2018 NCAA Softball Tournament

[1972Shocker]

Shocks get an infield singled from Morgan, a Mackenzie walk, a ground out by Baiely and a hit batter by Laurie to load the bases. A bloop single to right with the runners have to hold to see if it dropped scores 1 to make 3-2.

Mary Haff on in relief of Storms.

Asea Webber at bat.

Asea works the count to 3-2 count and with the LF playing toward the line doubles to the left center gap to plate 2 runs and the Shocks regain the lead at 4-3.

Maybe the moment is not too big for the Shocks.

Ryleigh strikes out and Paige grounds out 5 to 3.

[1972Shocker]

Caitlyn gives up a 1-out walk in the bottom of the 3rd. That one is on the home plate ump who totally whiffed on pitch that should have been a called 3rd strike. But Caitlyn quickly induced 2 ground outs to finish off a strong inning for her.

[WstateU]

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[1972Shocker]

Sum ***** indeed. Caithlyn walks the 9-hole hitter than gives up a 2-run homer. Arkansas leads 5-4 in the 4th.

[bleednblackngold]

Not gonna get any calls in hillbillie land. Great game though

[1972Shocker]

Shocks load the bases in the 5th on 2 hit batters and a walk with 1 out but Caitlyn flies out to shallow center and Ashton Esparza pinch hitting for Morgan is called out on a debatable call. A high change up that looked high to me when it crossed the plate.

Exact same pitch from Caitlyn in the bottom half of the inning was called a ball.

[1972Shocker]

Top of the order up for the Shocks in the 6th. And down in order all on strikes out. Great inning by Haff.

[1972Shocker]

A lead off double and a two out wild pitch scores and insurance run for Arkansas in the 6th. The Shocks need 2 runs this 7th inning to avoid their season coming to an end. Tall order agaisnt Haff.

Shocks go down in order in the 7th and their season comes to an end.

Caitlyn actually did a decent job in relief. She has some things to work on but has shown flashes that she can be a pretty effective pitcher.

I will say this team certainly exceeded my expectations by quite a bit. In fact, of all the Shocker's programs I think this team exceeded expectations more than any other this year.

[ShockTalk]

Great run gals!!

[flyingMoose]

This game was suspended, tied 5-5.

#3 UCLA and #9 South Carolina are the only National Seeds with a loss heading into Sunday's play.

Missouri 6-5 Tulsa


The Shockers won the last-longer competition among the AAC teams.


South Carolina hurled two shutouts to defeat Liberty twice and come out of the elimination bracket to win the Columbia Regional.

UCLA is on the verge of forcing an If Game at the Los Angeles Regional.

LSU had to defeat Louisiana in an If Game to win the Baton Rouge Regional.

[flyingMoose]

Since a girl from Maize HS plays for LSU, I checked the play-by-play for the If Game - and noticed that the Louisiana coach was ejected! What!? I have got to pull up the Replay and see this.

LSU scored two in the sixth to take a 3-1 lead, the eventual final score. In the sixth, an LSU girl tries to score from first on a gapper and is called Safe where she is pretty clearly Out. The play is almost close, but umpires at this level should not miss this call. The Louisiana coach argues the call, but it is not going to be changed. This would have been the second out. After a walk, a double play attempt on a ground ball only gets the second out (or third, depending on your POV), and another run scores.

By the time the cameras gets on the Louisiana coach, he has already been ejected. With the correct call at the plate, the game is still tied and they would be moving to the seventh. He is livid - he lets the umpire who made the call have it with both barrels. It is probably a good thing there was not a field mic.

[flyingMoose]

All of the National Seeds advanced. Super Regionals (best of three) are:

16 Kentucky at 1 Oregon
9 South Carolina at 8 Arizona State
12 Alabama at 5 Washington
13 Arkansas at 4 Oklahoma

15 Texas A&M at 2 Florida
10 Tennessee at 7 Georgia
11 LSU at 6 Florida State
14 Arizona at 3 UCLA

[shocks02]

So 7 of the 8 teams in OKC could be from the SEC? Super.

[WstateU]

https://media.giphy.com/media/qwZQ7BqbWiIj6/giphy.gif

[ShockerDropOut]

Shocks load the bases in the 5th on 2 hit batters and a walk with 1 out but Caitlyn flies out to shallow center and Ashton Esparza pinch hitting for Morgan is called out on a debatable call. A high change up that looked high to me when it crossed the plate.

Exact same pitch from Caitlyn in the bottom half of the inning was called a ball.

I thought our pitchers were getting squeezed on the strike zone some too. I thought especially on balls down in the zone.

[1972Shocker]

In other words we got lowballed.

[WstateU]

I thought our pitchers were getting squeezed on the strike zone some too. I thought especially on balls down in the zone.

I think we got SEC'd...

[flyingMoose]

Shocker Future RH article

[1972Shocker]

https://twitter.com/CoachBredbenner/status/998351065681743872

[flyingMoose]

On the umpires ...

I have not had a chance to watch the Replay of yesterday's game, so I have no opinion on the accuracy of the zone, but understand that these were not SEC umpires. (Of if so, coincidentally, just one of the conferences they work. I think there were two from TX and one from OK yesterday.) These guys/girls umpiring Regionals are being evaluated for their skill at this level. The plate umpire yesterday was on the plate for the championship game of the 2015 WCWS. The other two (or at least one of them) have been at the WCWS. They may not have their best game yesterday, but they are not homers from AR either.

I am not an umpire fan-boy by default. See my comments above about a call in the LSU-Louisiana game that was horrific and may have cost a team a spot in the Supers. But a pitch in the upper 60's that is moving? Where the catcher tries to frame the pitch versus where it was at the plate? It can't be easy.

[1972Shocker]

I don't think the umpiring cost us a game. They missed some calls. But they always do. It wasn't terrible. I would call it normal.

I don't think Mackenzie was none to happy with the calls she got on the final at bat of her career but perhaps she was more mad at herself than the ump. Hard to tell for sure.