Battle Series Game #5 Tonight at Marita Hynes - Dress warmly!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners Softball Team will play their scheduled Battle Series #5 Game tonight starting at 6 PM at Marita Hynes Field.

I think we will see Quincee Lilio playing after being struck by a foul ball in their last game last Wednesday. It also sounds like Ella Parker will rejoin the Sooners to play tonight after her run-in with the RF wall in foul territory which has caused her to miss two games. I am also hopeful that we may see Maya Bland back on the field tonight.

The fall ball crowd was a bit sparse last Wednesday. I hope the crowd picks back up tonight despite the cool weather and the many activities tonight for OU Sports.

The game will be on ESPN+ tonight at 6 PM.

Boomer Sooner!

[oufanforever]

Coor and Pickering are pushing hard for OF spots.

[inconnu]

So, does anyone know anything relatively up to date about Coor's back issues, such as a thorough prognosis, or anything she has said about the situation recently? I l know she hit like Jocelyn Alo tonight, but how fragile is she?

[OU_Tom]

Only time will tell with Coor's back. The teams never really release that kind of information in this day and age. For the most part major back injuries never go away/heal up.

She has played well in the fall games (that is a great sign) so I am excited and hopeful about her future.

[OUBeliever56A]

At the OU Golf event on Monday, Coor was asked about her back. She smiled and said it is getting better, day by day. From what Coach Gasso said she was having trouble getting rest and sleeping. She was asked about that and she said she is figuring that out and she is sleeping better. She seemed positive about it.

'The other thing about her is that I did not realize how she is so muscular. She has always looked 'thin' to me but standing near her it is easy to see that she is in no way 'thin'. She has more of an athletic build than I realized.

[OUBeliever56A]

(Posted from Fall Ball Central)

Battle Series Game Four Recap | Team Two 12, Team One 7, Team Three 2

Early crooked numbers and an incredible five-hit, seven-RBI performance from Hannah Coor helped Team 2 take Game 4 of the Battle Series on Wednesday evening in Norman. The four-batter lineup of Coor, Kinzie Hansen, Rylie Boone and Alynah Torres produced 12 runs on 13 hits to outscore Team 1 (7) and Team 3 (2).

Team 2 jumped on the board early with its six-run first sparked by three knocks from Coor, including a three-run blast and a two-run single. The redshirt sophomore went 5-for-8 at the plate with four runs scored, a double, two home runs and seven RBIs – five of which came in the explosive first inning. Hansen drew a pair of walks while going 4-for-6 to reach base six times and Brito added a three-hit evening.

Kasidi Pickering starred for Team 1 by launching a pair of long balls, driving in three and reaching base four times. Riley Ludlam reached six times with four walks and a 2-for-6 effort at the dish. Alyssa Brito provided Team 3's offense with a two-run shot in the first inning.

Kelly Maxwell shined in the circle, firing 4.0 hitless frames while striking out six and allowing two unearned runs. Nicole May recorded 3.0 innings of one-run work, scattering four hits while punching out two and walking none.

Coor, Maxwell and Pickering were named Game MVPs for their strong efforts.

[1KCSoonerFan]

Listened to the game on 1560 The Franchise 2 and was giddy with Coor's success! Hannah put on an all-time Battle Series performance.

It feels extra satisfying because Hannah persevered through her surgery and back pain to reach this moment....hopefully, only the beginning of a pain-free life and stellar career at OU! Coor is taking bold steps forward and stacking success on success...and keeping Coach up at night wondering how she will find reps for all this talent. Hannah got Speed, Power, and an Arm! Whoa!

Kasidi Pickering has that IT factor to me. A legit Superstar in the making. Championship pedigree. All the tools. All the confidence. Aura of an All American. Too soon to tell, yet I would not bet against her.

Congrats to Maxwell on a very solid game against the best hitting group in D1.. The pitching staff feels much more secure and reliable with her a part of it! If she can perfect her 'new pitch', look out!

So proud of these women and this team!

[OUBeliever56A]

I managed to stay warm enough last night at the Battle Series Game #5. (1st game was cancelled.) I thought the players played well in the cooler weather also. the cold does not seen to slow down their bats at least. I think gripping the softball and throwing good pitches last night might have been tough to do as 4 out of the 5 pitchers to throw had trouble. Here is my recap of the game.

White Team: Jennings, Ludlam, Pickering, Hodge batting in that order. (I wonder if it says something that Ludlam hits in front of Pickering?)
Grey Team: Coor, Hansen, Boone, Torres. (To me, it says a great deal that Coor bats 1st and Boone 3rd.)
Red Team: Coleman, Brito, Lilio, McEnroe-Marinas, Bland. (It was nice to see Bland back on the field.)
Sanders and Parker did not play at all.
Jennings only hit in the first and second innings. She did not hit, but pinch ran and played defense the entire game. (Questions abound about that.)

