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

[trojansc]

Garcia and UCLA settling in.

Garcia will probably hit a walk off grandslam to win it.

[bbg95]

Alabama hit a three-run shot to dead center to make it 5-0.

[trojansc]

Assuming Bama holds on....

I really don't care who makes it out of Oklahoma State/Arizona/Florida State. I'm not sure any of those teams are going to be able to beat Alabama twice on Sunday.

The top Bracket has all the juice. First Georgia/Oklahoma in a loser-go home match, winner gets UCLA. Looking like a very very good chance JMU will have to find a way to beat the #1 or #2 seed on Sunday to make it to the Finals. At least they get two chances!

[bbg95]

Fouts now has 10 strikeouts through five innings. UCLA actually hit one ball pretty hard in that inning, but it was tracked down by the center fielder. I think almost all of the strikeouts Fouts has recorded in this game have been swinging strikes. She's got really good movement on her pitches.

[bbg95]

ESPN is doing their best to jinx Fouts and her perfect game through five.

Edit: She's now perfect through six with two more strikeouts (including a rare called strike three) to bring her total to 12.

[bbg95]

Fouts completes the perfect game. 14 strikeouts. Only two balls hit even remotely hard the entire game. Just total dominance. 

[trojansc]

Jun 4, 2021 20:29:00 GMT -5 trojansc said:

That Alexander play on the squeeze better be #1 Top play on SportsCenter. Ok, it probably won't be, but it should.

Yay! I just turned on SportsCenter and it did infact make #1 !!

I thought it was toast when a walk-off grand slam by National overall #3 seed Tennessee avoiding an upset to the 4-seed in their own regional ended up as the *9th* best play on the Top 10.

[bbg95]

Jun 5, 2021 0:56:40 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Jun 4, 2021 20:29:00 GMT -5 trojansc said:

That Alexander play on the squeeze better be #1 Top play on SportsCenter. Ok, it probably won't be, but it should.

Yay! I just turned on SportsCenter and it did infact make #1 !!

I thought it was toast when a walk-off grand slam by National overall #3 seed Tennessee avoiding an upset to the 4-seed in their own regional ended up as the *9th* best play on the Top 10.

It definitely deserved top individual play, but I still think it was only the second-best thing that happened today. Fouts was just too good. Interesting that Alabama had never beaten UCLA in its history, but in this game, UCLA was dead in the water as soon as they gave up that first run.

[trojansc]

Jun 5, 2021 1:07:41 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

Jun 5, 2021 0:56:40 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Yay! I just turned on SportsCenter and it did infact make #1 !!

I thought it was toast when a walk-off grand slam by National overall #3 seed Tennessee avoiding an upset to the 4-seed in their own regional ended up as the *9th* best play on the Top 10.

It definitely deserved top individual play, but I still think it was only the second-best thing that happened today. Fouts was just too good. Interesting that Alabama had never beaten UCLA in its history, but in this game, UCLA was dead in the water as soon as they gave up that first run.

There's a lot of eerie things going on with this 21 number today.

Montana Fouts throws a perfect game, the first in 21 years, on her 21st birthday.

James Madison is the first unseeded team in 21 years to win and advance to the Semifinals.

It was Southern Miss who threw the last perfect game at the WCWS AND was the last team to advance to the WCWS Semifinals, both 21 years ago. Courtney Blades was the pitcher for Southern Miss. Her daughter plays softball for Georgia, who nobody expected to make it here to the WCWS. Even more ironic, who was the Head Coach for Southern Miss 21 years ago? Lu Harris-Champer, current Georgia Head-Coach.

Whatever powers are at work.. please, continue to keep blessing us.

[Deleted]

Jun 4, 2021 18:36:16 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

Jun 4, 2021 18:25:03 GMT -5 trojansc said:

I've seen it before, but the fact that some D1 softball pitchers, who are quite good, cannot throw a ball overhand to save their life is completely baffling. How did they get so far in their careers without someone making it a point of emphasis to at least become somewhat competent in throwing overhand.

I imagine if you're a good enough pitcher, your strengths outweigh a weakness that probably doesn't come into play that often (though it obviously did on the run-scoring error). I would guess the coaches probably have tried, as I'm sure they would prefer that their pitcher be able to throw overhand in situations like that. But some players have mental blocks that are just hard to explain. We saw this with Chuck Knoblauch and Rick Ankiel in MLB.  

Chuck Knoblauch clearly had the yips. One of a golfers’ worst nightmares

[Deleted]

Jun 4, 2021 18:25:03 GMT -5 trojansc said:

I've seen it before, but the fact that some D1 softball pitchers, who are quite good, cannot throw a ball overhand to save their life is completely baffling. How did they get so far in their careers without someone making it a point of emphasis to at least become somewhat competent in throwing overhand.

I was thinking the same thing! Fascinating in a weird way.

[Deleted]

Jun 4, 2021 20:29:00 GMT -5 trojansc said:

That Alexander play on the squeeze better be #1 Top play on SportsCenter. Ok, it probably won't be, but it should.

That was an unbelievable play. And she is casual and collected. But when she got mobbed by teammates after the game she couldn’t help but smile

[bbg95]

One more thing about the Alabama/UCLA game is that I think umpire Chris Nabors called a good game behind the plate. He was consistently calling the same pitches strikes or balls for both teams, and I can't really say that his zone was particularly tight or generous. Umpires get a lot of heat when they have zones that are inconsistent and/or inaccurate and for good reason. So I think it's fair to give them credit when they do a good job.

[bbg95]

As I was trying to figure out the last top seed to go "0-2 and barbecue," Oklahoma hit a two-run shot to left center to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. 

[bbg95]

Jun 5, 2021 11:35:44 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

As I was trying to figure out the last top seed to go "0-2 and barbecue," Oklahoma hit a two-run shot to left center to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. 

I couldn't find an example of a top seed going 0-2 at the WCWS, but it probably won't be Oklahoma, as Alo just blasted a two-run shot to right center for her 31st home run of the year, which is a school record. The Sooners are now up 8-0, and Georgia needs to score to not get run-ruled in six.