Shocker SB at South Alabama Invitational

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers head to Mobile for four games at the South Alabama Invitational hosted by the Jaguars. The Shocks play Dartmouth on Friday at noon, Bowling Green and South Alabama on Saturday at 1215pm and 415pm and Bowling Green again on Sunday at 10am.

The Dartmouth Big Green have been the Ivy League champions the past two years. They open their 2016 season at this tournament. Although the Ivy League does not do preseason conference rankings or preseason all-conference teams, the site collegesportsmadness.com does pick all-conference - for a large number of conferences. From Dartmouth, they chose Katie McEachern as the Player of the Year for the Ivy and Morgan McCalmon as Pitcher of the Year. Others on the first-team are Maddie Damore and Karen Chaw.

Bowling Green is a member of the twelve-team Mid-American Conference - six in the East Division and six in the West. The Falcons were a preseason pick for last in the East. They have a 3-5 record after tournaments at Cleveland State and Kennesaw (GA) State where they lost a game to Bradley. Their early season leaders on offense are Marisa Shook and Hayley Schrock, each with an OPS greater than 1.000. Shook has four homers and an OPS of 1.707. Kiley Sosby has half of the eight starts in the circle.

The host Jaguars, the reigning Sun Belt Conference tournament champions, are a pick for second place this year of the nine teams. Pitcher Devin Brown, infielder Emily Messer and outfielder Stephanie Pilkington were chosen for the pre-season all-conference team. Their current record is 6-4 with Messer having an OPS of 1.326. Both Brown and Destin Vicknair have an ERA just at or below 1.50.

The Shockers record is 4-6. The offensive leaders are PaigeL with an OPS of 1.353 and Liz at .993. Will Brittany be available for full-time duty this weekend? Kaitlyn and Jenni are getting most of the innings, but there has only been one complete game thus far in the season.

As of now, the LiveStats links appear only on the Jaguar schedule - eventually, we trust.

[flyingMoose]

The writeup from the Shocker site is here.

LiveStats links are Dartmouth, Bowling Green-Sat, South Alabama, and Bowling Green-Sun.

[flyingMoose]

Game One

Kelsey has the start against Dartmouth. Brittany is back in left field, and Liz is the DP. MackenzieW is at third, and Cassidy is catching. Kelsey is at short ahead of Laurie Anne.

Dartmouth scored in the bottom of the first on a single, sac, wild pitch and single. In the top half, the Shocks had runners at first and second on a two-base outfield error and a walk, but Kelli was thrown out on the front end of a double steal for the second out of the inning and the threat fizzled. Although the opposition is running wild against us, we are now 3 of 8 on stolen base attempts, a number of them on unsuccessful double steal attempts.

In the Shocker third, a passed ball on strike three and Kelli's double put runners in scoring position with one out, but a foul out and line out ended that threat.

Jenni came out to start the bottom of the third. Kelsey gave up one run on three hits and a walk in her two innings. I sure hope Ryne has worked hard on the mental side of his pitching staff given the quick hook that is being used. Jenni gives up a walk among her four batters.

Dartmouth lead 1-0 after three complete.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks pounce for a 6-spot in the top of the 5th to go up 6-1.

Kelsey pitched the first two innings and then was relieved by Jenni to start the 3rd inning.

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers came to life in the top of the fifth. Cacy led off with a homer. After an out, an Ashley walk, Kelli single and MackenzieW single loaded the bases. Brittany scored two runs (somehow - I suspect the runner from third was ruled to have scored on the ground ball, and the runner from second score on the errant throw) on a throwing error on her ground ball. PaigeL scored two more runs with a single. An error by the left fielder scored PaigeL to complete the scoring. Six runs on five hits and two errors during the inning.

Dartmouth singled but was scoreless in the bottom of the fifth.

Shocks lead 6-1 after five complete.

[1972Shocker]

Final:

Wichita State - 6R, 7H, 0E, 6LOB
Dartmouth - 1R, 4H, 3E, 6LOB

WP - Jenni Brooks (4-1) 5 IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 3K

Kelli Spring 3-4 in the 1 spot.

[flyingMoose]

Final:

Wichita State - 6R, 7H, 0E, 6LOB
Dartmouth - 1R, 4H, 3E, 6LOB

WP - Jenni Brooks (4-1) 5 IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 3K

Kelli Spring 3-4 in the 1 spot.

And Kelli got a stolen base in the sixth!! :)

[flyingMoose]

Game Two

Jenni started this game against the Falcons of Bowling Green. Apparently not satisfied with the offensive production of the freshmen Laurie Anne and Kaylee at shortstop, Kelli is there with Liz at second and Macklin as the DP.