There were two new defensive wrinkles that I saw was that in the bottom 1/3rd of the 2nd inning, Pickering was playing 2B. No balls were hit to her. The other was Jayda Coleman at SS for 1/3rd of an inning twice. No balls were hit to her. I think this was no more than a being short of infielders for most of the night. Coleman also played alot of 1B as she has before this fall. BUT, that is a possible SS solution and lets Boone, Coor and Pickering pay in the outfield. (Just a thought.)

Deal made a nice catch in RF also last night.

For the most part the pitchers last night threw to all three teams without repeating facing the same team. Monticelli, Deal and Maxwell pitched to all three teams. Maxwell pitched one more inning against the White team also. Geurin only pitched to the Grey and White team. May pitched to the Grey team and the Red team twice.

Pitchers stats:

Maxwell - 4.0 IP, 0 hits, 2 Runs, 0 Earned, 6 W, 1 HB, 4 K. She threw 97 pitches with 51 strikes = 52.6% strikes. The batters were 0 for 13 against Maxwell.
At the game, I has no idea that Maxwell pitched well. After I have looked at the stats, I am still not sure I think she threw well despite not giving up any earned runs. She threw a great deal of pitches in four innings (24+ per inning with one inning only throwing 11 pitches). She is working on a pitch, maybe two pitches, and is having trouble throwing one for strikes right now. But she is tough mentality and got pitches in the zone when she really needed it. The two runs against her here scored when Coleman, playing 1B, tried to turn a double play on a ground ball hit to her. Coleman threw a bullet to 2B wide of the bag that rolled all the way to the wall. Bland was backing up 3B and Boone did not get to the ball from CF on the first pass. It would have been a really nice double play with a good throw. Ludlam and Hodge (batter) scored on the play. I will say that if Maxwell gets these two pitches in line, she will be a different pitcher this season.

May - 3.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 Run, 1 Earned, 0 W, 0 HB, 2 K, 1 HR allowed (Coor to RF). She threw 46 pitches with 33 strikes = 71.7% strikes. The batters were 4 for 12 against May.
May only allowed the leadoff hitter to get on base once. And then she got three up and three down following. Coor's HR was on a 0-1 pitch. She allowed three singles as well I thought May threw well and had a good tempo as she got the sign, and threw it well. If you have not noticed, the Sooners are using an electronic device (let's call it a watch-like device to provide the signals to the pitcher and the catcher and I think the fielders. If you saw the game last night, you saw Maxwell having a lot of trouble getting the darn thing to stick to her glove. A couple of times, they did not work and everyone called time. The swapped out one and play continued. this will be a new thing this season. But it is quicker, to get the signals to everyone.

Deal - 3.0 IP, 6 hits, 7 Runs, 4 Earned, 3 W, 0 HB, 0 K and 1 Triple and 1 HR allowed (Triple to Ludlam, HR to Coor). She threw 66 pitches with 39 strikes = 59.1% strikes. The batters were 6 for 15 against Deal.
I do not think Deal pitched well in the first inning. She just looked off and was having trouble locating her pitches. After the first inning she pitched well I thought. I do wonder about her having 0 strikeouts facing 18 hitters. She has had 2 strikeouts against Sooner hitters in 10.2 IP. Ludlam's triple could probably been held to a double. Ludlam's hit landed barely fair just short of the foul pole and that wall down the LF line. Bland tried to dive and catch the ball but was short of the ball. By the time she got up and threw the ball in, a speedy Ludlam was on 3B with an RBI driving in Jennings. Bland could have just conceded the hit and played it quicker to keep Ludlam at 2B. Ludlam did not score ultimately, but it is a note. I do give Bland credit for trying to make a very difficult catch.

Monticelli - 3.0 IP, 6 hits, 6 Runs, 5 Earned, 5 W, 0 HB, 3 K and 2 HRs allowed (Brito, Pickering). She threw 88 pitches with 47 strikes = 53.4% Strikes. The batters were 6 for 15 against Monticelli.
Monticelli's trouble came after two outs in her first inning as she gave up a HR (Coor) and single and 2 walks before she played goalie as a hard ground ball hit by Pickering hit Monticelli on her right leg and bounced to Torres for a routine 1-5-3 ground out with the bases loaded for the 3rd out. In her next two innings she allowed 5 runs before she pitche to the 4th batter in either inning oncluding the HR to Brito. I saw a little more movement on her pitches last night but she does not need to walk 5 batters in 3 innings. Both HRs were hit on pitches in bad locations and both were hit a good ways.

