Oklahoma swept Oklahoma State this past weekend in Stillwater, advancing the Sooners' record to 49-1 and 18-0 in the Big 12. Oklahoma faced one close call, in Game 2, trailing OSU 2-0 after six innings. No problem for the Sooners, who came up with four runs in the top of the seventh and then shut down the Cowgirls in the bottom half for a 4-2 win. OU now moves on to the conference tournament, followed by the NCAA tourney, still with a chance to set a new record for fewest losses in a season. The 1992 UCLA squad finished 54-2.
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...