The Women's College World Series is about to get underway, with the first game pitting No. 11 seed Texas Tech vs. unseeded Mississippi State. The Bulldogs shocked No. 3 seed Oklahoma in their super-regional series.
ARKANSAS-NEBRASKA
T6, Razorbacks (visitors) batting in a 2-2 tie (Arkansas with a pair in the second, Nebraska with a pair in the fourth). Per ESPN commentators, Husker pitcher Jordy Frahm, who has gone the distance thus far, has retired 11 straight Arkansas hitters at this point... Difficult dribbler down the first-base line gives Hogs a runner at first with one out (ruled a hit, but runner might have been out if 1B-person could have held onto throw)... Grounder back to Frahm leads to double-play, retiring Arkansas... B6, Payton Burnham pitching for Hogs, having replaced Robyn Herron midway through fourth inning... Huskers down 1-2-3... T7,... Tianna Bell leads off for Arkansas... Hard single to left (pinch-run for)... Dakota Kennedy up... 3-0 count... Now full count... Walk (Frahm's first), close call between ball and strike... Runners on first and second... Popped-up bunt for first out... Grounder to 1B-person for second out, runners advance to second and third... Kailey Wyckoff, who homered back in T2, at the plate... Grounder to first ends Razorback threat... B7... Easy fly to left for first Husker out... Grounder to third for second out... Grounder to short, side retired... T8, leadoff infield single on short blooper over Frahm's head, infielders have no play... Grounder to short for force at second, one out... Grounder to Frahm, gets out at first, runner advances to second with two out... Ella McDowell up... Hits high liner that leaping Husker 3B-person can only get a tiny bit of leather on, ball goes into left field, runner scores from second, now 3-2 Hogs... K ends Arkansas rally... B8, Frahm, an excellent hitting pitcher, will be leading off... Huskers without a baserunner since the fourth inning... Full count to Frahm... Hard liner to McDowell at third, caught in the air perhaps a foot off the ground... Homer for Hannah Coor ties it for Nebraska, 3-3. Fans in red-striped overalls go wild... Hannah Camenzind up... Doubles to the wall in right-center... Herron will re-enter the circle for Arkansas... Ava Kuszak up... 0-2 count after swing for the fences... 1-2 count... Foul ball... Grounder to short for second out, runner advances to third... Jesse Farrell, who'll try to hit it on the barrel, up next... Intentional walk, creating lefty-on-lefty enconter with xxx and opportunity for force at second... Kacie Hoffman up... 1-1 count... 1-2... McDowell fields what looks like a one-hopper to third, throws Hoffman out at first to end threat... T9,... Frahm still pitching, bringing it at 70 mph... Hogs down 1-2-3... B9... Huskers d own 1-2-3... T10, Frahm continuing on, but Ashley Jensen warming up in bullpen for Nebraska... With two out, Arkansas batter beats out grounder. Huskers challenging call, but replay clearly seems to show "safe" call at first was correct. Very quick announcement by umpire to that effect... Grounder to first ends Hogs' half of the tenth... B10, Frahm leads off again... Arkansas catcher with eye issue, perhaps contact lens-related, creating brief delay... Play resumes... Frahm grounds out to first... Coor up... HBP in left upper arm/shoulder area... Wild pitch sends Coor to second... Fly to left for second out... Just after ESPN graphic informs us that Huskers have been 0-9 with two outs on the evening, Kuszak homers to win game for Nebraska, 5-3 in 10 innings...
UCLA-ALABAMA
It's been Taylor Tinsley in the circle for UCLA (visitors) and Jocelyn Briski for Alabama (home team) all the way through thus far... B5, Bama's Alexis Pupillo socks a two-run homer to right to tie the game 3-3... Crimson Tide still threatening, with runners at second and third and two outs... Hard liner to left caught by UCLA to keep the game tied... T6, Bruins with a runner on first and two outs... Force at second to end half-inning... B6, Bama with one-out infield single... Jena Young singles to left on fly ball that just eludes left-fielder's glove. Young's third single of the game... Brooke Wells with three-run homer, 6-3 Tide... Nothing further in the inning... T7, Bruins needing at least three runs to avoid the losers' bracket... One-out HBP gives UCLA a runner... K for second out... Grounder to third for third out, Tide wins 6-3...