Geurin - 2.0 IP, 3 hits, 5 Runs, 5 Earned, 2 W, 0 HB, 2 K and a Double (Coor) and a HR allowed (Pickering). she threw 47 pitches with 27 Strikes = 57.4% Strikes. The batters wre 4 for 10 against Geurin.
Geurin picks up many called stikes early in counts and can get ahead. Then it changes for her and batters start to make contact when they swing. Her two strikeouts were on 2 pretty wicked pitches to Pickering and Boone. The pitch actually hit Boone as she swung for the 3rd out of the inning with runners on base. The ball was called dead as it struck her. eurin is close but maybe she nibbles a bit too much and lets hitters square up the count. I need to see more.

Totals - 15.0 IP, 20 hits, 1 Double,, 1 Triple, 5 HR, 16 W, 1 HB, 11 Ks, 21 Runs, 15 Earned. The hitters were 20 for 65 = .307 BA. They threw 197 Strikes in 344 pitches = 57.3%.

With 13 hitters hitting, the Sooners are loaded with many very good hitters. The White team was 5 for 21, the Grey Team was 12 for 27 and the Red Team was 3 for 17. It is just very tough to pitch to this team with a hot hitter or two batting every 4th at bat against a pitcher. The White Team scored 7 runs, the Grey Team scored 12 runs and the Red Team scored 2 runs.

Offensively, five players had multiple hits in the game.

Coor was 5 for 8 with a Double and 2 HRs, 4 RS and 6 RBIs with 2 Ks.
Hansen was 4 for 6 with 0 EBH 3 RS, 2 RBIs and 3 W.
Pickering was 2 for 7 with 2 HRs, 2 RS, 3 RBI, 2 W and 2 K.
Ludlam was 2 for 6 with a Triple, 2 RS, 2 RBI, 4 W and 1 K.
Torres was 2 for 6 with 3 RS and 1 RBI with 1 W.

Additionally these hitters were on base multiple times with hits and walks (HB).

Jennings reached base twice on 2 W in 3 plate appearences with 1 RS/
Hodge reached base three times on 1 hit, 1 W and 1 HBP. She scored 2 Runs and had 1 K. She was 1 for 7. She had 1 SB against Hansen.
Boone reached base twice on 1 hit and 1 W with 1 K and scored 2 Runs. She was 1 for 7. She had two caught stealings against Ludlam, one at 2B and one at 3B.
Lilio reached base three times on 1 hit and 2 W. She was 1 for 2. She hd 1 SB against Ludlam.
Coleman reached base once on a W and scored 1 Run with a K. she was 0 for 3 at the plate.

McEnroe-Marinas was 1 for 4 with a single and 1 K.
Bland was 0 for 4 with 1 K.

The team hit .307 BA, .444 OB% and .585 Slug%. 21 Runs, 15 RBI, 16 W, 1 HB, 11 K and 2 SB and 2 CS.

Plays to mention:

Top of the 1st: Ludlam hit a sharp grounder that stayed down to the left of Torres. torres made a nie quick play and threw Ludlam out at 1B.

Middle of the 1st: On a deep fly ball to RF caught by Bland, Coor tagged up at 1B and safely moved to 2B. Nice speed and thought.

Boone bunted the ball with a runner on first. Deal fielded the ball quickly spun and threw to 1B in one motion. Lilio was a bit late to get to the bag, though with Boone being safe on a bunt single as Deal threw to a moving Lilio.

On a ball that one-hopped the wall a bit towards RCF, Coleman kept Coor at 1B with a nice play and throw to 2B.

After the Coor single, Coor and Torres attempted a double steal. Ludlam threw to Hodge and Hodge did a great job running Coor back to 1B and keeping Torres at 3B before tossing the ball to Deal.

Bottom of the 1st: Hodge made a nice backhand pickup of a grounder playing 2B and threw out Bland at 1B.

Middle of the 2nd: Boone walked. Torres hit a ground ball to the right of Hodge. Hodge made the catch but threw the ball away as Torres stayed at 1B. the play caused things to be jumbled in the infield. Monticelli ended up covering home plate with Brito at 3B, Ludlam between home and 1B with the ball and Jennings in foul territory and Lilio near 1B. As Brito ran to home to take Monticelli's place so she could go to the circle, Torres took of for 2B with no one covering 2B, Ludlam froze a bit. As Monticelli left for the circle, Boone took off with no play anywhere and scored with Torres reaching 2B. Ugh!

With Boone at 1B, and Hanen at 3B, a double steal was attempted. Ludlam threw the ball to Hodge with Boone sliding to the outfield side of the bag by several feet. Hodge looked to Boone with Hansen faking towards home. but staying at 3B. With Boone running back towards 1B the base umpire called Boone out for being out of the baseline for one out on the play, the second of the inning.

