Minnesota Gophers A Dark Horse
Dark horse, noun; a candidate or competitor about whom little is known but who expectedly wins or succeeds. The NCAA College Softball selection show aired on Sunday night. The top-16 Team’s in order of RPI were announced as the Regional hosts. For those who don’t know, RPI stands for Rating Percentage Index. RPI is the quantity used to rank the DI softball teams based on team wins, losses, and strength of schedule. One team who was not listed in the top-16 as a Regional host was last week’s No. 2 ranked team in the country, the Minnesota Gophers.
The University of Minnesota Gophers are having a historic 2017 season. The Gophers won their first B1G Regular Season Title since 1991 to conclude the regular season. This past weekend, the Gophers won the B1G Tournament Championship Title in Ann Arbor, their second in a row. Earlier in the week, the B1G Conference Awards were announced and Minnesota swept all four individual awards. Head Coach Jessica Allister was named B1G Coach of the Year. Senior pitcher Sara Groenewegen tabbed Pitcher of the Year for the second time in her career. She was also just named as a Top 10 finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. Freshman catcher Kendyl Lindaman was named B1G Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year, and was named a finalist for the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year. The Gophers also had 15 players receive All-B1G honors, setting a program record.
After learning their fate on Sunday night at the very beginning of the selection show, Minnesota will be heading to the Tuscaloosa Regional. The Gophers head to Alabama with a program-best record of 54-3 and will take on Louisiana Tech in game one at 1:30 p.m. CT on Friday. Alabama is the No. 16 seed and will face Albany at 4 p.m. CT on Friday. This will be the Gophers 12th NCAA Tournament appearance.
The Gophers head to Alabama on a 25-game win streak. The Maroon and Gold are no strangers to playing away from home. They went 38-3 on the road with 20 true road victories so far this season. They will be looking to add three more this weekend.
We at Fastpitch News favor the Minnesota Gophers to come out this Regional for a number of reasons. First, they will be coming in with a chip on their shoulder after being snubbed from the Regional Host list. Second, the Gophers know how to win on the road. Minnesota spent the first eight weeks of their season traveling to venues all across the country. Third, this Gopher team is talented. They have one of the best pitchers in the country leading the way in the circle. Sara Groenewegen has a 0.59 ERA, is 30-2 on the season, and has tallied 280 strikeouts in only 190 innings pitched. The Gopher offense is strong with two players batting .400 and another five batting over .300.
The Minnesota Gophers are the dark horse in the Alabama Regional, which is not a new role for the team. The Gophers have been underdogs all season long. It’s a role they know well, one they are comfortable being in, and one they can play and win in. Dark horse, noun; a candidate or competitor about whom little is known but who expectedly wins or succeeds. Minnesota will plan to do just that this weekend, win and succeed.
