Shocker SB at Boerner Invitational (UT Arlington)

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers travel to Texas again this weekend, this time to play in the Boerner Invitational hosted by UT Arlington.

The Shocks play Missouri State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday with start times of 9 am and 1130 am. On Saturday, their opponents are North Texas at 2 pm and UT Arlington at 7 pm. The Shockers close out their play in Texas with a game against Iowa State at 1130 am on Sunday.

Missouri State has a record of 6-3 against a so-so schedule. (I would describe the Shocker schedule to this point as so-so also.) They have a loss to #22 Mississipi State. Their tournaments have been at Mississipi State and Central Arkansas. The MVC has no preseason selections for teams or individuals. Early in the season, the Bears have two players with an OPS above 1.000, Daphne Plummer and Madison Hunsaker. The squad has only one home run on the season. Steffany Dickerson and Hunsaker have four and three starts with Gracie Johnston, an Augusta HS alum, having two starts. The WHIP numbers for Hunsaker and Johnston are near 1.00 with Dickerson at 1.43.

The Islanders have a record of 6-4, one of the wins being over the Shocks at the Scrap Yard. They also had two run-rule losses to #11 Oklahoma State there. Other games have been a mid-week DH against Texas Southern and a tournament hosted by UTSA where they lost to Kansas and split with UT Arlington. They are picked for eleventh in the twelve-team Southland Conference. Ashleigh Sgamburelli (no typo), Sammi Thomas, and Tiler Noyola lead the offense. Beatriz Lara and Jenika Lombrana have all the starts for A&M-CC. Lombrana had the win over the Shocks.

North Texas are a pick among six teams to win the West Division of Conference USA. Hope Trautwein is the All-Conference Preseason Pitcher of the Year, and Tayla Evans is an infielder on that team. The Mean Green have a record of 8-3 with losses to #10 Oklahoma State (2-0) and #6 Texas (5-1) - impressive that neither was a run-rule loss. Molly Rainey, Evans, and Tarah Hilton are the offensive leaders for North Texas while Trautwein and GiGi Wall are the mainstays in the circle.

UT Arlington are a tied-pick for fourth in the ten-team Sun Belt Conference. Their current record 1-7. Among the losses are two against #22 Arkansas, one against Baylor, and two against Kansas. There is no real standout for the offense, but perhaps Reagan Hukill is their leader. There are no standouts in the circle either. Gracie Bumpurs and Kenedy Hines have six of the eight starts.

With games at the UNI Dome, in Florida, and in Arizona, Iowa State have played some games. The Cyclones have a record of 13-2 with a 1-1 mark against ranked teams. The Cyclones are picked sixth of seven teams playing softball in the Big 12. Offensive leaders are Sami Williams, Mikayla Ramos, and Skyler Ramos (not sisters). Williams already has nine home runs and has twice been the Big 12 Player of the Week. Starts have been scattered among five pitchers with Karlie Charles and Ellie Spelhaug having the best WHIP.

For the Shockers, Lauren, Neleigh, Bailee, and Sydney all have an OPS above 1.000. Bailey seems to have corrected her mechanical problems of last spring and has a WHIP below 1.00. Erin has been the other primary starter to this point with a WHIP of 1.46. Caitlin did not pitch this past weekend. Is she dinged up?

[flyingMoose]

Shockers v Missouri State

The link to LiveState on the Shocker site is bad, but the link on the UTA site is good.

Erin has the start with the rest of the lineup unchanged from recent games. Dickerson is in the circle for the Bears.

Sydney and Butters single in the first but no runs. Erin has two strikeouts with a walk in the bottom of the first. 0-0.

[1972Shocker]

Here is the link to the WSU-MSU Live Stats from the UTA Tournament Central: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=342970

[flyingMoose]

Sydney and Addison single in the Shocker third with one out, but no one can move them around. The Bears now have singles in the second and third. Still no score after three.

[flyingMoose]

Thanks for the link. I got interrupted and did not get back to it.

[flyingMoose]

Lead-off walk in the fourth, a caught stealing, and a two-out infield single by Ryleigh, but nada. Erin continues her strong outing with only two singles, one walk, and seven strikeouts. No score after four.