Bottom of the 2nd inning: Runner on first base one out. McEnroe-Marinas hit a hopper over the pitcher that Hodge timed well and caught on the hop and tagged 2B for the force at the same time and then threw to 1B for the double play beating Brito running for McEnroe-Marinas.

Top of the 3rd: Ludlam on 1B after walking. Maxwell got Pickering in a 0-2 hole on great pitches. in an 8-pitch at bat, Pickering worked a walk out of Maxwell fouling off two good pitches to stay alive.

With runners on 1st and 3rd, Ludlam flied out to RF to Coor. Coor threw a rope to 3B after the catch with the runner on second not even thinking about going to 3B.

Middle of the 3rd. For the final out of the inning, Lilio made a nice play at 2B as she ran down a ground ball towards 2B and then flipped the ball back to Hodge for the force out.

Bottom of the 3rd: Maxwell made all three outs as she fielded three ground balls and threw the batters out at first base with a couple of them being non-routine grounders.

Top of the 5th: With a runner on 1st, a little ground ball was hit back up the middle past Maxwell, Brito (SS) fielded it and managed to throw the ball back to 2B to Lilio to get the force at 2B.

Middle of the 5th: Boone was on second pinch-running. I think Coach Gasso tested Ludlam by having Boone steal third. Ludlam threw Boone out.

Errors:

Hodge had two. One on a ground ball to 2B. One on a throw to 1B during the Torres 1B play where Monticelli ended up at home plate. There should probably be another error on the plate as Boone was allowed to score but it was not Hodges. Probably Ludlam's or a Team error.

Jennings had an error playing 1B on a hopper that played her down the line.

Coleman had a throwing error trying to turn a DP while playing 1B. (I mentioned this earlier.)

That is all I have about the game.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Hypothetically, here is a question:

Knowing what we see now, fill in the blank for the 4 questions below.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (better / the same as / worst) than and outfield of: Boone in LF, Coleman in CF, Torres in RF.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (better / the same as / worst) than and outfield of: Brito in LF, Coleman in RF, Boone in RF.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (better / the same as / worst) than and outfield of: Donihoo in LF, Coleman in RF, Mendes in RF.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (70% as good / 80% as good / 90% as good / the same) as the outfield of: Boone in LF, Coleman in CF, Coor/Pickering in RF.

Just curious how everyone feels about this.

Shhhhh - This may mean that Coleman would play 1B........Keep this a secret!.....

[TropicalSooner]

I managed to stay warm enough last night at the Battle Series Game #5. (1st game was cancelled.) I thought the players played well in the cooler weather also. the cold does not seen to slow down their bats at least. I think gripping the softball and throwing good pitches last night might have been tough to do as 4 out of the 5 pitchers to throw had trouble. Here is my recap of the game.

White Team: Jennings, Ludlam, Pickering, Hodge batting in that order. (I wonder if it says something that Ludlam hits in front of Pickering?)
Grey Team: Coor, Hansen, Boone, Torres. (To me, it says a great deal that Coor bats 1st and Boone 3rd.)
Red Team: Coleman, Brito, Lilio, McEnroe-Marinas, Bland. (It was nice to see Bland back on the field.)
Sanders and Parker did not play at all.
Jennings only hit in the first and second innings. She did not hit, but pinch ran and played defense the entire game. (Questions abound about that.)

There were two new defensive wrinkles that I saw was that in the bottom 1/3rd of the 2nd inning, Pickering was playing 2B. No balls were hit to her. The other was Jayda Coleman at SS for 1/3rd of an inning twice. No balls were hit to her. I think this was no more than a being short of infielders for most of the night. Coleman also played alot of 1B as she has before this fall. BUT, that is a possible SS solution and lets Boone, Coor and Pickering pay in the outfield. (Just a thought.)

Deal made a nice catch in RF also last night.

For the most part the pitchers last night threw to all three teams without repeating facing the same team. Monticelli, Deal and Maxwell pitched to all three teams. Maxwell pitched one more inning against the White team also. Geurin only pitched to the Grey and White team. May pitched to the Grey team and the Red team twice.

Pitchers stats:

Maxwell - 4.0 IP, 0 hits, 2 Runs, 0 Earned, 6 W, 1 HB, 4 K. She threw 97 pitches with 51 strikes = 52.6% strikes. The batters were 0 for 13 against Maxwell.
At the game, I has no idea that Maxwell pitched well. After I have looked at the stats, I am still not sure I think she threw well despite not giving up any earned runs. She threw a great deal of pitches in four innings (24+ per inning with one inning only throwing 11 pitches). She is working on a pitch, maybe two pitches, and is having trouble throwing one for strikes right now. But she is tough mentality and got pitches in the zone when she really needed it. The two runs against her here scored when Coleman, playing 1B, tried to turn a double play on a ground ball hit to her. Coleman threw a bullet to 2B wide of the bag that rolled all the way to the wall. Bland was backing up 3B and Boone did not get to the ball from CF on the first pass. It would have been a really nice double play with a good throw. Ludlam and Hodge (batter) scored on the play. I will say that if Maxwell gets these two pitches in line, she will be a different pitcher this season.

