Softball Games of the Week 3/27 – 4/1
#4 Florida vs #22 USF - Wednesday (3/28 6pm Eastern, Gainesville, FL)
This is installment number two of this matchup. Back on Feb 12 South Florida battled the Gators for eight innings before finally coming up one run short. It was early in the season and both teams have matured and excelled since then. Not sure that the Gators expected this to be such a tough set of games on the schedule. The South Florida Bulls are 29-5 overall with wins over Michigan, Florida State and SEC squads Mississippi State and Arkansas. Both coaching staffs will make good adjustments and both teams know it will be a tough ball game. Should be fun.
#18 Texas A&M vs #21 Baylor - Wednesday, (3/28 6:30pm Central, College Station, TX)
The Aggies come off a good weekend, taking two of three from Missouri. Junior Mel Dumezich is pitching well and the A&M offense has some dangerous weapons including Emily Albus in the two hole, Dumezich, who leads her team with nine homers, and junior Meagan May, who has six long balls and has been walked 32 times. Baylor has had trouble scoring runs, but did manage a 1-0 win over Oklahoma on Sunday. Junior Kathy Shelton leads a team that has not displayed much power in most of the other offensive categories, but the real story is junior Courtney Repka has been very good of late, beating Oregon and holding the powerful Sooner offense to one earned run over 14 innings. Many of the athletes on these two teams have played against and with each other from an early age, so besides the obvious, there is plenty of motivation to come out on top.
#4 Florida vs #9 Georgia - Friday, Saturday, Sunday (3/30 8pm, 3/31 2:30pm & 1pm Eastern, Athens, GA)
Florida is 29-1 and 10-1 in conference play and these games will go a long way in determining the league champion. Brittany Schutte and Michelle Moultrie continue to tear it up at the plate, both hitting over .450. Moultrie is hitting for average and power. She has eight long balls, second on the team behind Kelsey Horton’s nine. Hannah Rogers and Lauren Haeger have ERA’s of 0.71 and 1.43 respectively and will make life tough for the Bulldogs at the plate. Georgia is a little surprising after losing such a great 2011 senior class. They are 27-5 and 7-2 in SEC play. Kristyn Sandberg is hitting .380 with nine bombs. Ashley Razey has eight and four others have three or more. Erin Arevalo and Morgan Montemayor have been solid, collecting nine shutouts in their last 13 games. Expect the Florida hitters to seriously test the Bulldog pitchers.
#1 Washington vs #2 Cal - Friday, Saturday, Sunday (3/30 3pm, 3/31 1pm, 4/1 12pm Pacific, Seattle, WA)
This is a battle of two of the country’s very best! The great news is they play three times. Pac-12 champion implications are clear. Arizona State may be the only other serious contender for the league crown. Washington is 32-1 and swept Utah to start conference action last week. Cal is 29-1 and 3-0 in the Pac-12 after coming off a weekend where they thumped a good Stanford team twice. Senior Valerie Arioto could be the best player in the country. Batting .456, she has 14 home runs, is slugging 1.147, and has 42 RBI and 41 walks. She reaches base almost two out of every three times at the plate. The entire Cal offense is scary, hitting .349 as a team with 44 home runs. In the circle the Golden Bears have two of the nation’s best with Arioto and Jolene Henderson. Both have ERA’s under 1.0. While UW’s numbers are not as impressive as Cal’s, the Huskies just get the job done game after game. Three solid pitchers, all with ERA’s under two, give them the ability to hang tough in a three game series against quality competition. These games should be on TV.
#8 Arizona State vs #15 Oregon - Friday, Saturday, Sunday (3/30 6pm, 3/31 5pm, & 4/1 12pm Pacific, Eugene, OR)
The Sun Devils are 31-3 and just swept rival Arizona over the weekend. Hillary Bach has come on strong for Arizona State at 14-0 with a 0.77 ERA. Dallas Escobedo and Bach have a similar number of innings, so expect them to get the starts this weekend. Katelyn Boyd, like Cal’s Arioto is incredible at the plate. Boyd is hitting .466 with 14 homers. She is slugging over 1.000 and has a .608 on-base percentage. Oregon is a good team, but will have trouble controlling the Sun Devil bats and scoring runs on their staff. Oregon will have to be at their best to get a win in this series.
#14 Louisville vs DePaul - Friday, Saturday, Sunday (3/31 1pm, 3/31 3pm, 4/1, 12pm Eastern, Chicago, IL)
The only remaining undefeated D1 team, at 27-0 the Cardinals are off to an unbelievable start. Louisville is batting .341 as a team, scoring just under six runs a game. Alicia Wolny and Kristin Austin are both hitting over .400. The staff ERA is 1.13 and the Cardinals are fielding .974, second in the Big East. DePaul has been struggling a bit as of late, losing to Longwood over the weekend at Alabama. Batting just .293 as a team with and 3.15 ERA, the Blue Demons will need to bring their “A” game to stop the Louisville win streak.
#11 Stanford vs #13 Arizona - Friday, Saturday, Sunday (3/30 7pm, 3/31 7pm, 4/1, 12pm Pacific, Tucson, AZ)
Stanford had a rough weekend, taking a beating at the hands of Cal. Now 25-6, the Cardinal are not hitting for much power, but they are averaging over six runs a game. Jenna Rich and Hanna Winter are hitting .430 and .442 respectively. Teagan Gerhart is carrying the load for Stanford in the circle and should rebound from last weekend’s tough outings. At 19-8 Arizona is not generating the outstanding results they are known for. Swept last weekend at home by the Sun Devils they started Pac-12 play 0-3. The Wildcats are hitting an uncharacteristically low .306, led by Jessica Sprigner and Brigette Del Ponte’s .354 averages. Shelby Pendley leads her team with nine homers. Arizona continues to struggle a little in the circle. Shelby Babcock and Kenzie Fowler have split most of the innings and have similar ERA’s, well above two.
#19 Missouri vs #21 Baylor - Friday, Saturday, Sunday (3/30 6pm, 3/31 3:30pm, 4/1, 12pm Central, Columbia, MO)
Texas A&M broke the Missouri Tiger 17 game win streak on Friday. The Tigers fell to 23-5 and 4-2 in Big 12 play. Missouri is hitting .301, but their real strength is in the circle with Chelsea Thomas. Thomas’ 0.71 ERA is best in the conference. The Baylor Bears will need to figure out her change up quickly to give themselves a chance this weekend.
#20 Florida State vs #23 North Carolina - Sunday & Monday (4/1 12pm, & 2pm, 4/2 7pm Eastern, Tallahassee, FL)
This three game set is scheduled to be on TV. Florida St. is 29-5 and 6-0 in conference play. The Seminoles started the season 16-0, and have gone 13-5 since then. They are third in the conference batting .271 with just three players hitting over .300. They have an ACC leading team ERA of 0.89. The Tar Heels are 22-8 and 2-1 in ACC play after getting rained out last week against Maryland. The Heels are hitting .276, second in the league with 28 home runs, the most in the ACC. Lori Spingola, the ace of the NC staff ERA has fallen to 2.18. If Spingola is on her game, expect low scoring contests. Since Georgia Tech already has three conference losses, this series will play a big part in determining the conference winner.
