Who Do You Think Will Be The Last 8 Standing To Go To OKC???

[TN Sooner]

Bottom post of the previous page:

My wish for today is that all 6 losers (from yesterday) force the “if necessary” games tomorrow.

Baylor
Mizzou
Alabama
Texas
Arizona
Stanford

Well I got 5 out of 6 of my wishes - 5 of 6 in the lotto pays something, right?

Love having 5 win or go home games today. Interesting conference questions:

Big 12 already has 2 and can get 2 more today.

SEC is guaranteed 1 and can get as many as 5.

PAC has 1 and can add 1.

[TropicalSooner]

Here are my picks for today:

Can Baylor pull another upset win over the Gators?
I'm going to say probably not. Agree it will be Binford vs Rothrock again. Walton is going to ride Rothrock until the cows come home. And yes, yesterday she never made it out of the first inning--only threw 12 pitches to 3 batters and got no outs while giving up 3 unearned runs. But...12 pitches is a little bit like a day of rest, so I think she will be in better shape today. Being the young freshman that she is, I just don't think she has the strength yet to pitch back to back days like some older and more developed pitchers. She will someday though. I'm going with Florida on this one.

Mizzou and Duke?
This is win or go home day for both so yeah, I agree---they both dance with the ones that brought 'em: Krings and Curd. Still a coin flip to me but if I have to pick one, I'm still going with Duke.

Tennessee and Bama?
The Vols and the Tide always seem to play competitive games no matter the stats. Their last regular season series toward the end of the season ended 5-0 Tenn, 2-0 Tenn, 0-1 Bama. Since the Vols rode Pickens for 9 innings yesterday, Gottshall probably gets the call. Tenn only has 2 good pitchers, but they're both really good. If Bama starts the Freshman Briski today and Tennessee starts hitting the ball and puts up 2 or 3 or 4 quick runs, I don't think Bama can dig out of the hole. I don't really think Bama has any choice except to go with the Senior Beaver. Still picking the Vols here.

Horns & Ags?
Yeah, I think the horns go back to Gutierrez today. Even though she got knocked out of the box in game one, she's more rested against a probably really tired Kennedy. But I think Kavan (and then Morgan) will be ready to come out in a moments notice if there's trouble. The Ags couldn't pull it off yesterday, so I think a bit of emotional letdown from that plus fatigue for Kennedy (they have to throw her again--who else do they have?) will finally work to the Horns favor and they walk away with a decisive win.

Stanford and LSU?
Go big or go home. Yep---both these teams, also, have to dance with the one that brung 'em, and that would be Berzon and Canady. This might be the best game of the lot. I was totally surprised by the game on Friday--really unexpected to see Canady get banged around like that. It will be fun to see these two sophomores go at each other, but in the end, I've got to side with rubber arm Canady. Berzon is pretty good, good enough I'd take her for my team. But Canady just throws one K after another K, after another K, and the Tigers, I think, between a defensive miscue here or there and not being able to solve Canady this time either will be going home.

[TN Sooner]

Florida holds off Baylor - impressive run from the Bears.

Sets up a battle of former national champion Sooner teammates in the opening game of the World Series.

Bama blasts a grand slam in the top of the first. Tarp on the field during the bottom half of first. Looks like short delay.

[SoonerGirl1201]

Florida holds off Baylor - impressive run from the Bears.

Sets up a battle of former national champion Sooner teammates in the opening game of the World Series.

Bama blasts a grand slam in the top of the first. Tarp on the field during the bottom half of first. Looks like short delay.

Florida will play OSU their first game (4 v 5). So are you talking about Jocelyn Erickson facing another Sooner - not sure there is one on OSU?

Tenn also looks to be on their way out -with Bama taking the 3 seed. Assuming we beat Duke (who looks to win against Missouri), our next game would be the winner of Bama v UCLA

Here are the games I'm projecting

Top Bracket
1 Tex/A&M v 8 Stanford
4 Florida v 5 OSU

Bottom Bracket
2 OU v 7 Duke
3 Bama v 6 UCLA

[TN Sooner]

I’m talking about baseball Sooner teammates Tim Walton and Kenny Gajewsky.

