Shocker SB v Indiana State

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers host the Sycamores this Friday and Saturday to continue their conference season. Due to Easter weekend, conference games are moved up one day. The Friday DH starts at 3pm, and the single game on Saturday has an 11am start time.

With the conference passing the half-way point with the games this weekend, conference-only stats are being used in this post. That has the advantage of comparing against like competition (more or less), but has the disadvantage of using small sample sizes, causing the numbers to be pretty volatile.

Indiana State has an overall record of 18-19 and are 3-9 in the Valley. They were swept in their opening conference weekend against Illinois State. The following Monday, the coach was replaced due to "approach" issues that had been previously discussed with the AD. With an assistant coach taking the reins, they rallied the following weekend to take two from Northern Iowa, but then were swept by Drake before taking one from Missouri State.

Leslie Sims has an OPS of .915 to lead the Sycamore offense. (Again, conference-only stats.) Only one other player has an OPS greater than .600. Kenzie Ihle and Kylie Stober have shared the dozen conference starts. Ihle has an ERA of 3.21 with a WHIP of 1.58. Stober's numbers are 4.74 and 1.68.

Katie has eight of the starts for the Shockers. Her ERA is 2.11 with a WHIP of 1.17. Jenni has the other starts. Her ERA is 3.86 and WHIP is 1.71.

During conference, Madison has a massive OPS of 1.423 (small sample sizes again) and four homers. Mackenzie is at 1.192 with two homers. Others above .900 are Laurie (.943 and three homers) and Kelli (.902).

The conference schedule for the Sycamores is more front-end loaded than that of the Shockers. Indiana State conference opponents have a record of 28-20 while the record of the Shockers opponents is 18-30. This is the last conference opponent for the Shocks that has a (going into this weekend) losing conference record.

[1972Shocker]

With Katie Malone picking up her 20th win last weekend surpassing her previous season high of 19 wins in her sophomore season I thought I would compare Katie's stats with those of other top Shocker pitchers.

I couldn't get the Softball Fact Book to open but I did find individual career numbers on the Stat Archive page.

#1 on the list has to be Margo Pruis. Margo was 14-5, 20-8. 20-13, 23-12 in her 4 years as a Shocker compiling a career record of 77-38 which is also one of, if not the best winning %, in school history. She is the only 3 time 20 game winner in Shocker history.

#2 on the list is Lindsay Craig who was 72-50 in her career and had was 21-14 in 2004 and 22-8 in 2005. The interesting thing is that Lindsay's Jr. and Sr. years overlapped Margo's Fr. and So. years. I guess it is easy to see why Tim Walton was so successful at Wichita State. Tim inherited Lindsay but he brought in Margo. Lindsay and Margo were a combined 42-16 in 2005.

#3 on the list is Patty Bautista who was "only" 48-61 in her career but Patty does own the single season record for wins with 24 in 1989 when she went 24-15.

Ashley Bright is the only other Shocker 20 game winner. She went 21-16 in 2008 and finished 31-27 in her 2 years at Wichita State. I believe Ashley was a transfer from Cowley County CC.

So Katie Malone has become only the 5th pitcher in Shocker history to reach the 20 win season milestone with this being the 8th time a Shocker pitcher has reached that milestone. Katie's career record heading into the Indiana State series is 70-33 which at .6796 is just slightly better than Margo Pruis' .6696 career winning percentage. The Shocks have at least 18 games remaining on the schedule (subject to cancellations).

So Katie has a very legitimate shot at the season wins total record (she needs 5 more) and the career wins total record (she needs 8 more) and she might even have a shot at an outside shot at a 30 win season. She also could be hold the career winning percentage record as well.

Not to take anything away from Katie but it is possible she has been the beneficiary of playing with a pretty stout offensive teams supporting her. Patty Bautista, despite a career record of 48-61, had a career ERA of 1.71. Not sure how you lose 61 games in a career with a 1.71 ERA. Poor hitting and/or poor defense and good ptiching teams I guess. Lindsay Craig's career ERA was 1.84, Margo Pruis' was 1.99 and Ashley Bright was at 2.02 in her two years. So these were very good pitchers. Katie's career ERA is 3.52 at this point with her current year ERA to date at 2.34, by far her best mark.

