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Newcomer of the Year
All of the stats used in this thread are conference-only. This will be roughly half of the games a team has played, so the small sample issue should be minimized. Also, using conference-only stats is the best apples-to-apples comparison available.
Mackenzie has a strong argument for this award. There appear to be only two other candidates: Erika Zimmer of Missouri State and Erika Hansen of Bradley.
Mackenzie has an OPS of .952 and a BA of .398. She is eleven of twelve in stolen base attempts. She was NOW once. Her eleven errors may factor into some votes.
Erika Zimmer is a freshman outfielder for Missouri State. Her OPS is 1.031 with a BA of .432. Although described as a slapper, she has more extra base hits than Mackenzie, including one home run. She is twelve of thirteen in stolen base attempts. Although never a NOW, she has the advantage of her team finishing higher in the standings than that of the other two candidates.
Erika Hansen is a freshman outfielder for Bradley. She has an OPS of .940 and a BA of .353. This Erika was NOW three times.
Just looking at the numbers, I would put these ladies in ErikaZ-Mackenzie-ErikaH order. We shall see.
I think awards are announced on Wednesday. -
Top Four Seeds
#1 Drake (19-8)
The Bulldog offense is led by Rebeka Schmidt (OPS of 1.037), Megan Sowa (1.012) and Hayley Nybo (.974). The team OPS is .810. They have the best staff (staff being a team's top two innings-pitched pitchers) in the conference with Schmidt (ERA of 2.23 and WHIP of 1.00) and Nicole Newman (1.51 and 0.97). (Again, pitchers are listed in innings-pitched order.)
#2 Missouri State (17-9)
Erin Duewel (1.416 and nine HR), Chelsea Jones (1.041), Erika Zimmer (1.031) and Mary Stephens (.989) lead the offense for the Bears. The team OPS is .835. The pitchers are Erin Struemph (2.41 and 1.26) and Jones (2.96 and 1.47).
#3 Northern Iowa (15-10)
The leading hitters for the Panthers are Chelsea Ross (1.155), Rikki Alcaraz (.992 and eight HR), Caitlin Wnek (.928) and Macey Wolfe (.916). The team OPS is .869. The workhorse of the pitching staff is Ross (3.37 and 1.32) with Alyssa Buchanan (2.01 and 1.42) also getting innings.
#4 Shockers (16-11)
Brittany (1.129), Macklin (1.118 and five HR), Cacy (1.083 and five HR) and Mackenzie (.952) lead the offense for the Shocks. Macklin stepped into the DP role about one-third of the way into the conference schedule, so she has not played the full complement of games that the other names listed in this thread have. The team OPS is .838. Katie (2.66 and 1.36) and Jenni (2.83 and 1.55) are the pitchers.Last edited by flyingMoose; May 4, 2015, 10:07 AM.Comment
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I find the single elimination format to be quite the crapshoot. Personally, I would rather see them have only the Top 4 teams make the tournament and play double elimination over 3 days.Comment
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Next Four Seeds
#5 Southern Illinois (15-11)
The Saluki hitting is led by Merri Anne Patterson (OPS of 1.184 and six HR), Kalyn Harker (1.182), Shaye Harre (.936) and Meredith Wilson (.907). The team OPS is .808. Harker's BA of .466 leads the conference. Katie Bertelsen (ERA of 4.03 and WHIP of 1.50) is the pitcher for this team. Harre has nine starts in conference play but only 28 innings.
#6 Bradley (15-12)
Shannon King (1.106 and five HR) and Erika Hansen (.940) are the leading hitters for the Braves. The team OPS is .826. Their pitchers are Alyson Spinas-Valainis (3.31 and 1.32) and Jaelen Hull (3.23 and 1.60).
#7 Illinois State (14-12)
The Redbirds easily have the highest team OPS at .946. The offense is led by Jordan de los Reyes (1.326 and ten HR), Regan Romshek (1.274 and eight HR) and Annie Heineman (1.048 and five HR). Two other hitters have an OPS just less than .900, my arbitrary cutoff for these posts. With this offense, pitching is obviously their weak spot. Romshek (4.63 and 1.67) and Sarah Finck (3.91 and 1.68) share time in the circle.
