The Best of Week Eleven
ALABAMA
The Tide traveled to Gainsville and accomplished something very few programs have: sweeping the Gators on their home field. This is the first time Florida has been swept in Gainsville since 2011.
Impressively for Alabama, three different pitchers picked up victories which is a great sign for the Tide moving forward and into the postseason.
Kaylee Tow, Bailey Hemphill, Maddie Morgan, and Skylar Wallace all shined for the Tide at the plate.
DRAKE
Meanwhile, in Iowa, Drake is quietly but confidently stringing together a strong season and sitting nicely at the top of The Valley conference. They are 33-13 with a 18-1 conference record and a NCAA RPI of 24. This past weekend the Bulldogs all but won the regular season Valley Conference title. With seven Valley games left and a four game lead in the standings, if Drake can continue to take care of business, the championship is theirs.
Last weekend the Bulldogs swept Illinois State behind two pitching victories and a save for Nicole Newman. Newman threw 14.2 innings, struck out 29, and only allowed four hits with three free passes.
Offensively Mandi Roemmich and Macy Johnson stood out while ewman also helped her cause at the plate recording all three RBIs in Sunday’s matchup.
IOWA STATE
An exciting weekend for the Cyclones included “Iowa State’s first conference road sweep since March 2002 (two-game series) and the first three-game conference road sweep in program history. The win was also the 400th of Iowa State head coach Jamie Pinkerton’s career“.
Iowa State traveled to Waco, TX to face off against the Baylor Bears and only surrendered two runs over the three game series. Emma Hylen shined picking up two victories in 11.2 innings of work. Offensively, Taylor Nearad and Kaylee Bosworth paced the Cyclones.
JENNIFER BRANN
Penn’s junior ace, Jennifer Brann, threw the second perfect game in program history this past weekend while her offense put up five runs behind her en route to a victory over Brown. The first perfect game was thrown by Alexis Borden in 2012 during a South Division playoff against Cornell.
The Quakers went on to sweep Brown and secure their second Ivy League sweep this season.
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KELSEY HORTON
New Mexico State Aggies’ senior, Kelsey Horton, became the new All-Time leader in homeruns at NMSU and the WAC.
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MISSOURI
Mizzou continues to impress and defy odds under first year head coach, Larissa Anderson. They are currently 27-18 with a 10-8 SEC record which is good for fifth place. This past weekend the Tigers hosted Texas A&M and after winning a tight contest Thursday (4-3), Mizzou went on to shutout the Aggies 8-0 (five innings) and 4-0. This sweep was also special as it marks the first three-game sweep of an SEC opponent in Mizzou Softball Stadium.
Pitchers Madi Norman and Cassie Gasper carried the load in the circle for the Tigers. Gasper was impressive throwing seven innings of shutout softball while Norman came back strong in Sunday’s contest recording five innings of shutout ball as well. Norman was effective enough in game one surrendering three earned runs while her offense was enough to power the Tigers to the victory.
Offensive leaders from Mizzou Brooke Wilmes, Regan Nash, Jazmyn Rollin, and Kim Wert.
The success Mizzou is having only thickens the plot in the saga that has become “Missouri versus the NCAA”. This winter the NCAA handed down a number of sanctions against the football, baseball, and softball programs at Missouri which includes a one year band from postseason play. Since this, Missouri has filed an appeal with the NCAA and is awaiting a ruling there. Not only would the Tigers be banned from NCAA Tournament play but it is also assumed this would include the SEC Tournament as well.
At the beginning of the 2019 campaign, many people did not expect this to even be a relevant point of conservation but with a fifth place standing in the SEC and a NCAA RPI of 30, guess what, it is.
NORTH CAROLINA
Coach Donna Papa’s squad have been quietly shaking things up in the ACC and putting together an impressive season. This past weekend they took the series (2-1) from first place and nationally ranked, Virginia Tech.
UNC kept a powerful Hokie offense at bay shutting them out in game one while their own offense rose to the occasion to secure the series victory in game two. Brittany Pickett and Hannah George picked up wins in the circle while Kiani Ramsey, Lexi Godwin, Berlynne Delamore, Leah Murray, Zoe Goodman, and Pickett powered the ‘Heels at the plate.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE
The Summit League’s number one and two ranking teams met this weekend in Vermillion, SD. for a series that very possibly will decide the regular season champion.
NDSU dominated and proved they are still the queens of the Summit winning 2-0 (8), 10-0 (5), and 7-0.
In the circle, KK Leddy picked up two wins while Paige Vargas secured the third. Offensively Cara Beatty was unstoppable while the rest of the lineup top to bottom produced. Katie Shoultz, Maddie Hansen, Montana DeCamp, and Stephanie Soriano really highlighted the box scores.
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma and Texas squared off in the most exciting and anticipated Red River Rilvary in recent memory; and boy, it didn’t disappoint.
The Sooners came away with the sweep but not without drama, heroics, and extra innings.
The Longhorns fought hard and kept things close but ultimately, the offensive power and consistency of Oklahoma took over and propelled them to victory.
Giselle Juarez (OU) and Miranda Elish (TX) did the heavy lifting in the circle and provided a ton of entertainment fans should be excited to see again in a potential postseason matchup.
UTAH
A struggling Utah picked up a huge victory on Sunday defeating Washington, 5-4. The hero of the day was junior Alyssa Berrera who blasted the go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the sixtn to give the Utes just their fourth Pac-12 win of the season. Sydney Sandez and Hailey Hilburn combined in the circle to secure the Utah victory.