May - 3.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 Run, 1 Earned, 0 W, 0 HB, 2 K, 1 HR allowed (Coor to RF). She threw 46 pitches with 33 strikes = 71.7% strikes. The batters were 4 for 12 against May.
May only allowed the leadoff hitter to get on base once. And then she got three up and three down following. Coor's HR was on a 0-1 pitch. She allowed three singles as well I thought May threw well and had a good tempo as she got the sign, and threw it well. If you have not noticed, the Sooners are using an electronic device (let's call it a watch-like device to provide the signals to the pitcher and the catcher and I think the fielders. If you saw the game last night, you saw Maxwell having a lot of trouble getting the darn thing to stick to her glove. A couple of times, they did not work and everyone called time. The swapped out one and play continued. this will be a new thing this season. But it is quicker, to get the signals to everyone.

Deal - 3.0 IP, 6 hits, 7 Runs, 4 Earned, 3 W, 0 HB, 0 K and 1 Triple and 1 HR allowed (Triple to Ludlam, HR to Coor). She threw 66 pitches with 39 strikes = 59.1% strikes. The batters were 6 for 15 against Deal.
I do not think Deal pitched well in the first inning. She just looked off and was having trouble locating her pitches. After the first inning she pitched well I thought. I do wonder about her having 0 strikeouts facing 18 hitters. She has had 2 strikeouts against Sooner hitters in 10.2 IP. Ludlam's triple could probably been held to a double. Ludlam's hit landed barely fair just short of the foul pole and that wall down the LF line. Bland tried to dive and catch the ball but was short of the ball. By the time she got up and threw the ball in, a speedy Ludlam was on 3B with an RBI driving in Jennings. Bland could have just conceded the hit and played it quicker to keep Ludlam at 2B. Ludlam did not score ultimately, but it is a note. I do give Bland credit for trying to make a very difficult catch.

Monticelli - 3.0 IP, 6 hits, 6 Runs, 5 Earned, 5 W, 0 HB, 3 K and 2 HRs allowed (Brito, Pickering). She threw 88 pitches with 47 strikes = 53.4% Strikes. The batters were 6 for 15 against Monticelli.
Monticelli's trouble came after two outs in her first inning as she gave up a HR (Coor) and single and 2 walks before she played goalie as a hard ground ball hit by Pickering hit Monticelli on her right leg and bounced to Torres for a routine 1-5-3 ground out with the bases loaded for the 3rd out. In her next two innings she allowed 5 runs before she pitche to the 4th batter in either inning oncluding the HR to Brito. I saw a little more movement on her pitches last night but she does not need to walk 5 batters in 3 innings. Both HRs were hit on pitches in bad locations and both were hit a good ways.

Geurin - 2.0 IP, 3 hits, 5 Runs, 5 Earned, 2 W, 0 HB, 2 K and a Double (Coor) and a HR allowed (Pickering). she threw 47 pitches with 27 Strikes = 57.4% Strikes. The batters wre 4 for 10 against Geurin.
Geurin picks up many called stikes early in counts and can get ahead. Then it changes for her and batters start to make contact when they swing. Her two strikeouts were on 2 pretty wicked pitches to Pickering and Boone. The pitch actually hit Boone as she swung for the 3rd out of the inning with runners on base. The ball was called dead as it struck her. eurin is close but maybe she nibbles a bit too much and lets hitters square up the count. I need to see more.

Totals - 15.0 IP, 20 hits, 1 Double,, 1 Triple, 5 HR, 16 W, 1 HB, 11 Ks, 21 Runs, 15 Earned. The hitters were 20 for 65 = .307 BA. They threw 197 Strikes in 344 pitches = 57.3%.

With 13 hitters hitting, the Sooners are loaded with many very good hitters. The White team was 5 for 21, the Grey Team was 12 for 27 and the Red Team was 3 for 17. It is just very tough to pitch to this team with a hot hitter or two batting every 4th at bat against a pitcher. The White Team scored 7 runs, the Grey Team scored 12 runs and the Red Team scored 2 runs.

Offensively, five players had multiple hits in the game.

