Georgia softball head coach Lu Harris-Champer recorded her 1,000th career win after the Bulldogs took down Cal State Fullerton 6-4 on Saturday night. Harris-Champer is in her 21st season coaching and her 17th year leading the Bulldogs in Athens. She spent her first four seasons as a college coach split between Nicholls State and Southern Miss. Under her reign, her teams have been to five Women’s College World Series, nine Super Regionals and 19 Regionals. Harris-Champer also hit the landmark in her home state of California.
It was a weekend full of wins for the Texas A&M Aggies at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. Over the weekend the Aggies earned wins against Long Beach State, Florida State, Arizona State, BYU, and Michigan. The opening day 5-0 win against Long Beach State gave head coach Jo Evans her 800th win at Texas A&M. Evans, who is in her 21st year with the Aggies program, holds an 800-394-2 record and has led the Aggies to 15 consecutive NCAA Regionals.
Oregon softball remains undefeated with a 14-0 record after another weekend of play. The Ducks Sophomore pitcher Megan Kleist tossed the first no-hitter of her career on Saturday afternoon with a 17-0 team win against Hawaii. In the Saturday afternoon match-up, the Oregon offense erupted for 17 runs on 14 hits to complete an undefeated weekend at the Bank of Hawaii Invitational.
The Minnesota Gophers remain undefeated on the season after sweeping up the competition at the Bulldog Classic this weekend. The Gophers moved to a program-best 14-0 start on the season, after a 12-2 victory in five innings against Idaho State on Sunday afternoon. Minnesota heads to Baton Rouge, La. for their fourth tournament of the season next weekend. They will play Troy, FAU, LSU and Illinois State.
The University of Florida softball team recorded its sixth shutout in seven contests with yet another dominant pitching performance as the team downed Lehigh 5-0 on the final day of the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The Gators (15-1) jumped out in front early over the Mountain Hawks (3-2) which allowed sophomore pitcher Kelly Barnhill to settle into a groove. Barnhill faced a total of 13 batters through four innings and recorded 11 strikeouts compared to just one walk with no hits.
Florida State finished up their last 20 hours of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic with matchups against three top 15 ranked opponents. On the final day of competition, the Seminoles earned a 2-1 win over UCLA and then ended the day with a 5-5 tie with Michigan- due to a drop dead time for travel. The win and the tie altered the Seminole record to 14-1-1 on the year. The Seminoles are now 3-0 on the season against teams in the Pac-12 conference, after earning victories this weekend over Stanford, Arizona and UCLA.
James Madison snapped Auburn’s 13 game win streak on Sunday afternoon at the Tiger Invitational. JMU junior pitcher Megan Good shined in the circle the entire weekend for the Dukes. In the Sunday matchup against Auburn, Good struck out 10 batters, gave up one hit, notched her fifth shutout of the season, and improved to an overall 8-0 record. It was also the first time Auburn has been shut out since April 17, 2015. The Dukes trek to Orlando, Fla. this upcoming weekend for the Diamond Tournament held at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports.
Utah Softball- who was undefeated on the season going into Sunday play, suffered its first setbacks on Sunday at the Mary Nutter Classic. The Utes dropped a pair of one-run contests, 3-2 to San Diego State and 1-0 to Cal State Fullerton. The pair of losses came after the Utes blanked LSU in a 3-0 victory on Saturday, and defeated Tennessee 3-0 and Houston 8-0 in six innings on Friday. Next up for Utah Softball is the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, AZ this weekend.
Indiana Softball swept both games of the final day in the Samford/UAB Tournament, defeating Murray State, 6-4, before shutting out UAB, 2-0. The Hoosiers (6-8) finished the weekend with a 4-1 record in Birmingham, after also picking up wins against Iowa State and UAB on Friday. Freshman Pitcher Emily Goodin tossed a no-hitter against UAB, the first for Indiana since March of 2016. The Hoosiers lone loss of the weekend occurred on Saturday to Samford. The Hoosiers return to action next weekend as they travel to Fullerton, Calif. for the Judi Garman Classic. Indiana will face off against Washington, Fresno State, South Carolina, Long Beach State and California in the event.
Notre Dame had quite the weekend on the softball field. The University of Notre Dame softball defeated the defending National Champions, the Oklahoma Sooners, on Saturday at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. This was their second signature victory of the weekend after the Irish defeated the Georgia Bulldogs on Friday evening. In the final game of the weekend against OU, a pair of late home runs, including a solo blast off the bat of freshman Katie Marino in the seventh inning, was the knockout punch for the Irish to secure the 5-4 win.
