Shocker SB at Long Beach State Louisville Slugger Invitational

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers travel to greater Los Angeles to play in the LBS Invitational starting tomorrow. There are eleven teams in this tournament which is played at three sites in or near Long Beach. The Shocks play Boise State and RV/RV Cal State Fullerton on Thursday. Friday's games are against RV/- Stanford and 14/13 UCLA. All of these games are played in Lakewood, a bit north of Long Beach. Saturday's game against Utah Valley is played at Cal State Fullerton.

The Broncos of Boise State are members of the Mountain West Conference where they were a preseason pick for sixth of nine teams. Their record is 5-10 with one of the wins coming last weekend against Indiana State in extras. They have a record of 1-3 against other teams in this tournament. Freshman Rachel Rodriguez is getting more innings than anyone else on the staff. Their hitting is led by Devon Bridges and Makenzie Sullivan, also a freshman.

Cal State Fullerton are members of the Big West Conference where the Titans are a preseason pick for a close second behind Long Beach State. Their record is 9-6 with a win against Boise State and a loss to Utah Valley among teams in this tournament, both run-rule games. Desiree Ybarra and Christina Washington are getting most of the innings in the circle. Courtney Rodriguez and Missy Taukeiaho, the 2014 Big West POY, are the leading hitters.

The Stanford Cardinal is picked at the bottom of the nine Pac-12 teams that play softball - but then five of the teams were ranked in the Top 20 in the preseason polls. Their 9-8 record includes a run-rule win over Bradley, a split of two games versus 3/4 Alabama and a win over Oklahoma State. Kayla Bonstrom, Jessica Plaza and Leah White all have an OPS greater than 1.500. Haley Snyder and Madi Schreyer have almost all of the Cardinal pitching innings.

UCLA is picked second in the preseason Pac-12 poll, trailing Oregon by one point. The Bruins began the season higher, but are now 14/13 in the polls. Their record is 13-4 with one of the wins against Boise State. Ally Carda and Johanna Grauer have most of their innings in the circle with Alexis Bennett and Delaney Spaulding lead the hitting.

Utah Valley is a member of the WAC where they were picked fourth of six teams. The Wolverines have a win over Cal State Fullerton and a loss to Bradley in their 5-5 record. Bailey Moore has pitched the majority of their innings while Dynasty Lauval leads the hitters.

The Shocker writeup of the tournament is here.

The Shocker's first game Thursday against Boise State is at 1pm CT with the Fullerton game at 6pm.

[Shoxtastic]

A MUCH tougher field this week than last week. Hopefully the team plays up to the competition.

[flyingMoose]

Katie is the starter against Boise State. Cacy is in right, Macklin is at first and Paige is the DP. The remaining positions are unchanged from recent games.

[Shocker-maniac]

@MWCsoftball: FINAL: Wichita State 4, Boise State 2. Shockers (8-7) come up with a 4-run bottom of the 7th for the win. Broncos are now 5-11 overall.

[1972Shocker]

Gametracker appears to have locked up or the operator departed in the bottom of the 4th. I didn't see any rain on the radar so I don't think it is a weather issue.

Shocks were down 2-0 at that point after Boise State scored 2 in the top of the fourth.

Katie not pitching poorly but her own error and a walk to lead off the 4th setup Boise State's 2-run inning. A sac bunt moved the runs over to 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. A ground out to 3B scored the 1st run and moved the runner on 2nd to 3rd. After an infield single failed to advance the runner, Katie gave up a 2-out RBI single to RF to make it 2-0 before getting a strike-out to end the inning.

Macklin Hitz walked to lead off the bottom of the 4th for the Shocks and that's when GameTracker stopped from whatever reason.

However, according to Boise State's web site the Shocks did come back to win this game by a 4-2 score.

Here is the Box Score

[1972Shocker]

@MWCsoftball: FINAL: Wichita State 4, Boise State 2. Shockers (8-7) come up with a 4-run bottom of the 7th for the win. Broncos are now 5-11 overall.

The 4-run rally by the Shocks all came with 2 outs as Ashley Johnson and Cacy Williams grounded out leading off the inning. Here is the sequence that followed:

Kelli Spring singled to LF,
Brittany Fortner singled to LF, Kelli advanced to 2nd
Liz Broyles singled to right center, advanced to second on the throw, RBI; Brittany advanced to third; Kelli scored (WSU 1 - BSU 2)
Macklin Hitz then ended the game with 3-run walk-off home run to left field (WSU 4 - BSU 2)

Katie Malone picked up the win allowing 7 hits, 2 walks and 2 unearned runs.

The Shocks have shown an ability to comeback for late game wins but that's not the easiest way to go about it but it is exciting.

[1972Shocker]

GoShockers.com: Boise State Game Report

[flyingMoose]

We have two options for the LiveStats for the Fullerton game: GT from the Shocker site (probably from the LBS site, actually) or Presto (a new one to me) from the Fullerton site. Since GT bombed out in the earlier game, we may need the Fullerton link.

The Boise State v Seattle game went extras and finished a few moments ago. If it was on the same field as the Shocker 6pm game, that would explain the delay.

[flyingMoose]

The Fullerton LiveStats link has the game. There are no changes in the field. Jenni started and lasted five batters, two walks among three base hits, and Kelsey came on to relieve. An illegal pitch scored one run and a single scored the fourth run of the inning. Kelsey then got out of the inning on a fly out double play to Brittany in left.

The Shocker loaded the bases on a single by Brittany, walk to Liz and a single by Macklin, but Paige fanned.

Fullerton leads 4-0 after one.

[flyingMoose]

Base runners, but no runs in the second and third.

Fullerton still leads 4-0 after three complete.

[flyingMoose]

And no runs in the fourth. Kelsey is doing well, giving up three hits and two walks in her four innings of relief work.

[flyingMoose]

In the fifth, Kelsey escapes a second-and-third-with-no-outs jam. Still 4-0.

[flyingMoose]

After giving up the two hits in the fifth, Kelsey appears to run out of gas in the sixth. Four singles score two runs for the Titans. A walk loads the bases and a double scores two more runs. An infield single scores the fifth run of the inning. (Why hasn't Jenni reentered? Maybe because the last three runs have scored with two outs.) A single scores a sixth run before a fly out ends the inning.

Fullerton now leads 10-0 as we go to the bottom of the sixth where the Shocks are three-up, three-down.

Cal State Fullerton 10-0(6) Shockers


The Shockers only managed four singles, two of those in the first inning. Jenni lasted five batters, and Kelsey lasted five innings before the roof caved in.

Tomorrow the Shocks play Stanford at 4pm followed by UCLA at 630pm.

[1972Shocker]

Stanford Live Stats.

I'm not sure what the purpose of the live stats link on GoShockers.com is.

Katie surrenders 2 runs on 4 hits to the Cardinal in the bottom of the 1st. Stanford leads 2-0 after 1.

[flyingMoose]

The Shocks get a run in the top of the third on Cacy's single, a bunt single by Kelli and two ground outs. Stanford changed pitchers after the two singles to leadoff the inning.

Stanford lead 2-1 after three complete.

Layne is in left and Brittany is the DP in this game.