10 Things You May Have Missed in College Softball This Weekend
The 2017 NCAA College Softball regular season is wrapping up. Conference tournaments are set to begin this upcoming weekend followed by NCAA Postseason play. This past weekend was full of team sweeps and stand-out performances all across the country. Here are ten things that stood out to us at Fastpitch News.
The Arizona Wildcats closed out the regular season with a bang, defeating 12th-ranked UCLA 7-2 to clinch its 11th conference championship in program history, and first since 2007. With the victory, Arizona improved to 48-7 (18-6 Pac-12), its highest regular season win total since 2004 (53). The 18 conference victories mark the most since 2003 (19). The Cats will take a week off, before learning their postseason fate on Sunday, May 14 at 7 p.m. MST on ESPN 2. Due to committee rankings, the Wildcats are likely to host both regionals and super regionals for the first time since 2011. The Pac-12 Championship auto-bid clinched Arizona’s 31st straight NCAA Tournament appearance, a new NCAA record.
The University of Minnesota Gophers beat Penn State 10-1 to complete their seventh B1G sweep and eighth conference series win. They closed out the regular season with a 22-game win streak, are 51-3 overall and 22-1 in the Big Ten. Senior pitcher Sara Groenewegen got the nod in the circle on Sunday and went three innings with seven strikeouts. She is now 27-2 on the season with a 0.60 ERA and 256 strikeouts. Freshman catcher Kendyl Lindaman continued her record breaking season. She was walked four times in the game and now has the Gophers single season walk record with 52 walks this year. She already owns the Gophers single season home run record. The Gophers clinched the B1G Regular season title after Saturday’s victory, their first regular season title since 1991. Minnesota will head to Ann Arbor, Michigan next weekend for the B1G Tournament where they will have the No. 1 seed.
Tennessee scored early and often for an 8-3 victory in the rubber match against Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon at the Aggie Softball Complex. Meghan Gregg hit a grand slam in the second inning and finished the day with five RBIs to move into fourth on UT’s single-season RBI list with 71. Brooke Vines also had a good day at the plate with a hit and two RBIs as the Vols finished with nine hits and scored eight runs for the second consecutive game. Vol pitcher Matty Moss earned the win in the circle to improve to 23-2 on the season. Caylan Arnold came in during Sunday’s game and tossed three innings of relief. Tennessee begins postseason play in the SEC Tournament on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The Vols will be the No. 3 seed and play the winner of the 6/11 matchup, which will take place on Wednesday.
The University of Michigan softball team closed out the regular season in dominant fashion, scoring multiple runs in every inning in a 20-0, five-inning decision at Rutgers on Sunday afternoon at the Scarlet Knights’ Softball Complex. It marks the Wolverines’ ninth straight win and fifth series sweep in Big Ten Conference play. Michigan scored a season-high 20 runs on 19 hits, including six doubles and four home runs, upping its weekend total to nine long balls in three games. Ten different Wolverine players tallied hits, while six boasted multiple hits, most notably sophomore second baseman Faith Canfield, who recorded a career-best four hits and three RBI. Senior centerfielder Kelly Christner was just a triple shy of the cycle in a 3-for-4, two-RBI effort at the plate. Senior pitcher Megan Betsa (23-7) earned the win from the circle to become just the fourth pitcher in Michigan program history to reach 100 career victories. The Wolverines will host the 2017 Big Ten Tournament next weekend and are the No. 2 seed.
Alabama defeated Auburn 3-2 on Sunday afternoon in front of a third-consecutive sellout crowd at Rhoads Stadium. Over 4,000 fans packed the stands on a sunny Sunday afternoon as Alabama (40-15, 12-11 SEC) used a three-run third inning to overcome an early Auburn (45-9, 17-7 SEC) run in the top-half of the same inning. Gabby Callaway posted her second straight multi-hit game, going 2-3 batting third and scoring the Tide’s first run of the day on a RBI single in the third before Marisa Runyon followed that with a two-run double. Both of Auburn’s runs came on solo home runs by Senior Haley Fagan. Alabama begins postseason play at the 2017 SEC Tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee this upcoming weekend.