[flyingMoose]

The Shocks open the fifth inning with a single by Lauren Lucas (her first hit as a Shocker) and an error by Missouri State. After Addison flies out, Hunsaker is on in relief. Only two trips through the meat of the order allowed? An infield single by Butters loads the bases. Walks to Neleigh and Bailee score two runs. Ryleigh then follows with a grand slam. 6-0 Shockers as we head to the bottom of the fifth.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks open the fifth inning with a single by Lauren Lucas (her first hit as a Shocker) and an error by Missouri State. After Addison flies out, Hunsaker is on in relief. Only two trips through the meat of the order allowed? An infield single by Butters loads the bases. Walks to Neleigh and Bailee score two runs. Ryleigh then follows with a grand slam. 6-0 Shockers as we head to the bottom of the fifth.

5 of the 6 runs scoring with 2 outs. Ryleigh making the Lady Bears charity pay off big time. All 5 of those 2 out runs are considered unearned because of an error by the MSU pitcher allowing the 2nd batter of the inning for the Shocks to reach safely.

[flyingMoose]

Another single for the Bears but nothing more. Shocks lead 6-0 after five complete.

[flyingMoose]

All 5 of those 2 out runs are considered unearned because of an error by the MSU pitcher allowing the 2nd batter of the inning for the Shocks to reach safely.

I saw that scoring also, but I think all six of the runs are unearned: single, ground ball error (first out), fly out (second out), infield single (with Lauren only advancing to third - so even if the ground ball had advanced her, she would not have scored), walk to only load the bases if no error (so no earned run in an errorless inning), strikeout (third out). After that, the flood gates opened. I think no earned runs. Sorry, the explanation is probably a bit hard to follow.

[flyingMoose]

The Shocks are gifted two more errors in the sixth but cannot use them. Erin gives up a walk in the bottom half but also gets another strikeout. 6-0 and on to the seventh.

[flyingMoose]

The bottom of the pitching pecking order for Missouri State is on to start the seventh. Bailee doubles with one out, and Ryleigh follows with her second homer of the game. To the bottom of the seventh with the Shocks leading 8-0.

The Bears get a one-out triple and score on a single. The "singler" rounded first too far and was thrown out back at first on a relay from left field.


Shockers 8-1 Missouri State

Erin allowed the one run, giving up five hits and one walk. She had eight strikeouts.

Among the eleven hits by the Shocks were two home runs by Ryleigh (with six RBI) and a double by Bailee. Sydney and Butters each had two singles

[1972Shocker]

I saw that scoring also, but I think all six of the runs are unearned: single, ground ball error (first out), fly out (second out), infield single (with Lauren only advancing to third - so even if the ground ball had advanced her, she would not have scored), walk to only load the bases if no error (so no earned run in an errorless inning), strikeout (third out). After that, the flood gates opened. I think no earned runs. Sorry, the explanation is probably a bit hard to follow.

You are probably right. I did not even give it any thought. Just looked at the official scoring totals for the MSU pitcher.

[1972Shocker]

The bottom of the pitching pecking order for Missouri State is on to start the seventh. Bailee doubles with one out, and Ryleigh follows with her second homer of the game. To the bottom of the seventh with the Shocks leading 8-0.

Gee, I wonder who the player of the game will be. Of course, Erin will deserve kudos for her effort in the circle as well. I vote for co-players of the game. Ryleigh and Erin.

Nice start to the tournament for the Shocks. Hope they keep it going. Need to gets some payback against TAM-CC.
.
Caitlyn and Hailey ptiched the first 4.1 against TAM-CC in the prior game giving up 5 runs. BaileyL pitched 2.2 scoreless innings to close out that first game.

I imagine we will see BaileyL in today's gaine with TAM-CC. Shocks need to score more than 1 time this go round.

[flyingMoose]

Texas A&M - Corpus Christi v Shockers


Caitlin gets this start. Ryleigh moves up to fifth in the order, and Wylie is in left field. Hoyt, a different pitcher this time around, is in the circle for the Islanders.

An ugly start for the Shocks. With one out, error, single, single, throwing error (on pickoff attempt it appears), walk, other stuff that results in four runs, all unearned. In the bottom of the first, an error followed by a two-run homer by Butters halves the lead. 4-2 Islanders after one.