NCAA Softball Selection -- Does the committee love the B1G?

[mikegarrison]

May 23, 2021 0:31:47 GMT -5 trojansc said:

I wonder which P Michigan will show first.

Do you start the pitcher who already beat the Huskies once? Or do you keep her in reserve in case you need a second game?

[mikegarrison]

May 23, 2021 0:37:52 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Three AAC teams into the Regional Finals

Like a rocket?

[trojansc]

May 23, 2021 1:14:43 GMT -5 mikegarrison said:

May 23, 2021 0:37:52 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Three AAC teams into the Regional Finals

Like a rocket?

#RocketP6wer!

One of the 4 teams, South Florida, is actually a #4 seed. Their pitcher has quite the stat line. IP(21), R(1), SO(24), BB(2). That includes 6 innings against #4 Overall seed Florida, a no-hitter against Baylor followed by a shutout in the second game of a doubleheader to get back to a rematch with Florida.

I just don't think they have the offense to contend. Wichita State is such a good hitting team but has to win at #1. Ugh.

And as far as Michigan's pitching situation goes, I don't think it really matters for them who goes first. Both pitchers are high quality. I think Washington just has to go with Plain back-to-back in the if necessary if it gets there, unless the first game is a high-scoring affair by both teams, which I'm not seeing that.

One softball fan posted on another forum that the worst coaching decision of the entire tournament goes to Coach Tarr of UW for pitching Plain against Portland State and is responsible for UW losing today's match. I'm not sure I agree with that, but I agree it was kind of questionable. The only defense is that Washington didn't score many runs that game.

[mikegarrison]

May 23, 2021 1:30:13 GMT -5 trojansc said:

May 23, 2021 1:14:43 GMT -5 mikegarrison said:

Like a rocket?

#RocketP6wer!

One of the 4 teams, South Florida, is actually a #4 seed. Their pitcher has quite the stat line. IP(21), R(1), SO(24), BB(2). That includes 6 innings against #4 Overall seed Florida, a no-hitter against Baylor followed by a shutout in the second game of a doubleheader to get back to a rematch with Florida.

I just don't think they have the offense to contend. Wichita State is such a good hitting team but has to win at #1. Ugh.

And as far as Michigan's pitching situation goes, I don't think it really matters for them who goes first. Both pitchers are high quality. I think Washington just has to go with Plain back-to-back in the if necessary if it gets there, unless the first game is a high-scoring affair by both teams, which I'm not seeing that.

One softball fan posted on another forum that the worst coaching decision of the entire tournament goes to Coach Tarr of UW for pitching Plain against Portland State and is responsible for UW losing today's match. I'm not sure I agree with that, but I agree it was kind of questionable. The only defense is that Washington didn't score many runs that game.

UW just needed to score more than 1 run, that's all. You are going to win a lot of games if you can hold your opponent to 2 runs. But that means you need to score some runs yourself!

[bbg95]

This talk about scoring prevention vs scoring production reminds me of the hockey tournament at the 2014 Olympics. Canada is the most talented hockey country in the world, as the NHL is nearly half Canadian (it used to be well over half, but that number is slowly coming down). They should probably win the Olympics every time they actually send their top players (the Soviet Union used to be dominant when NHL players didn't go while the Soviets had NHL-caliber players--the NHL also did not participate in 2018). Anyway, Canada only scored 17 goals in six games in the tournament, which is the fewest ever for a champion. But they only allowed three goals the entire time, as they had the most dominant defense I have seen perhaps in any sport. They won the semifinal 1-0 against Team USA in what was the most dominant 1-0 game I have ever seen. It didn't seem like the Americans had any chance to actually score a goal.

[bbg95]

Liberty is up 3-1 on James Madison, Kentucky is up 6-0 on Notre Dame, Duke and Georgia are tied at 1, and Florida and South Florida are scoreless. 

[trojansc]

ESPN Announcers calling how inconsistent the slapper 'out of the box' calls are that have gone against South Florida and not Florida in this game.

I'm not crazy about the rule. It's completely changed softball re: lefty slappers.

South Florida down 1-0 with the bases loaded, nobody out, gets out of the jam with no further damage.

[bbg95]

Liberty's left fielder misplayed a single, allowing the runner to score from first base. They're now up 3-2 in the fifth. Runner on second, no outs.

[bbg95]

James Madison has now loaded the bases on a walk and a hard single that got to the outfielder quickly enough to hold the runner at third. One out.

[bbg95]

James Madison hit a two-run single to take the lead 4-3. 

[trojansc]

May 23, 2021 12:27:23 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

Liberty's left fielder misplayed a single, allowing the runner to score from first base. They're now up 3-2 in the fifth. Runner on second, no outs.

Yikes. The chain of events that set off.

[trojansc]

Florida's batter started walking back to the dugout after she got fooled on a pitch and thought it was a strike -- umpire calls it a ball. Wowza. She follows it up with a home-run.

Duke-Georgia is a slugfest. 7-6 in the 4th.

[bbg95]

Liberty finally gets out of the inning, and they're now trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth. 

[bbg95]

Liberty has cut the lead to 6-4 and have the tying runs on base. Alexander is coming out of the bullpen...I'm a little confused by this, since they said she also started the game? Ordinarily in baseball (at least in MLB), once you get substituted, you're out of the game forever. Softball must be different.

At any rate, Alexander got a strikeout swinging to get the third out and get her team out of the jam.

[trojansc]

May 23, 2021 12:59:39 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

Liberty has cut the lead to 6-4 and have the tying runs on base. Alexander is coming out of the bullpen...I'm a little confused by this, since they said she also started the game? Ordinarily in baseball (at least in MLB), once you get substituted, you're out of the game forever. Softball must be different.

Softball has a re-entry rule and also a DP/flex-position rule. It's a little more complicated. You can re-enter the game once, but it has to be at the same spot in the batting order.

You can have a left-fielder only playing defense (flex) and a DP only playing offense as well. A DP can't be playing only defense though. A flex player can't be playing only offense (kind of like a 10th spot).