Shocker SB at Charlotte

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers begin the more challenging part of their conference schedule with a series against Charlotte beginning, due to Easter weekend, on Thursday. The games Thursday and Friday start at 5 pm CT and the Saturday game begins at noon.

The 49ers (No, there is no gold that I am aware of in North Carolina; story below) have a record of 18-12 with a 6-3 AAC mark. They are 3-3 against ranked teams including losses to Clemson and South Carolina. In conference they have one loss to USF and two losses to East Carolina with a sweep of Memphis. Their RPI at the start of the week was 38 versus 34 for the Shocks.

Ariana Rodi is the leading hitter for Charlotte with an OPS of 1.331 and eleven!! homers. Kiyah Garrett (.967) is the only other OPS above .900. Most of their starts belong to Georgeanna Barefoot (ERA of 1.83 and WHIP of 0.94) and Lena Elkins (2.51 and 1.43). Sam Gress (2.36 and 0.95) also has a noticeable number of innings.

The Shockers continue to have the same three players with an OPS above 1.000: CC (1.516 and ten homers), Addison (1.269 and ten homers), and Taylor (1.063 and seven homers). Bailey is at .928. The pitching numbers are still mediocre, but the recent outings by Lauren give hope that any of the four can give the Shockers a chance.


The nickname "49ers" derives from the fact that the university's predecessor—Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina (CCUNC – established in 1946) was saved from being shut down by the state in 1949 by Bonnie Cone, when CCUNC became Charlotte College. Due to this "49er spirit" that Cone felt embodied the university, referring to the settlers that endured much hardships in traveling across the United States to seek fortune in the California Gold Rush, students of the fledgling UNC Charlotte chose "49ers" as the school's mascot. The fact that the University's Main Campus front entrance is located on North Carolina Highway 49 is pure coincidence.

Prior to the "49ers" moniker, the athletic teams were known as the "Owls" due to CCUNC's beginnings as a night school.

(Wikipedia is my friend.)


As a sidenote, Florida Atlantic is (low) RV in both polls.

[flyingMoose]

Game One

(I am away for both of the first two games. 1972Shocker and others with the Plus do a fine job. Looking forward to their reports when I return.)

[1972Shocker]

RH: Shockers Travel To Charlotte For AAC Series

Wichita State played 26 softball games against 17 opponents. Eight of those opponents – 15 games – rank in the top 50 of the NCAA earned run average leaders, all below 2.53.

"We've faced some of the best in the country," coach Kristi Bredbenner. "When you know that you can hit the best, you feel confident you can hit the next best."

Confidence is certainly the feeling Bredbenner gets when infielder CC Wong hits. Wong, a graduate transfer, fit in immediately and is putting up big numbers as leadoff hitter.

"She's a great example that not every fit is a good fit," Bredbenner said. "Second chances are something that the transfer portal offers. If you don't get that fit the first time, you've got a second opportunity."

Wong, a transfer from Grand Canyon, is as prepared as anyone with a bat. She is tied for third nationally with a .500 batting average, ranks sixth with a .574 on-base percentage and seventh with a .953 slugging percentage. She is coming off a series in which she hit .625 with four home runs – three in one game - and 11 RBI in a sweep of UTSA to earn NFCA Player of the Week honors.

Transferring to Wichita State, she said, revived her affection for the sport with support from coaches.

"They're always smiling and saying, 'You'll get the next one' if something doesn't go my way," she said. "It's definitely been a long journey. Sometimes I see myself falling back. Then (coaches) are always there to say 'Just do you. You're OK.' Working on that mental game is something I really needed."

---

Looks like Charlotte based on the preview by flyingMoose will bring plenty of very solid pitching to the table. I'm not thinking about a sweep this weekend. A series win would be a very acceptable and satisfactory outcome.

[1972Shocker]

Nice to have Sami back. I am sure no one is happier about that than Taylor. That said, I think Taylor did a very good job filling in at short.

Now we'll have to see how much rust Sami needs to knock off.

Alex gets the start in the circle for the Shocks.

[SubGod22]

Gonna be good to have Sami back. Not expecting her to come out firing on all cylinders, but this makes the team better for the long haul

[1972Shocker]

Shocks draw 1st blood with an unearned run in the top of the 1st. CC chopped a ball to the 1st base side of the pitcher who was unable to field it cleanly. Against Addie Charlotte did something I don't remember seeing before. The put a major shift on the infield with the 2nd baseman playing pretty much directly behind 2nd base. Addie promptly ground a single to right center through the huge hole on the right side of the infield moving CC to 3rd. Burbs hit into a 6-4-3 double play to score CC. Taylor followed with a line drive double off the base of the wall in right before Lainee grounded out to end the at bat.

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers get Sami back but then looks like they have lost Krystin at 3rd base. Afert a Alex stirkeout, Krystin was unable to field a sharply hit ground ball but the ESPN+ cameras only caught the aftermath which was the ball rolling away from Krystin and Krystin laying prone on the field. I don't know if the ball hit her in the kneecap or if she twisted her knee. Anyway, she was in a lot of pain. Krystin had really started hitting lately to go with her steady defense at 3rd. That hurts.

