Opening Weekend of the 2017 NCAA College Softball season was full of great action. There were upsets and stand-out performances across the country and even across the border. Here are ten things that stood out to us. All rankings are based on the FPN preseason rankings.
Alabama junior pitcher Alexis Osorio threw the fourth perfect game in program history with a school-record 19 strikeouts in a 6-0 shutout over Coastal Carolina on Friday night at the Kickin’ Chicken Classic. Osorio’s 19 strikeouts break the previous school record of 18 shared by Shelley Laird and Stephanie VanBrakle. All but two of the defensive outs in the game came via strikeout, including a streak of 12 straight to start the game.
The Stetson Hatters opened the 2017 season with a pair of victories Friday, defeating Akron 11-5 and Savannah State 7-1 at Patricia Wilson Field. With the win in game two, head coach Frank Griffin earned his 900th career coaching victory. He is the 29th coach in NCAA Division I history to reach that milestone. “It means a lot, but frankly I am just happy we are 2-0 on the season,” Griffin said. “That is much more important. That is a great way to start the season.”
Washington got off to a good start opening weekend, defeating Auburn 2-1 and Oklahoma 1-0. The Auburn upset was led by sophomore pitcher Taran Alvelo, who pitched 10 innings and struck out 13 batters. Against OU, the Huskies lone run came from Van Zee in the bottom of the second inning where she hit her first home run of the season. The Huskies were able to hold back the Sooner offense for the remaining five innings. Alvelo totaled for two strikeouts and five hits, causing the Sooners to leave six runners on base. Washington finished the weekend in Puerto Vallarta with a 3-1 record, their one loss came from BYU on Friday.
The Michigan Wolverines had a tough first weekend at the Wilson-Demarini Tournament. The Wolverines dropped a pair of games on Saturday, first losing to Florida in a 10 inning toe-to-toe match-up. Senior pitcher Megan Betsa struck out 12 batters, walking six, and gave up six hits through 10 innings pitched. Michigan then fell to USF where the Wolverines jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first but were unable to add on. USF used a four-run sixth inning to complete the comeback, defeating Michigan, 6-4. The Wolverines bounced back on Sunday, run-ruling St. John’s, 12-2, in five innings.
The Minnesota Gophers completed their opening weekend at the Texas Longhorn’s Stadium with a five-game sweep. The Gophers defeated both Maryland and Texas twice over the weekend as well as Colorado State. The Gophers used four pitchers over the weekend and proved that their staff has depth and is a force to be reckoned with this season. The Maroon and Gold will compete in the ACC/B1G Challenge down in Raleigh, N.C. next weekend.
Florida State finished their opening weekend 5-0 at the Unconquered Invitational. The Seminoles closed out their weekend with a 7-0 win over Marshall on Sunday. It was their second victory against Marshall during the weekend. The other three wins came from matchups against Lipscomb and Furman twice. “I am really excited about the adjustments that we made throughout the weekend after going through so many different situations,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “We needed to see that we can be in tight games and make mistakes and be able to bounce back against quality teams like Marshall, Furman, and Lipscomb.
Although we already touched on Florida beating Michigan 2-1 the Gators pitching staff appears to now be four deep. Over the weekend they used all four pitchers who combined for a 0.21 ERA and a 5-0 record. They racked up 46 strikeouts in just 33 innings of work. Leading the way was senior Delanie Gourley (2-0). The new face to this staff is freshman Katie Chronister (1-0). The Gainesville, FL native only gave up one hit is her first college start in a 9-0 win over Delaware.
It was a home run derby for Fresno State (4-1) against Stanford when they belted six home runs in a 24-8 route of the Cardinals (4-2). The Bulldogs’ 20 hits in the game were one short of the program record, set in Fresno State’s 1998 National Championship season. New coach Linda Garza was excited to see her offense execute saying “We were relentless at the plate. We made adjustments and found ways to keep the pressure on our opponent. I’m eager to match up with some quality programs next weekend in Mexico. Our goals are to always come out and compete, pitch-by-pitch, and to attack early and often.”
Liz Carter of Texas A&M Corpus Christi threw her second career no-hitter. The Austin native was dealing all day for the Islanders, striking out nine and surrendering just two walks. Carter on her approach to the game “I was not going to pitch timid today. If they hit it, they hit it. I think I was worrying too much earlier in the weekend. I just focused on hitting my spots and showing them who I was.” The question is when did she realize she was on track for a possible no-hitter “I think I realized what was happening in the fifth inning. I didn’t want to think or speak about it, but I knew we were going to win, even if they got a hit off of me. When I went back out there in the sixth and seventh innings, the reality of it hit me.”
UCLA (5-0) was impressive this past weekend outscoring opponents 48-2. That included a five-inning 8-0 win over Notre Dame. Senior Delaney Spaulding was on fire at the plate going 12-17 to post a .706 batting average with six RBI, two home runs, two doubles and a triple. In the circle freshman, Rachel Garcia went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 10 innings of work. In two games she surrendered just six hits and held opponents to a .171 batting average.
