good this year and has sustained during the 1st two sets Of playoffs. I worry that their pitching is not quite as dominant as it needs to be. It should be a good 1st game vs. Washington and I may have make a bet with @nwhoopfan !

Oh, I'm not a betting man! UW fairly well stymied Arizona's hitters in a 3 game sweep in Tucson right before the end of the regular season. That kinda worries me. Not sure how many times they can beat the Cats in one year. Alvelo and Plain are both really good but on occasion I've seen each get roughed up. Not sure who will get the nod. Plain pitched a complete game last time out so probably Alvelo is up? Arizona's got a bunch of hitters that can go deep any time and UW's offense hasn't been real productive for most of the playoffs, so we'll see what happens.

 

[DefenseBB]

Oh, I'm not a betting man! UW fairly well stymied Arizona's hitters in a 3 game sweep in Tucson right before the end of the regular season. That kinda worries me. Not sure how many times they can beat the Cats in one year. Alvelo and Plain are both really good but on occasion I've seen each get roughed up. Not sure who will get the nod. Plain pitched a complete game last time out so probably Alvelo is up? Arizona's got a bunch of hitters that can go deep any time and UW's offense hasn't been real productive for most of the playoffs, so we'll see what happens.

Did I hear Danielle Lowrie doing commentary on games over the weekend?

 

[Ozimoto]

Yes you did.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

BTW, I am a huge Mike Candrea fan after having gone out to Tucson in 1989 and seen a few of his practices in February and a few games. Obviously with seeing them fairly regularly at the WCWS and his Olympic success, I always root for them 1st and foremost. Their offense was really good this year and has sustained during the 1st two sets Of playoffs. I worry that their pitching is not quite as dominant as it needs to be. It should be a good 1st game vs. Washington and I may have make a bet with @nwhoopfan ! Winner gets UCLA/Minnesota winner. Go ‘Cats!

Cool - we always liked Mike from afar when we were in NJ (our only ties to U of A is we moved to Tucson and they were the local school to support). For whatever it is worth, it is a nice school to follow in many ways - much nicer in those ways than Rutgers, which I follow because I am an alum (and that was my local school in NJ as well).

I see U of A's issue on offense that they are very dependent on the long ball, when they are forced to go to small ball the results are inconsistent. Our pitching is variable, I think it is adequate, but as you say not dominant. Still, I don't think we will be "2 and bbq" as they say.

Sadly, because I really, really don't like them, I would bet on OK if I was a betting man (I'm not).

 

[nwhoopfan]

I've been busy all day. Nothing from anybody? You're letting me down!

I've been worrying about this, now it happened. 1 run in 8 innings isn't going to cut it, so UW goes down in their first game. Although Flores missed a game winning hit in the bottom of the 7th by mere inches. Nice snag by the Arizona CF. So close, yet so far. UW has been flirting with this for a while. When you play small ball you darn well better get hits when you have runners in scoring position. They completely failed at that today.

Arizona, UCLA, Oklahoma and Oklahoma St. are Day 1 winners. So 1 each from the Pac 12 and Big 12 are going to be sitting pretty at 2-0 after tomorrow. SEC dominance of softball is not really looking like it's a thing at this point.

 

[eebmg]

Not a real follower of Softball but I got to hand it to Samantha Show who really put on a 'Show' The pitcher with an attitude provided all the offense for OKSU
with 2 solo homers off of Barnhill (no other teammates got anything) and basically hammer throws her bat after the second one. Barnhill not a fan.

Also pitched very well.

 

[Ozimoto]

I was a bit surprised by the results yesterday. Not so much who won but how few runs were scored. With the exception of UCLA, no team was putting many runs on the board. Perhaps all this talk of how softball was switching from a pitching dominated game to an offensively dominated game was a bit premature.

Having said that, there were a few home runs in the games last night, but they were all solo shots. Lots of runners left on base. A few more timely hits and the whole complexion of the series could change.

Should be an exciting weekend.

 

[DefenseBB]

For some reason work is really cramping my BY time! I only got to see the end of the Ok St game and have continued to be impressed with the Cowgirls and how consistent they have been in this tournament. The Alabama and Oklahoma game was great. Both teams had timely hitting and pretty good pitching. Not sure why but Patty Gasso is starting to irritate me with her comments and demeanor. Her views on their performance last year were trite and that has lead to Beth Mowens over the top comments on Oklahoma “having fun this year” as a reason for renewed confidence to win it all. Just stupid if you ask me. This team made it to the WCWS last year as well. Eegads, show some logic and respect!
Now back to the regular scheduled dialogue: Rooting for Arizona but Rachel Garcia is a stud both on the mound and at the plate. Also rooting for Ok State as they are the underdogs and it is a heated rivalry!
In the loser bracket games, I like Alabama and Washington.

 

[Rixxx]

I really like the Arizona hitters. They are up there hacking and not watching the first strike go by.
I am really impressed by the defense played by all the teams in the WCWS. Sure, there have been a few errors, but there have also been some outstanding defensive plays.

 

[Centerstream]

Really having a hard time listening to Adam Amin. Probably just me, but I think he adds nothing to these games. I prefer Eric Frede over him any time. Eric did a great job during the SEC season and the Regionals. If we can't have Beth Mowins, give me Eric.

 

[DefenseBB]

Really having a hard time listening to Adam Amin. Probably just me, but I think he adds nothing to these games. I prefer Eric Frede over him any time. Eric did a great job during the SEC season and the Regionals. If we can't have Beth Mowins, give me Eric.

I was going to say the EXACT SAME THING!!!!! The guy drives me nuts. Where's Mowins, Mendoza and Michelle Smith???

I didn't understand Arizona's lack of coaching last night. 1st and 2nd with no outs and Candrea bunts the runners to 2nd/3rd. Fine, not logical given their power, lefty bat coming up (avoids a doubleplay) but ok. Now why not safety squeeze or suicide squeeze to get the run in? Nope, had the girl swing away to no avail.

I want to like Patty Gasso, I really do, but her on field interviews with Holly Rowe offer no insight and she comes across really uninterested in talking. Which is a shame considering how knowledgeable and successful she's been. I want anyone but Oklahoma to win now...well, let me rephrase, anyone but Oklahoma and Florida...wait, one more modification..anyone but Oklahoma, Florida, UCLA..There, now I am set...An addendum-Anyone but Oklahoma, Florida, UCLA or Minnesota! umm. ok, uh, I am rooting for Az, AL and Ok State, Hold-on, Arizona and Alabama for sure....

 

[Blue Ghost]

It's true that Patty doesn't really give much away on her in game interviews. But her team loves her and buys into what she says. They credit her with a family like atmosphere. She is starting to build a semi dynasty and is a recruiting beast.

 

[Rixxx]

Barnhill knocked out in the bottom of the first vs AL. 6-0 = AL