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Shocker SB at Aggie Classic

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  • Shocker SB at Aggie Classic

    The Shockers open their 2016 campaign this weekend in College Station at the Aggie Classic. Other teams in addition to the host RV26/24 Texas A&M are 7/7 UCLA and Colorado State - a stout field to begin the season.

    The Shocks open the tournament at 10am Friday against Colorado State. Their other Friday game is at 515pm against A&M. Saturday games are a second game against the Rams at 10am and then UCLA at 1215pm. On Sunday they have their second game against the Aggies at 1215pm.

    Tournament Central is here. LiveStats are here (although it appears the same link is used for all the games of the tournament). If you get the SEC Network at your house, the A&M games should be available.

    Colorado State are a preseason pick for seventh among a tightly bunched 6-7-8 in the nine-team Mountain West Conference. Fresno State is the perennial power in the MWC. The Rams finished 8-16 in the conference last year, good for seventh place. Infielder Haley Hutton is a returning all-conference honoree who had an OPS of .851 last year. Infielder Savannah Clark and catcher Jaelyn Manzanares are other returning offensive threats. Holly Reinke returns and led the pitching staff with 28 starts last year.

    UCLA are a preseason pick for second of the nine teams playing softball in the Pac-12. Seven of the nine are ranked in at least one of the polls. The Bruins return six starters and three pitchers (although they graduated the vast majority of their innings in Ally Carda) from a team that advanced to the WCWS last year. Both outfielder Allexis Bennett and infielder Delaney Spaulding are on the preseason Player of the Year watch list. Bennett was a first-team All-American last year and Spaulding was a second-teamer.

    Texas A&M return eight starters from a team that finished 12-12 in the SEC last year. They are picked ninth of the thirteen teams in their conference. Tori Vidales hit 20 homers last year with an OPS of 1.276. Cali Lanphear with nine home runs is another returning offensive threat. Katie Marks should lead the pitching staff.

    The Shockers, 16-11 in the Valley last year, are the preseason pick for first this year with four other teams not far behind. They have three preseason picks for the all-conference team in Brittany Fortner, Cacy Williams and Mackenzie Wright. Katie Malone should lead the pitching staff.


    For me, the most interesting thing to watch early in the season is the impact of the new pitching coach, Ryne Stefankiewicz, a grad assistant at WCWS Auburn last year. Auburn shared their innings close to equally among three pitchers last year. They kept the ball down and away and were not reluctant to change pitchers if the one in the circle was not hitting her spots. From watching a few fall games, it appears the philosophy will be the same for the Shocks regarding location. Is the talent of the Shocker staff sufficient to use the same pitcher-change approach? As I said, it will be interesting to watch.
    Last edited by flyingMoose; February 12, 2016, 08:59 AM. Reason: Katie, not the other way

  • #2
    Game day article, mostly a team overview

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    • #3
      Tournament writeup from Shocker Web site

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      • #4
        Game One

        In the Friday 10am game against Colorado State, Jenni gets the start. Laurie Anne Derrico at short and Kaylee Huecker at third are freshman starters. Mackenzie Wright, who spent most of her year at third last year, is the catcher.
        Last edited by flyingMoose; February 12, 2016, 11:00 AM.

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        • #5
          The play-by-play has turned into the play-by-half-inning - after the half-inning, you get all the plays.

          After three complete, the Shockers lead 1-0. In the top of the first, Brittany doubled and PaigeL followed with a triple. Runners reached second and third with one out in the second, but a line out and ground out ended the threat. Jenni has given up two hits and has three strikeouts.

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          • #6
            In the fifth inning, not only did play-by-play return, but pitch-by-pitch made its initial appearance.

            The Shocks scored another run in the fifth when Mackenzie reached on an error and advance to third on an infield single by Kelli. A failed double steal advanced Kelli to second where she scored on another double by Brittany. Through five, Jenni has given up two hits and three walks, two of those in the fifth with two outs, and has struck out four.

            The Shocker lead is now 2-0 after five complete innings.

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            • #7
              Shockers 3-0 Colorado State

              When Macklin Hitz came up to pinch-hit in the sixth, I thought, Here comes a home run. And as she has in the past in pinch-hitting roles, she delivered.

              Katie came on in the sixth for a hitless two innings to finish up the win for Jenni and earn a save, maybe.

              (The LiveStats just disappeared for this game in preparation for the next game. More details from a box score to follow?)

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              • #8
                Nice to see the pitching off to a solid start.

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                • #9
                  WSU, CO State Final Score

                  I saw the stats awhile ago & it looked like WSU was ahead 5-1 or 5-2. I wasn't sure if the game was over or not because it shows WSU's 2 pitchers had pitched 6.1 or 7.1 innings. I also thought it showed the Jenni Brooks relieved, but didn't start, but maybe I just read it wrong. The stats have now disappeared because a different game is going on now.

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                  • #10
                    @xazshox:, indeed the final score was 3-0. Perhaps you were seeing the hit totals which were 5-2 in favor of the Shocks.

                    From the box score/play-by-play:

                    Katie's two innings with two strikeouts was marred only by an error. She is credited with a save. Jenni's totals in her win were two hits, three walks and four strikeouts over five innings.

                    Four of the five Shocker hits were for extra bases led by Brittany's two doubles. There were no hits outside of the scoring innings, although the Shocks did receive four walks not involved in the scoring.

                    Their next scheduled game is a 515pm start time against Texas A&M.

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                    • #11
                      Box Score for the Colorado State Game.

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                      • #12
                        Updates

                        72, & Moose, many thx for the updates. It's interesting to see how the new pitching coach used 2 pitchers in the 1st game. Perhaps they will both have more left for the other games to come this weekend. It was also interesting to see 2 frosh in the lineup: Huecker & Derrico. It will be interesting to see how Kristi B uses other players on the roster in this opening relatively rigorous weekend of games.

                        I was out running errands so it was not able to keep up with the game stats in Game 1. However, I did manage to find a very good Valentine's Day present for my wife!

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by xazshox View Post
                          It's interesting to see how the new pitching coach used 2 pitchers in the 1st game. Perhaps they will both have more left for the other games to come this weekend.
                          From the play-by-play, it seems the pitching change was more out of necessity than by design. With two outs and no one in the bottom of the fifth, Jenni walked two in a row before the getting the final out on a fly ball to left. All three of these batters reached a full count. It appears she was running out of gas.

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                          • #14
                            Other Friday Scores

                            UCLA 6-5 Colorado State
                            Trailing 4-1, the Bruins exploded for five runs in the bottom of the fifth and held on for the win.

                            The next game, UCLA and A&M, is running at least 45 minutes behind schedule. The Shockers and A&M probably will not start until after 6pm.

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                            • #15
                              Shocks battling early. Gave up 1 in the first but get a walk, sacrifice with an error and WP to tie it up in the top of the 3rd.

                              BOOM! 2-1 Shocks! 2 out hit by Paige Luellen to give the Shocks the lead!

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