Skip to main content

Final Weekend of 2021 Season, Leading into Selection Sunday

 Conference tournaments and season-ending regular-season series (for leagues that don't have tournaments) headline the final weekend of play, leading into Sunday night's Selection Sunday show.

In one SEC semifinal game, the seventh-place Tennessee squad is down to its final at-bats in the top of the seventh, trailing third-place Alabama, 6-5. A two-run blast by Bama catcher Bailey Hemphill in the bottom of the sixth is the difference so far... Vols retired uneventfully in the seventh... Bama The winner faces first-place Florida in Saturday night's championship game...

In the non-tournament Pac 12, Game 3 of this weekend's four-game UCLA at Arizona series (also the nightcap of a Friday doubleheader) will be airing soon on ESPN-U (although the game has started out on "regular" ESPN)... The Bruins took Thursday's series opener 8-0 (run rule) and Friday's doubleheader opener, 6-2... UCLA's win in Friday's opener tops the standings clinches the Pac 12 regular-season title for the Bruins, with an 18-2 conference record. At the time, Washington was in second at 17-5 and Arizona in third at 12-9... Arizona breaks through to win Friday's nightcap, 5-1...

Michigan clinched the championship of the Big 10, another non-tournament conference, with a doubleheader sweep back on May 8...

Finally, the Big 12 is using a pool-play format for its tournament, which started today...

SATURDAY UPDATES

Alabama (No. 3 nationally and third-place in the SEC) has put up three runs in the top of the first against Florida (No. 4 nationally and first-place in the SEC) in the conference-tournament final. A squeeze-bunt, an error, and a rundown helped produce the three Crimson Tide runs... Still 3-0 Tide as Florida comes up in the bottom of the third... Bama closes out Florida, 4-0, to take the SEC tournament crown...

UCLA downs Arizona, 7-2, to take three out of four on the Wildcats' field...

Oklahoma follows up its regular-season Big 12 title with the conference-tourney championship, as well, via run-rule vs. OSU...


Popular posts from this blog

Pitching Star NiJaree Canady Reportedly in the Transfer Portal

Stanford pitching ace NiJaree Canady has reportedly entered the transfer portal ( link ), having completed two seasons in the circle for the Cardinal. Stanford has made the WCWS in both of Canady's seasons on the team. Another school hit hard by the transfer portal is the University of Washington, with an exodus of eight Huskies . This list of the top ten players in the portal includes four from UW. Today is the final day of the 30-day window for players to enter the portal.
Read more

NiJaree Canady Transferring to -- of All Places -- Texas Tech

NiJaree Canady, whose sub-1.00 ERA helped lead Stanford to the Women's College World Series in both her years with the Cardinal, announced on July 24 that she is transferring to Texas Tech. I've lived in Lubbock for 27 years and can say that the town has been improving with a greater selection of restaurants and shops, and a new downtown performing arts center. Likewise, nice new facilities have been dotting the Texas Tech campus . Still, it seems unlikely that Canady would have become a Red Raider without the $1 million annual Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deal for her, made possible by the donation of a Texas Tech alumni couple. So stunning an event is this, even in the ever-changing world of collegiate athletics, that the New York Times  even ran a behind-the-scenes story on Canady's path to Texas Tech. I look forward to being in the stands to watch Canady pitch next spring, an opportunity I never expected to have.
Read more

2024 WCWS -- Day 6

Oklahoma has kept its quest for a fourth straight WCWS title alive with a 6-5 eight-inning win over Florida to advance to the championship round. The Sooners will take on Texas in a two-out-of-three series beginning Wednesday night. Florida held a 5-2 lead after three innings and looked well on its way to beating OU for the second straight day, which would have eliminated the Sooners and taken the Gators to the final round. However, UF scored no further runs, whereas Oklahoma chipped away with two in the fourth, one in the sixth, and one in the eighth. The final run came via Jayda Coleman's opposite-field walk-off home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth.  Sooner starter Kelly Maxwell went the distance, allowing only four hits. Three of those hits were home runs within the first three innings; the only other Gator hit was an infield single in the top of the sixth. Maxwell also walked five and struck out eight. Florida starter Keagan Rothrock also went the distance, allowing 1...
Read more