Hopefully, they will get the Fact Book back up and running to make checking these season and career records easier.

[flyingMoose]

Game One

Katie is in the circle for the Shocks, and Kenzie Ihle for the Sycamores. The Shocker lineup is Mackenzie-5, Kelli-7, Madison-2, Macklin-3, Laurie-6, Mauriana-4, McKenzie-9, Cassidy-DP, Ashley-8. Paige is slumping a bit, so Cassidy is going to get her shot at a spot in the lineup after the nice game she had against Kansas.

Off to see this one (both of them?) live.

[1972Shocker]

Off to see this one (both of them?) live.

Look forward to your always astute eye-witness commentary.

Shock get off to a very rocky start as Indiana State put up 6 runs in the top of the 1st on 5 singles (2 of the infield variety), one walk and 3 big Shockers errors one by Kelli Spring at 2B and two by Mackenzie Wright at 3B. All 6 runs were unearned due to the errors.

[WuDrWu]

Nice comeback for the win Shocks! Really looking forward to @flyingMoose:'s recap!

[1972Shocker]

And now for the rest of the story.

The Shocks were still trailing 6-0 as the entered the bottom of the 4th. Katie still in the circle.

In the Shocker 4 Lauri Derrico hit a solo home run with 2 outs Mckenzie Adams and Asea Webber (PH for Cassidy Kelsheimer) hit back-to-back doubles to plate anther run as the Shocks pulled to within 4 runs at 6-2.

In the Shocker 5th with the top of the lineup leading off Mackenzie Wright walked, Kelli Spring advanced her to 2nd with a sac bunt and Madison Perrigan walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Macklin Hitz doubled to score Mackenzie and advance Madison to 3rd. Laurie made the 2nd out of the inning with fly to RF but it was deep enough to score Madison. Paige Luellen walked and then McKenzie Adams delivered a 2-out 2-run triple to right center to tie the game at 6-all before Bethany Canada grounded out to end the inning pinch hitting for Ashley Johnson.

In the Shocker 6th the Shockers ended up with runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out on a walk to Mackenzie and a bunt single by Kelli with both runners advancing a base on "the throw". I didn't see the play so @flyingMoose will have to fill us in or you can check the repaly later. My guess is Mackenzie went to 3rd on the throw to 1st which Kelli beat and then when the INS 1B threw to 3rd to try to get Mackenzie then Kellin went to 2nd. There was no error on the play so I'm just guessing that may be what happened. I'm sure @flyingMoose or the replay will straighten me out on that. In ancy case, the Shockers had a golden scoring opportunity to take the lead set up. However, Madison and Macklin grounded out to SS and popped to 2B respectively. With 2 outs Laurie managed to beat out a grounder to SS scoring Macknenzie with the go ahead run and moving Kelli to 3rd. Paige Luellen then doubled to right center scoring both Kelli and Laurie and the Shocks found themselves up 9-6 heading to the 7th.

Katie, of course, had to make it a bit interesting with the wind howling out to LF as she gave up a couple of singles to LF to bring the tying run to the plate with 1 out but got a fly out to LF and a 4-3 ground out to finish off the game and picked up her 21st win of the season.

I think that is called doing it the hard way. Katie gave up 13 hits and a walk and her teammates pitched in with the 3 first inning errors and somehow she walks away a winner and to top it off she lowered her ERA as all 6 runs were unearned. She might want to run over to the Kwik Shop at 21st and Oliver between games and snag a few lottery tickets.

[1972Shocker]

UNI swept Bradley today 1-0 and 5-0 to go to 10-4 in conference play.

Missouri State split a pair with Evansville today winning 2-1 and losing the 2nd game 1-3 to go to 9-5 in conference play.

SIU split a pair with Loyola 1-0 and 2-3 to go to 9-5 in conference play.

