Skip to main content

Sunday (4/16/17) Round-Up

Arizona, which had risen to No. 1 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No. 2 in the USA Today/NFCA ranking on the strength of a 40-1 overall record (the Wildcats' only loss coming to Florida State on February 25) ran into a buzzsaw in Salt Lake City this weekend. After Arizona won the opening meeting on Thursday, No. 16/14* Utah came back to take the series with wins on Friday and Saturday.

The Wildcats still lead the Pac 12 standings at 13-2, but the Utes (10-3) and No. 4/4 Oregon Ducks (10-4) are close in pursuit.

Things are similarly tight in the SEC. No. 3/3 Florida, which took two out of three from No. 22/21 Kentucky this weekend (losing the middle game Saturday), sits atop the league standings at 15-2.

No. 5/5 Texas A&M, which took two of three from No. --/24Arkansas, is one game behind the Gators in the loss column at 11-3. The same holds for No. 14/16 Tennessee, who is 10-3 at the moment, but is playing later tonight. Tennessee is hosting No. 10/9 Alabama in a Saturday-Sunday-Monday series. The Vols took Saturday's opener. (UPDATE: Tennessee moved to 11-3 in the SEC with a walk-off win over Bama on Sunday night.)

In the Big 12, No. 8/10 Oklahoma (9-0) leads No. 12/13 Baylor and Oklahoma State, both at 8-1.

No. 2/1 Florida State is running away with the ACC at 18-0. In other ACC news, Clemson will be adding softball, tentatively scheduled for 2020.

Finally, No. 6/6 Minnesota (11-1) leads a tight B1G race over No. 17/18 Michigan (11-2) and unranked Illinois (10-2).

---
*The ESPN.com/USA Softball poll is listed first for schools with two rankings listed.

Popular posts from this blog

This Friday (and all remaining Fridays of the regular season), I will preview the upcoming weekend's games. Before doing so, I wanted to do an entry, primarily for sports fans who have not watched much softball, on differences they could expect to see between softball and baseball. The Sandy Plains Softball Association of Marietta, Georgia has produced a document entitled Fastpitch 101 , which details the similarities and differences in the rules of the two sports. Here are some of my own observations from over the years: 1. Because the bases are considerably closer together in softball (60 feet) than in baseball (90 feet), softball infielders consistently must pick up ground balls and make their throws to first base quickly, in order to get the runner. In other words, many (if not most) softball grounders result in "bang-bang" plays at first base, necessitating a lot of close calls by first-base umpires, who must detect whether the thrown ball (to the first-baseperso...
Read more

Florida Shines at Kajikawa Classic

The University of Florida, ranked No. 14 and 15 in the two major national preseason polls, pulled two major upsets en route to an undefeated 5-0 performance at the season-opening Kajikawa Classic at Arizona State. Among the Gator victims were three Pac 12 schools: No. 3 Cal (by a score of 7-4), No. 5/6 Oregon (1-0), and No. 13/14 Arizona (14-3). Full results of the tournament are available here .
Read more
Washington used a first-inning grand-slam homer from pitcher Danielle Lawrie and some late insurance runs to defeat Georgia by a score of 9-3 in tonight's late game. The win gives U-Dub a spot in the best-of-three championship series against Florida starting Monday (Georgia had defeated Washington earlier today, 9-8 in nine innings, to force tonight's rematch). The Huskies thus claimed "top dog" status over Georgia on their side of the bracket. Florida got a two-out grand-slam homer from Ali Gardiner in the bottom of the seventh to edge Alabama 6-5. The Crimson Tide made a strong recovery in the tournament after looking "not ready for prime time" in an opening-round loss to Michigan. But, as a result of tonight's heartbreaking loss to the Gators, Bama is now eliminated. Lowrie's and Gardiner's grand-slams are among four that have been hit so far in this World Series.
Read more