Coor was 5 for 8 with a Double and 2 HRs, 4 RS and 6 RBIs with 2 Ks.
Hansen was 4 for 6 with 0 EBH 3 RS, 2 RBIs and 3 W.
Pickering was 2 for 7 with 2 HRs, 2 RS, 3 RBI, 2 W and 2 K.
Ludlam was 2 for 6 with a Triple, 2 RS, 2 RBI, 4 W and 1 K.
Torres was 2 for 6 with 3 RS and 1 RBI with 1 W.

Additionally these hitters were on base multiple times with hits and walks (HB).

Jennings reached base twice on 2 W in 3 plate appearences with 1 RS/
Hodge reached base three times on 1 hit, 1 W and 1 HBP. She scored 2 Runs and had 1 K. She was 1 for 7. She had 1 SB against Hansen.
Boone reached base twice on 1 hit and 1 W with 1 K and scored 2 Runs. She was 1 for 7. She had two caught stealings against Ludlam, one at 2B and one at 3B.
Lilio reached base three times on 1 hit and 2 W. She was 1 for 2. She hd 1 SB against Ludlam.
Coleman reached base once on a W and scored 1 Run with a K. she was 0 for 3 at the plate.

McEnroe-Marinas was 1 for 4 with a single and 1 K.
Bland was 0 for 4 with 1 K.

The team hit .307 BA, .444 OB% and .585 Slug%. 21 Runs, 15 RBI, 16 W, 1 HB, 11 K and 2 SB and 2 CS.

Plays to mention:

Top of the 1st: Ludlam hit a sharp grounder that stayed down to the left of Torres. torres made a nie quick play and threw Ludlam out at 1B.

Middle of the 1st: On a deep fly ball to RF caught by Bland, Coor tagged up at 1B and safely moved to 2B. Nice speed and thought.

Boone bunted the ball with a runner on first. Deal fielded the ball quickly spun and threw to 1B in one motion. Lilio was a bit late to get to the bag, though with Boone being safe on a bunt single as Deal threw to a moving Lilio.

On a ball that one-hopped the wall a bit towards RCF, Coleman kept Coor at 1B with a nice play and throw to 2B.

After the Coor single, Coor and Torres attempted a double steal. Ludlam threw to Hodge and Hodge did a great job running Coor back to 1B and keeping Torres at 3B before tossing the ball to Deal.

Bottom of the 1st: Hodge made a nice backhand pickup of a grounder playing 2B and threw out Bland at 1B.

Middle of the 2nd: Boone walked. Torres hit a ground ball to the right of Hodge. Hodge made the catch but threw the ball away as Torres stayed at 1B. the play caused things to be jumbled in the infield. Monticelli ended up covering home plate with Brito at 3B, Ludlam between home and 1B with the ball and Jennings in foul territory and Lilio near 1B. As Brito ran to home to take Monticelli's place so she could go to the circle, Torres took of for 2B with no one covering 2B, Ludlam froze a bit. As Monticelli left for the circle, Boone took off with no play anywhere and scored with Torres reaching 2B. Ugh!

With Boone at 1B, and Hanen at 3B, a double steal was attempted. Ludlam threw the ball to Hodge with Boone sliding to the outfield side of the bag by several feet. Hodge looked to Boone with Hansen faking towards home. but staying at 3B. With Boone running back towards 1B the base umpire called Boone out for being out of the baseline for one out on the play, the second of the inning.

Bottom of the 2nd inning: Runner on first base one out. McEnroe-Marinas hit a hopper over the pitcher that Hodge timed well and caught on the hop and tagged 2B for the force at the same time and then threw to 1B for the double play beating Brito running for McEnroe-Marinas.

Top of the 3rd: Ludlam on 1B after walking. Maxwell got Pickering in a 0-2 hole on great pitches. in an 8-pitch at bat, Pickering worked a walk out of Maxwell fouling off two good pitches to stay alive.

With runners on 1st and 3rd, Ludlam flied out to RF to Coor. Coor threw a rope to 3B after the catch with the runner on second not even thinking about going to 3B.

Middle of the 3rd. For the final out of the inning, Lilio made a nice play at 2B as she ran down a ground ball towards 2B and then flipped the ball back to Hodge for the force out.

Bottom of the 3rd: Maxwell made all three outs as she fielded three ground balls and threw the batters out at first base with a couple of them being non-routine grounders.

Top of the 5th: With a runner on 1st, a little ground ball was hit back up the middle past Maxwell, Brito (SS) fielded it and managed to throw the ball back to 2B to Lilio to get the force at 2B.

Middle of the 5th: Boone was on second pinch-running. I think Coach Gasso tested Ludlam by having Boone steal third. Ludlam threw Boone out.

