You Cant Have One Without The Other; SB mercies #14 'Zona; defeats #2 ASU earlier
The SB team defeated ASU earlier today and completed the sweep of the state by clipping #14 'Zona 9-1 for the mercy-rule win this afternoon at the Judi Garman Classic.
We scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 4th to take the lead 4-1. Amy Knapp continues her torrid pace. She went 2 for 3 with a triple and an RBI. If she keeps this up, she will be an All-American for sure. Freshman Sierra Romero went yard again going 1 for 3 with 2 RBIs and the run scored. Lyndsay Doyle went 1 for 3 and scored 2 runs along with a triple and an RBI. Caitlin Blanchard went 1 for 3 with an RBI and hit a run scoring double.
In the 5th Inning, we loaded the bases and Sara came through for a 2-run single. Then Amy comes up and hit a run-scoring double. Amy now leads the team in batting with a .397 batting average (>50 ABs).
In the top of the 6th inning, the defense turned a rare natural double play, 5-4-3. It is rare because the base path is only 60 feet compared to 90 feet in baseball. The runners can usually get down the line in time to beat the relay throw.
In the bottom of the 6th inning, we scored 2 runs for the mercy-rule win. We loaded the bases and Sierra Romero walked for an RBI. Then Jacklyn Crummy scored on a wild pitch for the win.
Sara was the starting and winning pitcher. She pitched 6 complete innings and faced 22 batters. She gave up 1 run (0 ER) off 4 hits. She had 3 Ks and 1 BB. Another great performance by Sara.
What a great day for Michigan as we all needed a pick-me-up after the earlier disaster in Chicago. Hopefully the hockey team takes care of business tonight as well.
I just shake my head. I thought we had a great chance at splitting today. Sara proved me wrong, oh so wrong. But after the BB game, I certainly needed a pick-me-up.
Hockey team is tied 3-3 at the second intermission so lets get this one too.
and #14 in the USA Softball Poll.
They've beaten the 3 ranked teams they faced and lost to the one unranked team. The wins over Washington and Arizona were decisive, so I think they'll move up with any result other than a blowout loss against NC State tomorrow. Going into this weekend I figured 3-2 would be a decent result, but now they have a chance to go 4-1.
The MSB girls can beat anyone on a given day. Need to work on consistancy, like not lose to VaTech. Thanks to MGoSoftball for the promt results and analysis. I am a big fan of the girls and see them in person every spring!!!!
just defeated WMU on the road. So this along with the SB wins today certainly takes the sting out of our pain.
Best day of the season so far for the team. Two wins over quality opposition, including a decisive one over a ranked team! This moves us to 5-3 against ranked opposition. Today I was really hoping for a split, hopefully with the win coming against ASU, since that would be such a high quality win. To get both is awesome. Have to be especially encouraged about the offense - dropping 14 runs over the course of 13 innings is fantastic. Can't wait for the B10 season to start, we have a title to defend!
I have been scouting the other Big Ten teams. There are some very good teams coming into conference play.
I will have a Big Ten Preview next week.
I look forward to reading it! I was looking at the rankings, and while we're still the only B10 team ranked, a couple are right on the edge. I definitely don't expect to cruise through, although at the same time if we play at the level we're capable of, we can take care of business.
Another reason why softball is cool: being on the positive end of "mercy" as a verb.
March 16th, 2013 at 11:17 AM ^
with this team. We have all the tools: speed, power, dominate pitching, great catchers, good defense and World Class Coaching; to "mercy" most teams we play.
The official NCAA terminology is "run-rule" but us old timers still prefer the term "Mercy-rule", or better yet "mercied". We make new words as we go along.