College Softball News

Top 7 Softball Games of 2017

There were some thrilling moments and games at all levels in Softball. It is tough to just pick a few but here are the top games of the year in Softball.

No. 7: Scrap Yard Dawgs vs. USSSA Pride  Game 3 NPF Championship Series.

The Scrap Yard Dawgs claimed their first Cowles Cup in franchise history with a 5-2 win over the USSSA Pride in the winner-take-all contest of the final series in the 2017 NPF Championship held at Tiger Park on the LSU campus on August 20th.
Rookie Kasey Cooper had the big hit with a two-run home run in the sixth inning that gave the Scrap Yard Dawgs the lead for good.  Monica Abbott pitched her second complete game of the day, limiting the Pride to two runs off four hits while striking out 11. It was Abbott’s two-hit, 14-strikeout performance earlier in the day that forced the decisive third game.
Abbott was named MVP of the NPF Championship series. The Tennessee alum and Scrap Yard Dawgs ace limited foes to 15 hits and struck out 56 over 29 innings in the tournament.

No. 6: LSU Eunice vs. Jones County  JUCO DII National Championship Game
On May 20th, LSU Eunice and Jones Country played one of greatest JUCO National Championship games ever. LSU Eunice trailed 7-5 entering the bottom of the sixth inning. The Bengals would start the late comeback in the sixth inning scoring a run to cut the deficit 7-6. They completed the rally in the bottom of the seventh and knocked in the final two scores of the game capped off by a walk-off squeeze bunt to down Jones County (MS) 8-7 and win the 2017 NJCAA Division II Softball Championship.

No. 5: North Dakota State at No. 10 Oklahoma Norman Regional Game 2 May 19/20

The North Dakota State-Oklahoma game started the day before but play only lasted 15 minutes before rain and lightning forced the game to be suspended until Saturday afternoon. Officially, the delay was 21 hours and eight minutes. But North Dakota State got off to a fast start and a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Vanessa Anderson launched a two-run home run to right center. Oklahoma tied the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on Fale Aviu’s two-run single. The game would go into extra innings before the Bison took the lead 3-2 and would pull off the shocker in nine innings to knock the Defending National Champs into the loser bracket game.

No. 4: Tulsa at No. 10 Oklahoma  Norman Regional Game 6  May 21, 2017

Down to its final three outs of the season, The defending National Champions Sooners were down 4-2 to Tulsa, but freshman Nicole Mendes would start the comeback with a leadoff single to right field on the first pitch of the inning. Clifton batted next and powered a 0-1 pitch beyond the wall in left field to tie the game at 4-4; it was Clifton’s eighth home run of the season.

The pressure continued as sophomore Shay Knighten pushed a 1-2 offering from Tulsa’s Emily Watson through the right side. On the very next pitch, Romero drilled a towering walk-off blast to left field to give the Sooners a walk-off victory and force a winner take all game in the Norman Regional which the Sooners would go on to win.

No. 3 No. 12 Ole Miss  at No. 5 UCLA – Super Regional Game 1 May 25

 Ole Miss ace Kaitlin Lee was one strike away from delivering Ole Miss a win in Game 1 of its super regional against UCLA in the seventh inning.

Lee was one strike away getting the Rebels a win again in the 10th. She was one strike away from getting out of the 11th inning. But each time UCLA found a way to stay alive.

Ole Miss which was down 4-0 earlier in the game, struck for five runs in the top of the 6th inning to take a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the 7th with Rebels still leading 5-4 and one strike away from victory, Ole Miss pitcher Kaitlin Lee threw a wild pitch that scored Spaulding to tie the game, and the teams went to extra innings.

Ole Miss struck again for two runs in the top of the 10th, but the Bruins responded with two runs on Bubba Nickles hit to deep right off the wall and scored both Crawford and Maurice to tie the game while Nickles advanced to third on the throw home with two strikes and two outs. Paige Halstead couldn’t drive in Nickles, and the game went to the 11th where the Bruins would win it on a walk-off RBI hit by Madeline Jelenicki to give UCLA 8-7 win. The Bruins would win Game 2 to advance to the Women’s College World Series.

No. 2: No. 15 Baylor at No. 2 Arizona: Super Regional Game 3  May 28

Baylor’s Shelby McGlaun left the home crowd at Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium stunned with a seventh-inning, game-winning three-run homer to send the Bears to the Women’s College World Series with a 6-5 win to knock off No. 2 Arizona.

The game featured several ties and lead changes, with a furious Arizona rally in the fifth and sixth innings putting the Wildcats in position to win it. But a leadoff double followed by an intentional walk to start the seventh put the go-ahead run at the plate in McGlaun, and she delivered with a rocket to dead center.

The Bears became the fourth team of the eight Super Regionals to drop Game 1 but come back to win the next two after Florida did it at home and LSU and Texas A&M did it on the road.

No. 1: No. 10 Oklahoma vs. No. 1 Florida – Game 1 WCWS Championship Series

On June 6th, The longest game ever played in Oklahoma City took place.

Shay Knighten hit a three-run homer off Kelly Barnhill in the top of the 17th inning to give the Sooners a 7-5 victory over Florida in Game 1 of the championship series.

The game had many different momentum changes. Oklahoma was up 2-1 with two outs and two strikes against Florida’s Sophia Reynoso in the bottom of the seventh, Reynoso popped the ball up. It dropped, and Alesia Ocasio scored from first to tie the game and force extra innings.

In the 12th inning, Knighten would double off Gourley with no outs, and Fale Aviu followed with a two-run homer to put the Sooners up 4-2, setting up Florida’s second comeback.

After Lowary re-entered the game with two outs in the 12th, Amanda Lorenz, down to her last strike, knocked in two runs to tie the score at four. But The Gators would not be able to get over the hump and lose the longest played game at five hours and 19 minutes. The Sooners would go on to win the National Title in Game 2. It was the Sooner’s fourth national championship.

 

To Top