Errors:

Hodge had two. One on a ground ball to 2B. One on a throw to 1B during the Torres 1B play where Monticelli ended up at home plate. There should probably be another error on the plate as Boone was allowed to score but it was not Hodges. Probably Ludlam's or a Team error.

Jennings had an error playing 1B on a hopper that played her down the line.

Coleman had a throwing error trying to turn a DP while playing 1B. (I mentioned this earlier.)

That is all I have about the game.

Boomer Sooner!

Thanks for the writeup '56.
Love all the detail.
It is still worrisome to me about the pitchers and all the walks they are giving up.
I know it's hard to hit the corners against our hitters. Coincidentally, the pitchers are having trouble getting K's, which against our lineup, are really hard to come by. I get that. And I'm ok with that. Might be unsettling if they were getting a lot of K's. But the walks are unsettling to me. Maybe they shouldn't be either. I suppose we will see come February.

[oufanforever]

Great summary by OUBeliever56A. I have a few notes from watching the game on stream:

Top 1st: Monticelli gave up a 2 out HR to Pickering. With the bases loaded, Pickering had another hit up the middle that bounced off Monticelli and got thrown out. Really unlucky break for Pickering there.

Middle 1st: Lilio had a tough inning defenseively at 2B. After Coor's 3 run HR, Hansen hit a bloop single into CF just out of the reach of Lilio, then on Boone's bunt Lilio covered 1B late, immediately followed with trying to backhand field a hard hit ball from Torres and having the ball bounce off her glove into CF to let Hansen score. That bought Coor another at bat and she hit the long single off the wall to score 2. I think that was an error on Lilio and not sure if it is scored that way. I noticed Deal was mainly throwing pitches low in the zone to the hitters, and the first time she tried to throw a rise ball, it was left over the plate and got hit out by Coor.

Bottom 1st: Lilio stole 2nd on Ludlam after a walk.

Middle 2nd: Torres hit a high pop up on the infield, but Jennings (playing 1B) and Ludlam (catching) miscommunicated and nobody caught the ball. Luckily it hit the ground and bounced into foul territory. This second life allowed Torres to hit the ball into the 5-6 hole where Hodge had to back hand it and threw wide of 1B. Boone did not score on the confusion though, Coor grounded out to Jennings at 1B the next at bat to score Boone from 3B. Jennings took the easy out tagging Coor instead of trying to get Boone at home. Hansen singled following that and Geurin replaced Monticelli at that point. Boone next at bat hit a ball up the 1B line that bounced off Jennings's glove. I think this is where Jennings may have hurt her glove hand and she did not bat the rest of the game. Agree with you that is an error on Jennings.

Top 3rd: Maxwell walked 3 batters to load the bases, but got out without giving up any run. Jennings did not hit but pinch run, her left hand was wrapped in tape.

Middle 3rd: After Coor doubled, Pickering make an accurate throw home on Hansen's single to LF, but Coor was too fast and scored easily.

Bottom 3rd: The only 1-2-3 inning of the night, Maxwell fielded 3 ground balls back to her.

Top 4th: Hodge stole 2nd on Hansen on a very close play, may have been out on video review. Next at bat, Ludlam hit a blooping single to RF where Coor dived and just missed. Followed by Pickering's 2nd HR of the night.

Middle 4th: Lilio fielded a ground ball up the middle almost behind the second base and back hand flipped it to Hodge for the force out at 2B.

Top of 5th: I wonder what Maxwell was thinking when she saw Coleman's throw went all the way to the wall. Reminding me of another similar play somewhere.

[oufanforever]

Hypothetically, here is a question:

Knowing what we see now, fill in the blank for the 4 questions below.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (better / the same as / worst) than and outfield of: Boone in LF, Coleman in CF, Torres in RF.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (better / the same as / worst) than and outfield of: Brito in LF, Coleman in RF, Boone in RF.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (better / the same as / worst) than and outfield of: Donihoo in LF, Coleman in RF, Mendes in RF.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (70% as good / 80% as good / 90% as good / the same) as the outfield of: Boone in LF, Coleman in CF, Coor/Pickering in RF.

Just curious how everyone feels about this.

Shhhhh - This may mean that Coleman would play 1B........Keep this a secret!.....

1. Worse
2. Worse
3. Worse
4. 70% at most.

Boone is awesome, but I don't think she would have robbed either the HR Texas or FSU hit in the WCWS finals. Sometimes you just need the physical length to reach some balls. Unless we have 0 players available at 1B, I would not move Coleman from CF.

[Sooneryankee13]

I'm definitely not taking the best cf in college softball out of cf.. I like the combo of any of the 3. I think they all play alot plus bland as well.