Illinois State's games with Drake have been pushed back due to weather. The game that was supposed to start at 2:00 is now scheduled to start at 6:00 and they may have to play the DH tomorrow. Illinois State at 9-3 in conference plays has a favorable matchup with 3-9 Drake.

Huge comeback form the Lady Shocks in Game 1 but they need to take game 2 as well to keep pace with MSU and Illinois State.

[1972Shocker]

Game Two

Jenni Brooks gets the start in the circle fo the Shocks. Kylie Stober for the Sycamores.

Asea Webber in the DP spot for the Shocks as HCKB continues to search for someone to take that position and make it their own. So far no one has been able to do that.

Shocks draw 1st blood scoring 2 unearned runs on an error, an infield hit, a couple of walks and 3 wild pitches with both runs scoring wild pitches. Clearly those runs were pretty much a gift from the Sycamores.

[xazshox]

6th inning = Game 1

72, I'm pretty sure you've got it right regarding how the 2 WSU players ended up at 2nd & 3rd base. After that, WSU was very good to get a safe call that allowed Derrico to get to 1st base.

[1972Shocker]

Indiana State scratches out a run in the top of the 3rd to pull to within 2-1.

The Shocks let a good scoring opportunity get away from them in tehe 2nd and looked like they might do the same. However, a solid 2-out opposite field single by Laurie scored Kelli from 3rd and moved Madison from 2nd to 3rd. Not sure what Madison was doing on that play but thought she should have scored. Looks like she might have froze to see if the line drive was caught. Of course, with 2 outs she should have been running hard on contact especially on a ball hit to RF.

Mckenzie Adams walked to load the bases and Asea Webber delivered a big 2-out triple with a sharp grounder right over the 1B bag and down into the RF corner. Ashley then greeted the Indiana State relief pitcher with a solid single to center to score Asea and the Shocks are up 7-1 after 3 innings.

Indiana State is small balling the Shockers to death and very effectively. They added 2 runs without a ball leaving the infield.

[1972Shocker]

Jenni finished with her best stretch of the game retiring the last 8 batters she faced and recording 9 outs in doings so.

Shocks win 7-3. Jenni picks up her 2nd win of the season in her 2nd consecutive start. She tends not to give you a lot of rocking chair moments but it is really nice not to have to totally rely on Katie to carry the pitching load.

[flyingMoose]

Look forward to your always astute eye-witness commentary.

Shock get off to a very rocky start as Indiana State put up 6 runs in the top of the 1st on 5 singles (2 of the infield variety), one walk and 3 big Shockers errors one by Kelli Spring at 2B and two by Mackenzie Wright at 3B. All 6 runs were unearned due to the errors.

The Shockers started with their slapper defense - the 2B Mauriana moves to the left side, Kelli comes in from LF to play the 2B position and McKenzie moves from RF to LF, leaving right field wide open. Mauriana simply did not get back and under the ball, battling the wind and the sun. Then a bloop single is off the end of the glove of the sliding Ashley in center field. The Sycamores next pulled off a double steal. The throw to second was intercepted by Mauriana, but the throw back to the plate was a little offline. The runner slid by Madison, but she did not reach back to tag the runner who promptly got to her feet to touch home and score the run. Continued ugliness from a Shocker point-of-view. After the walk, a hit that Katie slowed down with a hit resulting, was a potential DP ball to Mauriana's right - a force out for sure. With the bases loaded and the infield pulled in for a slapper, Laurie made a diving stop to her left. The best she could do was get the force at second, but a very nice play. After a ground ball to center field and a soft serve into right center scored two more runs, Mackenzie made errors on consecutive ground balls, a bunt and a slap. On the first, her throw was high and Macklin pulled her foot away from first base on her stretch up for the throw. HCKB appealed and the umpires gathered, but the call stood. It looked right live, and the umpire is blocking the center field replay camera, so there is no help there. On the second, the ball took a funny hop, but the play has to be scored an error. Next, a humpback liner was knocked down by Mauriana just behind second. She could not get the force there, but Laurie's throw home got the runner who was originally on second for the last out of the inning. The Sycamore coach disagreed, and I think I agree with her.