Jess moves from 1st to 3rd and Caroline, who was the DP, comes in to play 1st with Sophie inserted into the DP position.

After a slow grounder to 1st moved the UNCC runner to 2nd Alex got a big strkeout after a long battle to close strand the runner at 2nd.

Caroline is hit by a pitch leading off the 2nd. Sami lays down a nice sac bunt to move Caroline to 2nd but anemic at bats by Jess and Sophie left Caroline stranded at 2nd. Shocks have let a couple of scoring opportunities go to waste so far.

Alex walks the lead off hitter in the bottom of the 2nd. One thing you generally won't get from Alex is a rocking chair game. A pop foul to Lainee on a sac bunt attempt followed by striking out the next hitter 3 times and then a soft jam shot liner right at Sami left the runner stranded at 1st. Nice job by Alex.

Shocks down in order in the 3rd although Addie smoked a ball to straight away center that would have been out if she had elevated just a little more.

So far only Addie and Taylor have shown a good approach at the plate. 3 well struck balls Addie has 1 to right center and center and Taylor 1 to right. Everybody else is trying pull the ball and are rolling over the ball resulting in a bunch of routine ground outs. That needs to change.

In the bottom of the 3rd Alex gives up a 1-out double into the right field corner followed by a walk to put herself right back in peril. A solidly hit opposite field line drive was fortunately right at Caroline who pretty much had no choice but to catch it and step on 1st for a inning ending double play.

After 3, the Shocks are up 1-0 somehow.

Taylor just misses one leading off the 4th but got under it and hit a high fly ball to left. Lainee gets a seeing eye ground single to left followed by Caroline getting hit by a pitch for the 2nd time in the game but Sami hit a can of corn to the right fielder and Jess tipped a slow roller back to the pitcher for an easy out.

Alex set down Charlotte in order and fairly quickly in the bottom of the 4th but not without some excitement. After a 4-3 groundball out the next batter lined a shot that was curling back toward straight away center and Addie reach above the wall to make the catch and take away a home run. Another foul pop.to Lainee ended the inning.

Sophie leads off the 5th with a can of corn to center. CC follows with a line drive to the wall in left center (yes to the opposite field) but is held to a single. At that point Charlotte replaced Georgeanna Barefoot with Sam Gress. Addie struck out on 3 pitches and looked bad doing it for out #2. Burbs hit a slow roller towards the 5-6 hole that the 3rd basemen cutoff, looked to 2nd then through to 1st and Burbs was safe. Taylor fell behind 0-2 but battle back to earn a walk and load the bases. Lainee ripped a one hopper that bounced off the 3rd baseman scoring CC and keeping the bases loaded. After Caroline hit a line drive into the left field corner that was fouled by inches she was called out on a change up that was clearly high and outside. A horrible strike call. But the Shocks pick up a much needed run to extend the lead to 2-0.

Alex walks the first Charlotte batter in the bottom half of the 5th because, well that's just her style. A one hopper to Sami got the force at 2nd but CC, who doesn't have a great arm was unable to turn the double play. A fly ball to Taylor in right did not advance the runner. On a steal attempt, not sure who was supposed to cover but both Sami and CC were late getting there and although Lainee put her throw right on the back it went into center allowing the runner to go to 3rd. HCKB ask for a review to see if the runner left early. Replays show that it looked like she did leave early but the the umpires ruled that she did not. Then Alex walked the next batter to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Surprised HCKB did not make a pitching change at that point. A little blooper to right center falls in scoring the runner from 3rd and moving the runner on 1st 3rd. So we still have runners on the corners with 2 outs and the lead cut in half. Alex goes to a full count before getting a borderline called 3rd strike at the very top of the strike zone.

After 5 innings the Shocks are hanging on 2-1 but are trying to make this about as hard as they can. It will be interesting to see if HCKB stays with Alex. In the meantime the Shocks need to get that run back.

Leading off the 6th Sami laced one right up the middle but the Charlotte shift worked this time as the ball was pretty much hit right at the 2nd baseman behind the bag. Jess hits a sharp grounder right at the 3rd baseman who easily threw her out at 1st. Sophie works a 2-out walk and takes 2nd on a wild pitch but Charlotte is challenging that Sophie left early. Sophie ruled safe but it didn't matter as CC rolls over another one and hits a weak grounder to the 1st baseman for an easy out.

Chloe Barber is on to pitch in the bottom of the 6th. Let's hope she is on her game. Chloe missed her first 3 pitches badly threw 2 good strikes and then just missed off the inside corner for a walk. It probably was a ball but it was a location the ump has been giving to Sam Gress. On a pitch boxed by Lainee the runner moves to 2nd. Chloe throw 2 more balls to go to 3-0 and HCKB has seen enough. Chloe clearly did not have command. Lauren Howell comes in to a tough situation. It would not hurt my feelings if she finished off this walk with 1st base open which she did. But after getting ahead of the next batter 1-2 she gave up a ground ball single up the middle to score the tying run. Addie could have thrown to third to keep the runners at 2nd and 3rd but chose to throw to Sami in the middle of the diamond whose relay throw to home allowed the runners to end up at 2nd and 3rd. Luaren induces a foul pop to 3rd for out #1. A jam shot blooper to right center falls just in front of Addie and 2 more runs score with the batter making it to 2nd. A 4-pitch walk, perhaps semi-intentional. puts runners at 1st and 2nd. A can of corner to left and a 2-hooper to short ends the at bat. But the damage is done.