[OUBeliever56A]

Here are recaps of each game on Sunday.

Florida 5 - Baylor 3 - Florida advances

In the first game on Sunday, Florida got off to a quick start against Crandall of Baylor with 2 runs in the 1st and 2nd innings before Binford came in to relieve for Baylor. Rothrock, for Florida, got off to a very good start on Sunday after a rough first three batters in her Saturday start.

When Emily Hott of Baylor hit a 2-run HR in the top of the 5th, the score was 4-3 in favor of Baylor. A SFLY by the Gators created the final score of 5-3 in the bottom of the 5th. But Baylor had runners on 1st and 2nd in the top of the 7th with nobody out. Pilon popped up a bunt for the 1st out. Govan lined a ball to LF that Orbis caught for the 2nd out before Binford popped up to end the game.

Give Baylor credit for making it close against Florida the #4 seed. The 4th place Baylor Bears played with the SEC 2nd place team in the regular season all weekend. Rothrock was almost everything she was supposed to be for Florida in the circle.

Alabama 4 - Tennessee 1 - Alabama advances

What a weird game. Right before a lengthy weather delay, Riley Valentine for Alabama hit a grand slam in the top of the first inning to give Alabama a very quick 4-0 lead. Valentine a part time starter at DP was hitting just over .200 and had 11 RBIs prior to her huge hit.

After the weather delay, the score stayed 4-0 with Briski in the circle for Alabama. Tennessee threatened though in the bottom of the 7th as they managed to score one run against Briski before Beaver was brought in the circle for Bama to finsih the game. Tennessee loaded the base with Kiki Milloy at the plate with two outs. A ground out to SS ended the season for Tennessee as Alabama somehow has advanced to the WCWS. Briski provided some very helpful innings for Baylor to assist Beaver.

Duke 4 - Missouri 3 - Duke advances

After 8 scoreless innings by both teams with Krings in the circle for Missouri and Curd in the circle for Duke, the 9th inning decided the game. In the top of the 9th, Jennings for Duke led off with a solo HR against Krings. Missouri went to the pen and brought in Pannell. Duke scored 2 more and Missouri brought in McCann and Duke scored one more off her before the 9th ended. Duke to a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the 9th.

Curd gave up to singles, one on a strange play hit back to Curd to open the inning. Duke went to Walker to pitch. Walker got the first out on a ground ball to 1B. the next hitter, Hay, hit a 3-run HR for Mizzou. after a ground out for the second out. Duke went back to Curd in the circle. Missouri singled against Curd. The final Missouri hitter lined out to CF to end the game.

Curd was instrumental in all three games for Duke in the circle. Duke will be a rematch for Oklahoma from the first weekend of the season in Puerta Vallarta. First to last 'weekends', there is some symmetry to that for the Sooners and for Duke.

Texas 6 - Texas A&M 5 - Texas advances

Cannon staked A&M to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Mac Morgan. Texas scored 2 runs in the in the 3rd and one in the 5th to lead 3-1. A&M scored a run in the top of the 6th. Then A&M played very poorly on defense in the 6th to allow Texas to score 3 runs and take a 6-2 lead in the bottom of the 6th. A&M's strategy of bringing Kennedy in to pitch the 6th backfired a bit, coupled with the poor defense behind her.

After Kavan had escaped the top of the 6th for Texas in relief of Morgan, Kavan opened the top of the 7th a bit shaky. Kavan gave up a single, a walk and then a 3-run HR to Cottrill to make the score 6-5. A&M left two runners on base as Kavan struck out the final A&M hitter looking on a change.

But A&M did give Texas all they wanted in the Supers as it was an exciting back and fourth 3 games in Austin. Maybe Texas used up all their mojo in this series and will arrive in OKC a bit out of luck and comebacks after the A&M weekend. I think the Texas pitching staff has to be looking in the mirror a bit and wondering what they have.

