5 Things You May Have Missed in College Softball Friday
Make that 20 in a Row
The Minnesota Gophers won their 20th straight game with an 11-1 win in six innings over Penn State Friday night. That gave Minnesota at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title for the first time since 1991. “It is an honor to be able to call ourselves Big Ten champions,” senior pitcher Sara Groenewegen said. “Especially since its regular season and that hasn’t happened since 1991. It is a pretty special feeling. This championship wasn’t won by just us. It was won by all of the players who helped create a championship culture in the past five years. They helped create a gritty work ethic and it has finally paid off. We can’t wait for tomorrow’s game.”
Rebels Roll
Ole Miss cruised to a 6-0 win over Missouri behind a complete game shutout by Kaitlin Lee. With its 14th shutout of the season, Ole Miss broke the record for most shutouts in a season, topping the previous mark of 13 by the 2005 and 2016 teams. It was the first win ever for the Rebels over Missouri in Columbia. Elantra Cox is now just three hits away from breaking the school’s single-season hits record (77).
BYU Clinches
BYU secured the WCC title after defeating Santa Clara 3-1 in the second game of the doubleheader. This is the ninth conference championship in a row for the Cougars, spanning four conferences. “This team has been special all year,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “The two wins today showed the same resiliency and fight we’ve had all year. Winning the conference is a great accomplishment, and we look to build on that.” BYU won the first game of the doubleheader 5-0.
Auburn outlasts Alabama
In front of a packed Rhoads Stadium record crowd of 4,015, Auburn grabbed a nine-inning win behind Kaylee Carlson who tossed a complete game shutout to guide the team to a 3-0 victory over in-state rival Alabama. “My mentality was to try to not make any mistakes, to try to not give them any free bases, not allow them to score any runs because it was going to take us how long it was going to take us to get runs,” stated Carlson.
UCLA Explodes against Arizona
The Bruins struggled early, making outs in each of their first eight at-bats, the Bruins came back with eight hits in their next 16 at-bats, including a game-ending home run by freshman Bubba Nickles to give UCLA an 8-0, five-inning victory on Friday at Easton Stadium. Don’t look now but the Bruins have now won nine straight as we get closer to the post-season. Rachel Garcia improved to 16-7, striking out four in five shutout frames, allowing just two hits. It will be interesting to see how Arizona responds tonight.