[OUBeliever56A]

Great summary by OUBeliever56A. I have a few notes from watching the game on stream:

Top 1st: Monticelli gave up a 2 out HR to Pickering. With the bases loaded, Pickering had another hit up the middle that bounced off Monticelli and got thrown out. Really unlucky break for Pickering there.

Middle 1st: Lilio had a tough inning defenseively at 2B. After Coor's 3 run HR, Hansen hit a bloop single into CF just out of the reach of Lilio, then on Boone's bunt Lilio covered 1B late, immediately followed with trying to backhand field a hard hit ball from Torres and having the ball bounce off her glove into CF to let Hansen score. That bought Coor another at bat and she hit the long single off the wall to score 2. I think that was an error on Lilio and not sure if it is scored that way. I noticed Deal was mainly throwing pitches low in the zone to the hitters, and the first time she tried to throw a rise ball, it was left over the plate and got hit out by Coor.

Bottom 1st: Lilio stole 2nd on Ludlam after a walk.

Middle 2nd: Torres hit a high pop up on the infield, but Jennings (playing 1B) and Ludlam (catching) miscommunicated and nobody caught the ball. Luckily it hit the ground and bounced into foul territory. This second life allowed Torres to hit the ball into the 5-6 hole where Hodge had to back hand it and threw wide of 1B. Boone did not score on the confusion though, Coor grounded out to Jennings at 1B the next at bat to score Boone from 3B. Jennings took the easy out tagging Coor instead of trying to get Boone at home. Hansen singled following that and Geurin replaced Monticelli at that point. Boone next at bat hit a ball up the 1B line that bounced off Jennings's glove. I think this is where Jennings may have hurt her glove hand and she did not bat the rest of the game. Agree with you that is an error on Jennings.

Top 3rd: Maxwell walked 3 batters to load the bases, but got out without giving up any run. Jennings did not hit but pinch run, her left hand was wrapped in tape.

Middle 3rd: After Coor doubled, Pickering make an accurate throw home on Hansen's single to LF, but Coor was too fast and scored easily.

Bottom 3rd: The only 1-2-3 inning of the night, Maxwell fielded 3 ground balls back to her.

Top 4th: Hodge stole 2nd on Hansen on a very close play, may have been out on video review. Next at bat, Ludlam hit a blooping single to RF where Coor dived and just missed. Followed by Pickering's 2nd HR of the night.

Middle 4th: Lilio fielded a ground ball up the middle almost behind the second base and back hand flipped it to Hodge for the force out at 2B.

Top of 5th: I wonder what Maxwell was thinking when she saw Coleman's throw went all the way to the wall. Reminding me of another similar play somewhere.

'oufanforever' - Thanks.

From reading your points I realized that the Hodge error a 2B was really Lilio. I will fix that.

I forgot about and did not mark it on my scoresheet (my bad) about the popup between Ludlam and Jennings. Good catch.

I never saw the tape on Jennings hand.

I wanted to mention Pickering's throw to home and almost getting Coor, but I did not want to be on Pickering's bandwagon too much. I will admit that I thought her arm was stronger than what I see now.

Great point on Jayda's throw past 2B to the wall. I did not put the two plays together. Great insight and memory.

It is my opinion that Deal is much better down low in the zone as I have stated. I wish she would not pitch up over the plate at all. If she throws a rise ball to change the eye level of the pitcher, it should be out or in....for sure. (I know Rocha is calling the pitches and she is great, but I just don't see it.)

Boomer Sooner!

[TropicalSooner]

Hypothetically, here is a question:

Knowing what we see now, fill in the blank for the 4 questions below.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (better / the same as / worst) than and outfield of: Boone in LF, Coleman in CF, Torres in RF.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (better / the same as / worst) than and outfield of: Brito in LF, Coleman in RF, Boone in RF.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (better / the same as / worst) than and outfield of: Donihoo in LF, Coleman in RF, Mendes in RF.

An outfield of: Pickering in LF, Boone in CF, Coor in RF is ___________ (70% as good / 80% as good / 90% as good / the same) as the outfield of: Boone in LF, Coleman in CF, Coor/Pickering in RF.

Just curious how everyone feels about this.

Shhhhh - This may mean that Coleman would play 1B........Keep this a secret!.....

I think all of the above are worse than all the ones on the right side with the last one 70% as good.
For me, until you can show me that Boone (or Coor or Pickering) can leap 3 feet in the air to rob home runs way over the wall like Coleman does (WCWS 2022 and WCWS 2023), then I have trouble taking Coleman out of CF. She has the experience and athleticism to do that on a regular basis.


If Coleman moves to 1B, she needs some more practice. That throw into centerfield reminded me a lot of the meltdown that happened to the Cowgirls in '22 WCWS semi's that allowed Texas to back into the Finals against us. I smiled at the irony of that play.