Stanford 8 - SU 0 - Stanford advances

With the scored tied through four innings with Berzon for LSU and Canady for Stanford pitching well, the game was broken open and won by Stanford in the bottom of the 5th with 7 runs. Stanford scored 4 off of Berzon before a pitching change to Chaffin. She gave up a 3-run HR to her first batter. That was essentially the ball game.

There were three close plays at home plate on throws from the outfield in the game and all of them was correct. A play that was big was a ground ball by Stanford that appeared to hit a runners between first and second. After review, the play stood with no out called and that seemed to un-nerve LSU as they pleaded their case with the umpire.

Stanford added a run in the 6th to produce the 8-0 run-rule win.

The ESPN world now get it feature matchup with Canady facing the Longhorns on the first night of the WCWS in OKC at 7 PM. Expect this game to be hyped continually between now and then. Texas defeated [Edit: Stanford without Canady in the circle] earlier in the year. I bet we hear about that over-and-over.

The WCWS is here.

[1KCSoonerFan]

That was a very competitive Super Regional Round!

Thank you for the write ups, '56!

[jmac11]

Believer: "The ESPN world now get it feature matchup with Canady facing the Longhorns on the first night of the WCWS in OKC at 7 PM. Expect this game to be hyped continually between now and then. Texas defeated [Edit: Stanford without Canady in the circle] earlier in the year. I bet we hear about that over-and-over."

Lol. I actually saw an espn commercial advertising the wcws, and they didn't even show a clip of OU. That's some serious hate right there. The love affair with texass isn't going away anytime soon. ESPN and sec (one in the same) talk nonstop about texass in football. May as well add softball too.

[TropicalSooner]

The joke will be on them when we wind up facing off against UCLA for the championship. Ha!

[SoonerGirl1201]

Believer: "The ESPN world now get it feature matchup with Canady facing the Longhorns on the first night of the WCWS in OKC at 7 PM. Expect this game to be hyped continually between now and then. Texas defeated [Edit: Stanford without Canady in the circle] earlier in the year. I bet we hear about that over-and-over."

Lol. I actually saw an espn commercial advertising the wcws, and they didn't even show a clip of OU. That's some serious hate right there. The love affair with texass isn't going away anytime soon. ESPN and sec (one in the same) talk nonstop about texass in football. May as well add softball too.

It is already making me nauseous. Teddy, on the Oklahoma Breakdown, was actually jokingly suggesting that ESPN made a deal with Texas when taking over the longhorn network that they would become the publicity arm of texas. I actually half way believe this with the way that Texas is being hyped (both football and softball - guess they aren't really good at any of the other major sports at this point). Texas played Stanford 2x earlier this year - LOSING to Canady. I don't think they will beat Canady this time either. But one thing I have learned over the years of nonsense texas hype. The higher they are hyped, the harder they fall. Only when they are under-hyped to they actually end up meeting/exceeding expectations. So, I'm just patiently waiting for everything to work like clockwork.

You would think OU didn't split the series with them and actually score more runs against them with the way they have been elevated and we have been demoted (if #2 is demoted). But, again, it is what it is and I'll just wait it out like every other time....

I will close with this - I fully believe OU can win the NC this year. If for any reason that does not work out, I will be rooting for Stanford. I would not really approve of any of the other teams winning as I believe OU Is most definitely better than them all. Stanford (because of Canady) is the only one I truly think would be hard to beat 2x. But we did it last year with mostly the same players!

[TN Sooner]

It’s a been while, but the softball world and especially the espn Cartel has forgotten what an under-appreciated Sooner softball team looks like. We’ve been the “evil empire” for 3+ years and now we’ve become a “don’t forget about Oklahoma” at the end of the discussion. I like that position and I like our draw.

[1KCSoonerFan]

ESPN cares about Eyeballs more than Softballs for sure. Texas is a huge market (along with Cali and Fla). Not surprised at the hype and extra attention for potential big ad revenue. Hope it puts a chip squarely on the Sooner ladies' shoulders!

What OU Softball has done over the past decade is all the more miraculous! They still throw such a large shadow over those three giants in population and major media outlets. As Coach has said, OU's success is fuel for greater interest in women's sports....another amazing feat!