Bruins had previously scored three in T3 on a Rylee Slimp two-run shot, followed by Megan Grant's 41st homer of the year, already an NCAA single-season record... Bama had scored once in B1 on three singles...
TENNESSEE-TEXAS
I guarantee you the winner of Thursday's second game will have orange as its primary school color and will be known as "UT." That's what happens when Tennessee and Texas face off! Scoreless as the Vols come up in T2, Teagan Kavan pitching for Texas... Leadoff Tennessee batter HBP on thigh... Followed by walk... Elsa Morrison to CF bleachers, 3-0 Tennessee... Nothing further for Vols... T3, Sage Mardjetko pitching for Tennessee... Longhorns leave a runner on first, still 3-0 Vols... B3, Ella Dodge with one-out double, close-play at second, but Texas doesn't challenge the call... Tennessee takes it, 6-3...
MISSISSIPPI STATE-TEXAS TECH
The Bulldogs, as the visitor, will back first. NiJaree Canady, the star pitcher who has had some struggles lately, in the circle for Texas Tech... After MSU goes quietly in T1, Red Raiders come up to face Alyssa Faircloth in B1. Somewhat surprising pitching choice after Delainey Everett's masterpiece to close out OU... TTU leadoff hitter Mia Williams hit by pitch, after several HBP's in super-regionals vs. Florida... Jackie Lis homers to left, giving Tech an early 2-0 lead... Lis, a transfer from Southern Illinois, having a great tournament... Jasmyn Burns up... K for first out... Another K for second out... Easy bloop back to pitcher ends the inning. T2, leadoff infield single for MSU on slow grounder... Easy pop to SS for first out... Grounder to SS near second base, steps on bag and throws to first for easy double-play to end the half-inning... B2, Tech makes it 3-0 on Mihyia Davis single and Lauren Allred double (hard grounder down the first-base line traveling deep into the outfield)... K for first out... 3-0 count on Lagi Quiroga, catcher visits Faircloth... Four-pitch walk, runners on first and second... Back to top of order with Williams... 2-0 count... MSU pitching coach Taryne Mowatt-McKinney out to talk to Faircloth (brings back memories of when I blogged 19 years ago about Mowatt pitching for Arizona in the WCWS)... Williams with sharp line double to left, driving in a run (4-0 Tech) and leaving runners at second and third. Pitching change with Peja Goold coming in... One has to question leaving Faircloth in as long as MSU did... This game on the verge of getting out of hand for MSU... Foul pop for second out... Grounder for third out... Bulldogs lucky to be down "only" by four runs... T3, opening K... Easy fly to right for second out... Canady getting ahead in the count on most batters, rolling along... Grounder to third to end the half-inning... B3, Tech goes down 1-2-3...T4, leadoff infield single for MSU... Deep fly-out to center, runner stays... Almost an exact duplicate of last at-bat, fly to similar spot in center, for second out... Walk, giving Bulldogs runners on first and second for Morgan Bernardini... 1-2 count... Line-out to right for third out, still 4-0 Texas Tech... B4... Another 1-2-3 inning for Red Raider batters... T5... Tech switches to Kaitlyn Terry in the circle. MSU was starting to get decent metal on the ball in the last inning, although always right at an outfielder... Very close play at first on hard grounder to short with throw bounced before being caught. Called out and replay suggests call will probably stand. It does, so one out... Easy grounder to Terry for second out... Easy fly to right ends MSU half-inning, still 4-0 TTU... B5, now 5-0 Tech... 6-0... Potential run-rule territory, with Tech needing two runs and having runners on first and second with one out... Indeed, double ends the game, 8-0...