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Miscellaneous Updates Leading Up to Selection Sunday

Here are some miscellaneous items, leading into the revealing of the NCAA-tournament brackets on Selection Sunday...

Auburn continues to swing a hot bat, leading Alabama 5-1 in the bottom (Auburn-half) of the third in one SEC semifinal (scoreboard). In the other semi, Florida will take on Tennessee, which yesterday bounced host LSU. [Update: Auburn wins 7-1 and will face Tennessee, a 2-1 winner over Florida, in Saturday's championship game.]

Michigan coach Carol Hutchins discusses in this article how star shortstop-turned-second-baseperson Sierra Romero doesn't need to improve her playing skill-set so much as, "She needs to make her teammates better. She needs to start imparting her wisdom on them..." The Wolverines easily won their game today in the B1G tourney, a run-rule 16-1 rout over Penn State.

Another B1G team piling up runs is tourney host Ohio State. The Buckeyes ripped Indiana 24-1 (run-ruled) yesterday, scoring 12 in the bottom of the first.

One school whose name won't be called Sunday night is Texas Tech, which finished with an overall record of 25-26. However, the Red Raiders, under first-year coach Adrian Gregory, can consider the season a success, of sorts (full disclosure: I'm on the faculty there). After losing nonconference games to schools such as UT-San Antonio, Grand Canyon, Drake, McNeese State, Utah Valley, and Tennessee-Martin, and then starting off Big-12 play with an 0-6 record (having faced the conference's two best teams in Oklahoma and Baylor), Tech turned things around to finish at .500 (9-9) in league play (schedule/results page). The Raiders' rebound consisted of taking two-of-three against each of Kansas, Texas, and Iowa State, and sweeping Oklahoma State.

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Pitching Star NiJaree Canady Reportedly in the Transfer Portal

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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.

Jordy Bahl Transferring from Oklahoma to Nebraska

The college softball world has thrown us a "Curve Bahl," if you will. Such is the unexpected news that Oklahoma ace Jordy Bahl has announced that she will transfer to the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Bahl is from the Omaha suburb of Papillion, Nebraska. Three thoughts jump out at me: Bahl was absolutely indispensable to the Sooners' 61-1 national championship season, coming up with numerous clutch strikeouts in tight tournament games against Clemson (super-regionals, Game 2 ) and Stanford ( WCWS semifinals ).    OU benefited greatly this season via the transfer portal, bringing in Haley Lee  from Texas A&M,  Alex Storako from Michigan, and Cydney Sanders and Alynah Torres from Arizona State. Bahl's transfer is the first major one in the modern portal era (to my knowledge) in the other direction. Nebraska becomes an instant national championship contender, in my mind. Other players around the country may find it attractive to join Bahl in Lincoln but even if