The opening weekend Saturday games of the 2017 NCAA College Softball season were full of great action. There were upsets and stand-out performances across the country and even across the border. Here are five things that stood out to us. All rankings are based on the FPN preseason rankings.
After throwing her fourth career no-hitter during Friday’s season-opening victory against Purdue, Cal Poly senior, Sierra Hyland pitched a perfect game Saturday morning in an 8-0 win over Creighton at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona. It was the second perfect game Hyland has thrown in her career.
The Florida Gators defeated the Michigan Wolverines 2-1 in a 10 inning toe-to-toe battle at the USF Softball Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The combination of sophomore Kelly Barnhill and senior Delanie Gourley (2-0) gave Florida the depth and the edge to defeat Michigan’s senior hurler, Megan Betsa. Barnhill tossed seven full innings before she handed the ball off to Gourley who tossed the remaining three; Betsa tossed all 10 for the Wolverines.
Washington defeated Oklahoma 1-0 on day three of the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge. The Huskies got out to an early lead with their lone run in the second inning from Taylor Van Zee. OU tried to come back multiple times but was unable to get the rally they were looking for. Junior Paige Parker started in the circle for Oklahoma before Paige Lowary replaced her three and a third innings in. The pitching staff only managed one strikeout.
The UCLA Bruins offense exploded on Saturday earning them a pair of wins with 7 home runs and a combined 26 runs scored. After a close 4-1 win in the opening game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Easton Stadium against Weber State, the Bruins tied for the third-largest margin of victory in school history, defeating the Wildcats 22-1 in five innings in the nightcap.
The University of Pittsburgh softball team collected two more wins at the UCF Knights Invitational after retiring Kentucky for the second time this weekend and taking down Florida A&M Saturday. “We got off to a good start and we are playing loose. We were feeling confident in ourselves and just wanted to go out and play our game. We tried not to do too much and stayed within ourselves”, said head coach Holly Aprile.