[flyingMoose]

And now for the rest of the story. The Shocks were still trailing 6-0 as the entered the bottom of the 4th. Katie still in the circle.

Early on, Ihle either threw below the waist or above the shoulders - not much in between. And we helped by swinging at some really bad pitches - Mauriana and Cassidy both struck out on some. In the top of the third, Macklin made a nice catch of a windblown foul pop. In the top of the fourth. Laurie made a nice pickup of a throw by Katie on a sac bunt - a throw that was headed for center field.

In the Shocker 4 Lauri Derrico hit a solo home run with 2 outs Mckenzie Adams and Asea Webber (PH for Cassidy Kelsheimer) hit back-to-back doubles to plate anther run as the Shocks pulled to within 4 runs at 6-2.

Laurie's homer in the fourth, a pitch that appeared to be on the outside corner, was a line drive into the netting - no help needed from the wind. Later in the inning McKenzie doubled over the center fielder's head, and Asea pinch-hit for Cassidy and doubled down the right field line. This was an especially nice piece of hitting by Asea. She was made to look bad on a change early in the count, but smacked her double on another change later in the at-bat.

In the Shocker 5th with the top of the lineup leading off Mackenzie Wright walked, Kelli Spring advanced her to 2nd with a sac bunt and Madison Perrigan walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Macklin Hitz doubled to score Mackenzie and advance Madison to 3rd. Laurie made the 2nd out of the inning with fly to RF but it was deep enough to score Madison. Paige Luellen walked and then McKenzie Adams delivered a 2-out 2-run triple to right center to tie the game at 6-all before Bethany Canada grounded out to end the inning pinch hitting for Ashley Johnson.

Kelli moved to second, McKenzie moved to left and Paige, who had pinch-hit in the bottom of the fourth, became the right fielder. The Shockers caught a break in the top of the fifth. With runners on the corners and one out, Kelli managed to to tag the runner coming from first, did a 360 and got the inning-ending double play on a very close play. If the runner just stops, a run will almost certainly score.

Madison barely beat the throw to the plate on the sac fly by Laurie. McKenzie's triple was a hard ground ball between the second baseman and the bag that rolled to the fence. The Sycamores play a comparatively shallow outfield which played into both of McKenzie's hits.

In the Shocker 6th the Shockers ended up with runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out on a walk to Mackenzie and a bunt single by Kelli with both runners advancing a base on "the throw". I didn't see the play so @flyingMoose will have to fill us in or you can check the replay later. My guess is Mackenzie went to 3rd on the throw to 1st which Kelli beat and then when the INS 1B threw to 3rd to try to get Mackenzie then Kellin went to 2nd. There was no error on the play so I'm just guessing that may be what happened. I'm sure @flyingMoose or the replay will straighten me out on that.

More or less. The pitcher fielded the bunt which Kelli beat out. Observing nobody covering third, Mackenzie kept on going. Except the third baseman still had time to get back to third. Mackenzie stopped a few feet short of the bag, the momentum of the third baseman caused her to stumble past the bag and drop the ball, and Mackenzie tip-toed to the base on what was still a very close play. Loose baserunning, but the Shockers survived.

With 2 outs Laurie managed to beat out a grounder to SS scoring Mackenzie with the go ahead run and moving Kelli to 3rd. Paige Luellen then doubled to right center scoring both Kelli and Laurie and the Shocks found themselves up 9-6 heading to the 7th.

Live I wondered if Laurie was safe. Slo-mo replay indicates she probably was not, but the throw was short-hopped and that makes for one more sound for an umpire to process. Very, very close play that went the way of the Shockers.


Asea is going to be the starting DP tomorrow, I can almost guarantee it.

[flyingMoose]

I was talking during Game Two, so I don't have many notes. Let me see if I can come up with anything in the morning. The game was certainly much more straightforward than Game One.

[flyingMoose]

Illinois State's games with Drake have been pushed back due to weather. The game that was supposed to start at 2:00 is now scheduled to start at 6:00 and they may have to play the DH tomorrow. Illinois State at 9-3 in conference plays has a favorable matchup with 3-9 Drake.

The Redbirds swept Drake.