#8 Indiana State (13-13)
Megan Stone is the only hitter of note for the Sycamores with an OPS of 1.398 and eight HR. They have the lowest team OPS in the tournament at .781. Taylor Lockwood (4.29 and 1.47) and Yvette Alvarez (3.47 and 1.69) are the pitchers.Comment
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Yes, the team with their pitcher having a great weekend is usually the winner. A double-elimination format requires more depth in a pitching staff. In either case, the Drake pitching staff would give them an advantage.Originally posted by 1972Shocker View Post
An aside. With uncertain weather this weekend and if the tournament is not completed, I believe the highest remaining seed gets the automatic bid.Comment
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I finally figured out that Nicole Newman, one of the Drake pitchers, is also a freshman. With her record (7-1) and an ERA of 1.51 and WHIP of 0.97, she may have better numbers than the hitters. She has been NOW twice and Pitcher of the Week twice.Originally posted by flyingMoose View Post
And Zimmer has been NOW once, a correction from the original post.Comment
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Looking more and more like this could come into play. Any chance they might push everything back a day and finish up on Sunday if need be?Originally posted by flyingMoose View Post
With the skin infield I assume they can only play through the lightest of rains.Comment
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This is Selection Sunday, so I am sure there is a cutoff of some kind for the Valley submitting their conference representative. With the Valley being a one-bid conference (the Shockers have the highest RPI at 103), the NCAA may just hold the slot until Sunday. But I doubt it.Originally posted by 1972Shocker View Post
The field is not just dirt of course, there is a special formulation and a base so that it will drain well and take a lot of moisture. Also there is a tarp to cover the infield and plate area - I am sure it is covered as I type. Even though baseball is in town, I would think the full crew is available to put diamond-dry on a wet field and to work it to get it playable again after a rain. So unless there is just constant rain, I suspect they will get the tournament in. We may be playing at 2am some night, but they will get it in.Comment
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The awards are announced during an Awards Banquet, appropriately enough. There is a live feed of the banquet (they are eating at 620pm - only an out-of-focus Valley logo which is probably the podium is in the picture) in the middle of the linked page under Latest Videos.Originally posted by flyingMoose View PostComment
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Awards
Most Valuable Player - Megan Stone, Indiana State
Most Valuable Pitcher - Rebekah Schmidt, Drake
Defensive Player of the Year - Melanie Jaegers, Wichita State. This is a new award this year.
Newcomer of the Year - Erika Zimmer, Missouri State
Freshman of the Year - Nicole Newman, Drake
Coaching Staff of the Year - Drake, Rich Calvert, Head CoachComment
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All-Conference Shockers
First Team:
Brittany Fortner
Melanie Jaegers
Cacy Williams
Mackenzie Wright
Second Team:
Liz Broyles
Katie Malone
Kelli Spring
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Congratulations to the Shocks All-Valley selections. Pretty good haul. Especially happy for Shocker Senior Melanie Jaegers.Comment
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Is it really that hard to get these things right? I had a busy morning, didn't get to the yard and wanted to check the score.Originally posted by flyingMoose View Post
There is no mention if the first game is final (I think it is) and there is no recap or box score and if you click the stats you get a mix-mash of 2 different games with nothing that makes any sense at all.
Frustrating in this day and age.
Apparently Indiana State beat SIU 5-3 which I suppose is a marginal assist to WSU in their quest to advance later this afternoon, but we'll see.
EDIT: My frustration is with the Valley keeping 1 website updated, and not with @flyingMoose: who along with @1972Shocker: have been fantastic at updating us fans and supporting softball (amongst many other Shocker programs).Comment
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Please tell me there isn't a song after every batter.......
Correction, it's a song for every pitch apparently. Perhaps they'll get tired after a couple of innings of pure annoyance.Last edited by WuDrWu; May 7, 2015, 01:26 PM.Comment
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