Around the Horn with College Softball Tournament Recaps
It’s tournament time and it did not disappoint on Friday either. FPN goes around the horn to look at some of the major college conference tournaments.
SEC Tournament
The 2017 SEC Softball Tournament continue on Saturday, May 13 with the semifinals and championship games. Saturday game times below.
Game 9: No. 5 Alabama vs. No. 8 Ole Miss | 11 A.m. | ESPNU
Game 10: No. 2 Auburn vs. No. 6 LSU | 2 p.m. | ESPNU
Big 12 Tournament
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State both went undefeated in pool action Friday.
Oklahoma State softball swept a pair of games against Baylor and Iowa State Friday at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium complex to advance to the Big 12 Championship Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on Fox Sports 2. The Cowgirls started the day with a 2-1 upset of the Bears before downing the Cyclones, 10-0, in five innings.
Miss any of the fun today? Let @AllisonGappa fill you in! #okstate pic.twitter.com/3Uz805RpK7
— Cowgirl Softball (@CowgirlSB) May 13, 2017
Four home runs and a third consecutive shutout carried top-seeded Oklahoma (49-8) past sixth-seeded Texas Tech (18-36) Friday night at the Big 12 Championship, 8-0, in the final game of pool play. With a 2-0 record, Oklahoma won Pool A and earned a Bedlam matchup with third-seeded Oklahoma State.
Big 10 Tournament
Sara Groenewegen (Minnesota) tossed the first ever no-hitter in the history of the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 2 University of Minnesota Gophers topped the Northwestern Wildcats 5-1 in the quarterfinals this afternoon. Groenewegen is no stranger to big time B1G tournament performances. She pitched every inning, 24, last year for the Gophers as they went on to win the championship. On Friday she had a perfect game going into the seventh inning. She finished with 11 strikeouts while only allowing one run. She is now 28-2 on the season with a 0.62 ERA and 267 strikeouts. She is now just 10 strikeouts away from FPN’s Sara Moulton’s career strikeout record.
How did @saragroe‘s 8th career no-hitter feel?
Hear from the @GopherSoftball ace: https://t.co/mZcIKgLKCf
— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) May 12, 2017
For the first time since 2004, the Fighting Illini softball team advanced to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals with a 3-0 win over 12th-seeded Penn State behind a three-hit, complete game shutout from senior pitcher Breanna Wonderly on Friday (May 12) afternoon at Wilpon Complex/Alumni Field. The Illini now move on to face Big Ten regular season champion and No. 1 seed Minnesota in the tournament semifinals on Saturday (May 13) at 12 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network. The Illini earned the lone victory over the Gophers during the league play with a 4-3 walk-off win on April 1 at Eichelberger Field.
Michigan State staged another late-game rally, putting three runs on the board in the top of the seventh inning to upend Big Ten Tournament host and No. 2 seed Michigan, 5-4 on Friday in Ann Arbor. As big a win as it was for this Spartan team, it was also the 800th career victory for Michigan State head coach Jacquie Joseph. The 2016 NFCA Hall-of-Fame inductee is in her 24th season at Michigan State and 29th season overall as a Division I head coach.
Here’s a highlight package from today’s victory over UM:https://t.co/6qicR9EiLD
— MSU Softball (@MSU_Softball) May 13, 2017
The third-seeded Ohio State softball team is headed to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on the arm of Shelby Hursh while also being lifted by its defense. On Friday, Hursh struck out a season-high 10 batters while the infield and outfield behind her made some timely web gems, all leading to a 3-2 victory over sixth-seeded Wisconsin at Michigan’s Alumni Field.
ACC Tournament
Posting a shutout for the second consecutive game in the 2017 ACC Softball Championship, Florida State (50-6-1) secured a spot in the conference title game for the 21st time in program history after a 6-0 victory over Notre Dame (33-21) on Friday at Anderson Stadium. “I think this time of year, it’s important to really stick to your plan at the plate,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “The coaching staff, we do scouting, we talk about it, and it sparks the dugout when you get your swing off and you’re looking for a pitch and you get that success. It sparks the dugout to keep going”.
Third-seeded North Carolina held off a late surge from rival NC State, the #7 seed, on Friday afternoon in the ACC Semifinals, defeating the Wolfpack, 8-7, to advance to the ACC Championship game for the first time since 2011. UNC put up four runs in the bottom of the first but fell behind 5-4 in the top of the fifth. A two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth put UNC back on top, 8-5, and the Tar Heels stranded the tying run on third base in the top of the seventh to secure the one-run victory. With the win, UNC improves to 38-18, while NC State’s season comes to an end at 18-38.
To the ‘ship we go!
Catch highlights from today’s back-and-forth affair against the Wolfpack pic.twitter.com/QTtlKeq5Rx— Carolina Softball (@UNCSoftball) May 13, 2017
