2017 Tuscaloosa Regional Preview
Maybe the most controversial regional the tournament will start May 19th at 2:30 PM ET with unseeded Minnesota (54-3) facing Louisana Tech (37-22). Game two will be at 5:00 PM EST and feature the 16th seed Alabama (42-16) and Albany (27-16). ESPN will be broadcasting all games of the 2017 tournament.
Top Seed
Alabama is the top seed here coming in at No. 16 despite losing five of their last eight games. They did go 2-1 in the SEC tournament losing only to Ole Miss. They were a bubble team to host heading into last weekend and their wins over Arkansas and Texas A&M may have been what pushed them into the top 16. On the season they have relied heavily on their pitching staff to wins games. Offensively they have had issues scoring runs at times. They come into the regional batting .285 as a team. They have also lacked power with nobody having more than eight home runs on the season and as a team, they have just 35. Leading the way is Bailey Hemphill who is batting .324 with eight home runs and 39 RBIs. The Tide have only scored more than four runs two times in their last 19 games in wins over Samford and UAB. Run production will play a big role for them to advance. Pitching is their strength and they have a good in Alexis Osorio (21-7). At times this season, she has been nearly unhittable. Coming into the regional she holds a 1.29 ERA. They also have Sydney Littlejohn (15-8) with a 1.36 ERA.
Best Shot at the Upset
This one is pretty easy, Minnesota has the longest winning streak in the country at 25, has the best record in the country, the third best batting average (.350) and the second-best team ERA (1.18). They are led on offense by freshman star Kendyl Lindaman. Lindaman comes in with a slash line of .438/.608/.942. She has 20 home runs, 74 RBIs and 60 walks on the season. In the circle, they have Sara Groenewegen (30-2) who is second in the nation in ERA (0.59) with 280 strikeouts over 190 innings.
Players to Watch
Alex Osorio from Alabama has been critical in the Tide’s success this season. As stated above there are times this year that batters have had a tough time getting anything going against her. Opponents are batting just .119 against her this season. From Albany, watch for Elizabeth Snow who is currently batting .439 with 13 home runs and 46 RBIs. Lousiana Tech’s Taria Page leads the team in RBI (39) and is second on the team in home runs (4). For Minnesota, it is catcher Kendyl Lindaman. She has bee solid all season long for the Gophers and may actually get more pitches to hit in the regional.
Prediction
Despite being the lower seed, Minnesota should be favored to advance out of the region. They will have their hand’s full being on the road and facing a strong pitching staff. If it is Alabama vs. Minnesota and the get Osorio vs. Groenewegen it should be a very tight game. In the end, if Minnesota hits like they have all season, they could come out on top. The Tide need to find a way to drum up more runs and that may be hard to do against Groenewegen.