After innings Charlotte leads 4-2.

Addie golfs a knee high pitch on the outer half over the left field wall to pull the Shocks within 1. Burbs grounds out to short, Taylor fouls out to left and Lainee lines out to center on what looked like a half swing although she hit pretty good. But that is ballgame.

Final Score: Charlotte 4 - Wichita State 2.

The Shocks pretty much gave this away. Charlotte's pitching is solid but the I thought for the most part the Shockers approach was poor. CC had one good bat and 3 lousy at bats. Burbs had 4 lousy at bats. The bottom of the order gave us nothing. The injury to Krystin was a killer. Losing her bat in the 9-hole was a problem.

Going to be extremely tough to win this series now.

[Critter's Pa]

the ESPN+ cameras only caught the aftermath .

I'm surprised they caught that much.

I do not have ESPN+, but I have seen clips on X. Is the whole game shot like the uploaded clips? It looks like it would be very difficult to watch a game with this production crew. Are all the games shot like that? I don't remember clips from other games being so difficult/frustrating to watch.

Like in this shot after Alex's strikeout. The blurry sweep of the infield..? Why put that on the air? From what I have seen, this is probably what it would look like if I was controlling the cameras, no, I think I could do a better job, and that should be an insult to ESPN(?) professionals. If you told me this was the production crew's first game, and for some of them, the first time they have seen a sporting event, I would believe you.

[SubGod22]

I'm surprised they caught that much.

I do not have ESPN+, but I have seen clips on X. Is the whole game shot like the uploaded clips? It looks like it would be very difficult to watch a game with this production crew. Are all the games shot like that? I don't remember clips from other games being so difficult/frustrating to watch.

Like in this shot after Alex's strikeout. The blurry sweep of the infield..? Why put that on the air? From what I have seen, this is probably what it would look like if I was controlling the cameras, no, I think I could do a better job, and that should be an insult to ESPN(?) professionals. If you told me this was the production crew's first game, and for some of them, the first time they have seen a sporting event, I would believe you.

I believe the ESPN+ games are essentially produced by the host school. So the camera issues and whatnot would be on whatever production crew Charlotte uses.

If I recall correctly, one of the things that excited WSU about ESPN+ was the ability to get some students extra experience. Not that it's completely student run, but I'm pretty sure it's all local. Though you'd also think a city like Charlotte would have enough experience to make it a decent product.

[flyingMoose]

Other Thursday Games

East Carolina 5-4 Florida Atlantic

North Texas 0-5 USF

UAB 5-6 Tulsa
Four unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh for Tulsa

Memphis 0-5 UTSA

[1972Shocker]

Chloe gets the start in game 2.

Good news is that Krystin is in the lineup.

[1972Shocker]

Lena Elkins starts in the circle for Charlotte and issues walks to CC, Addie and Taylor to load the bases. Charlotte goes to the bullpen and brings in Brooke Bowling.

The Shocks need to capitalize. Before the restart the pull both teams off the field to do some grounds maintenance. They are re-dragging the dirt infield and will have to re-stripe the foul lines and the batter's/catcher's boxes. Not sure I have seen that before. Apparently, the lines were slightly off and HCKB was the one who noticed it and asked about it.

After a 30 minute delay and three very uncompetitive at bats from Burbs, Lainee and Caroline and the Shocks go down without scoring. Extremely disappointing.

Let's see how Choe looks today. Start out with a 4-pith walk. Chloe doesn't seem to have much feel or confidence at this point. After 2 more balls Chloe finds the range to get a force at 2nd on a 2-2 ground ball to 3rd. That's followed by another walk this one on a full count. After falling behind 3-1 Chloe gave up a no doubter home run to right center. Charlotte takes a 3-0 lead and Chloe is done with Alison coming in to pitch. After getting a line drive right at Addie in center Alison gave up a home run top left before getting a strikeout to end the inning.

After the grounds keeping delay you would have thought if the score was going to 4-0 after 1 inning that would have in in the favor of the Shocks. Unfortunately, it's Charlotte taking a 4-0 lead. Major Ugh!

[shoxlax]

Her dominance vs. not being able to get anyone out made no sense to me. Then she seemed to be progressing and improving up until this weekend. Don’t know enough about softball pitching to understand what causes such inconsistency.

[1972Shocker]

Her dominance vs. not being able to get anyone out made no sense to me. Then she seemed to be progressing and improving up until this weekend. Don’t know enough about softball pitching to understand what causes such inconsistency.

I can't be of much help either in explaining it. But we may be seeing why Chloe wasn't more heavily recruited. But with her potential to be dominate we need to hang with her.

[1972Shocker]

Meeting down the right field line after the end of the 3rd inning. Shocks definitely need some motivation. The offense has looked very anemic so far.