Jenni gave up a solo shot in the bottom of the second, but the Shocks got two of their own in the top of the third when PaigeL doubled home Kelli and Brittany, both of whom had singled.

In the fourth, the Shocker added four more runs. Singles by Macklin and Cassidy and a sac bunt by Ashley set the stage. Kelli's single scored one run, MackenzieW's single scored two and Brittany had a double for another run.

In the bottom half, Jenni completely lost her touch. A walk and four consecutive singles scored two runs for the Falcons, and brought Ashlynne to the circle. She got out of the inning with three ground ball outs, two of those force outs at the plate. The Shockers led 6-3 after four complete.

Bowling Green got an unearned run in the fifth, and the Shocks countered with three in the sixth. Kelli and MackenzieW led off the inning with singles. Then Brittany, Liz and Cacy followed with RBI singles, Cacy's apparently a squeeze bunt single.

Katie came on to start the seventh in the circle. She loaded the bases on a hit-batter and two singles, but got out of the jam on a flyout and an unassisted double play by Kelli at short on a pop fly.

Shockers 9-4 Bowling Green


Kelli, MackenzieW and Brittany all had three hits with a double by Brittany. Cacy had two hits including a double. MackenzieW, Brittany and PaigeL all had two RBI. Ashlynne got the win, giving up an unearned run on two hits and one walk in three innings of relief. The Shockers stole nine!! bases. However, five of those were with runners at first and third and possibly should have been scored as runner's indifference. Of the other four, Kelli and Mackenzie had two apiece.

[flyingMoose]

Game Three

Katie had the circle in this game against South Alabama with the same lineup as earlier except for McKenzieA replacing Macklin as the DP.

In the top of the first with two outs, a single by Brittany, walk to PaigeL and single by Liz plated a run.

Cassidy homered to lead off the fifth to tack on another run. The host Jaguars got their first hit of the game in the bottom of the inning. Shocker led 2-0 after five complete innings.

In the sixth, PaigeL singled and Cacy tripled her home. South Alabama got two more singles in the sixth and seventh inning but never had more than one base runner on the entire game as Katie hurled a three-hit shutout. She gave up two walks and had two strike outs.

Shockers 3-0 South Alabama


The Shocks only had five hits themselves with the homer by Cassidy and triple by Cacy being the big blows. This was Katie's first win of the season and her second complete game. She has both CG by the Shocks this year.


The Shockers complete their tournament schedule with a game against Bowling Green at 10am Sunday.

[1972Shocker]

Nice to see Katie get back on track.

[flyingMoose]

Nice to see Katie get back on track.

Yes, makes you wonder what is happening with her - very up and down. The win is especially nice because the Jaguars were ranked 24 or 25 in at least one poll early in the season.

[flyingMoose]

Game Four

The Shockers completed an undefeated weekend in Mobile with a run-rule win over Bowling Green.

Katie got the start again with McKenzieA as the DP again.

The Shocks struck early with a three-spot in the bottom of the first. Kelli opened with a single and moved around on a sac bunt and ground out. PaigeL brought her home with a single. After a single by Liz, Cacy doubled home one a second run and the third scored on an illegal pitch. The inning ended on a failed double steal :) with Cassidy at first and Cacy at third.

In the bottom of the third, the Shockers put up five more runs. Cassidy had an RBI single, Bethany Canada delivered a pinch-hit two-run double, Ashley had an infield single that drove in a run, and Brittany scored the last run of the inning with a sac fly.

Three more runs in the fourth gave the Shocks a comfortable lead of 11-0. Kelli had an RBI single, as a pinch hitter PaigeM walked and "drove" in a run and Macklin's pinch hit single scored another.

The last out of the game is not recorded (another drop-dead game stoppage because of flights?), but Katie and the Shocks appear to be credited with a win. Katie gave up three unearned runs in the inning, including a two-run homer.

Shockers 11-3(5) Bowling Green


Katie gave up the three unearned runs on four hits and a walk as she earned her second win. She struck out three.

Among the twelve hits by the Shocks were three by Ashley and two by Kelli and Cacy. The ten RBI were scattered among nine players. The Shocks were the recipients of seven walks.


Next the Shockers have a "conference-type" weekend against Nebraska in Lincoln - two games on Saturday and one on Sunday.

[flyingMoose]

Records for the Weekend

4-0 Shockers
2-2 South Alabama
2-3 Dartmouth
1-4 Bowling Green