The Princeton softball team was crowned as back-to-back Ivy League Champions after sweeping Harvard this past weekend. Last year, the Princeton softball team became the first team in Ivy League Championship Series history, which goes back to 2007, to win the title on the road, taking two of three from Harvard. This year, the Tigers had to make sure the Crimson didn’t return the favor. The back-to-back Ivy titles and NCAA bids are Princeton’s first since 2005 and 2006, and it also made coach Lisa Van Ackeren the third coach in Ivy League history to win two Ivy titles in her first five seasons, joining Princeton predecessors Cindy Cohen and Maureen Barron. Princeton will learn its NCAA tournament destination next Sunday, May 14 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The 64 teams that make the NCAA regionals will head to 16 sites for a double-elimination tournament May 19-21.
The Fresno State softball team extended its season-best winning streak to six games on Sunday afternoon at Margie Wright Diamond with a 3-1 victory over New Mexico as the Bulldogs completed its second straight Mountain West series sweep. The Bulldogs (32-20, 12-8 MW) remain in contention for an outright MW title. Sophomore Kamalani Dung (23-12, 2.08 ERA) completed her 26th game in the circle, striking out six and allowing four hits, two walks and an unearned run. She threw all 19 innings for the Bulldogs over the weekend, going 3-0, including her MW-best eighth shutout, with a 0.37 ERA, 19 strikeouts and allowed opposing hitters a .167 average. She also gave up only three walks and three extra-base hits over the three-game series. Dung has pitched every inning and has earned the win in each of the last six games for the Bulldogs. Junior Savannah McHellon, who leads the team with 12 multi-RBI games, belted her team-leading 10th home run of the season and drove in another run on a RBI single to increase her RBI total to 44 this season. Fresno State heads to Fort Collins, Colo. to face Colorado State Thursday through Saturday in the Bulldogs’ final MW series of the season.
Washington won the series against Stanford on Sunday after a 10-2 win in five innings. Six Huskies combined for the team’s 13 hits on the day, the third-most hits in one game this season. Julia DePonte, Morganne Flores and Sis Bates led the offense with three hits apiece. Flores knocked in five RBIs in Washington’s five-inning rout over the Cardinal. Huskie pitcher Taran Alvelo showed her abilities once again in the circle, striking out three and giving up only two runs during the five innings. After the win, Alvelo moves to 25-6 on the season. The Huskies will conclude regular-season play next week, in Salt Lake City, Utah, when they face the Utah Utes. The series will begin Thursday, May 11 at 6 p.m. PT.
The University of Florida softball team wrapped up the 2017 regular season with a pair of wins over North Texas (8-1) and Florida A&M (7-0) at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. The Gators (50-5) finished the regular season with their ninth 50-win season in program history, all of which have come under head coach Tim Walton. Florida picked up its first win of the day, 8-1, to complete the series sweep of North Texas (25-30). Sophomore Kelly Barnhill threw five innings and recorded 11 strikeouts while only relinquishing one run to the Mean Green. In game two, Florida racked up 10 hits on its way to the 7-0 victory over Florida A&M (18-29-1), which included three extra-base hits and five stolen bases. Senior Delanie Gourley received the start and struck out the first seven batters she saw swinging. The Lakeside, Calif. native threw 4.2 innings and struck out 13 batters before Barnhill relieved her. Barnhill pitched 1.1 innings with three strikeouts and Aleshia Ocasio capped the game in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts in the seventh. The 18 strikeouts on the day tied the Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium record set by Barnhill against Winthrop (3/16/16) last season. Next up for the Gators is the SEC Tournament in Knoxville, Tenn. with the first game scheduled for Thursday, May 11 at 2:30 p.m.
The Oregon softball team completed a series sweep of No. 2 Florida State on Sunday, with senior Danica Mercado scoring the winning run on Senior Day to give the Ducks a 2-1 win in nine innings before another sellout crowd of 2,517 in Jane Sanders Stadium. The Ducks saw their streak of four straight Pac-12 titles end Sunday when Arizona clinched the 2017 championship with its win over UCLA. But Oregon (44-6) should be in strong position for the right to host the first two weekends of the postseason after sweeping the Seminoles (48-6-1). “It’s the greatest feeling in the world,” said UO catcher Gwen Svekis, whose sacrifice fly drove home Mercado. “We had a tight game, and this is when all the preparation against Arizona, and Washington, and UCLA — tight games, extra-inning games — paid off.” Coming up this week, the Ducks begin the final weekend of the regular season at Stanford on Thursday.
