Big 12 Softball Standings and this weekends Games - March 14th

[OUBeliever56A]

Here are the Big 12 Softball standings after the first weekend of play. Shown is the BA ranking, the Slug% ranking and the ERA ranking for each team.

1st - Oklahoma - 3-0 (24-1) - #2 BA, #1 S% and #1 ERA
T2nd - Texas - 2-1 (21-3) - #1 BA, #2 S% and #3 ERA
T2nd - Oklahoma State - 2-1 (21-3) - #4 BA, #3 S% and #2 ERA
T2nd - Texas Tech - 2-1 (21-5) - #6 BA, #4 S% and #7 ERA
T2nd - Central Florida - 2-1 (14-8) - #7 BA, #8 S% and #6 ERA
T6th - Baylor - 1-2 (16-5) - #10 BA, #10 S% and #4 ERA
T6th - BYU - 1-2 (16-6) - #3 BA, #5 S% and #8 ERA
T6th - Houston 1-2 (17-7) - #5 BA, #6 S% and #9 ERA
T6th - Kansas 1-2 (16-7) - #8 BA, #9 S% and #5 ERA
10th - Iowa State 0-3 (9-14) - #9 BA, #7 S% and #10 ERa

This weekends games are:
BYU at Texas on Thurs, Fri and Sat - Noticing that the BYU offense is better than Houston's, I wonder if BYU can take a game against Texas this weekend as did Houston last weekend. BYU's pitching is a bit better than Houston's as well.

Houston at Iowa State on Fri DH and Sat - Houston has a chance to sweep I-State but I think that I-State will win one at home. If Swain can pitch, they might for sure win one.

Baylor and Kansas on Fri, Sat and Sun - I think Kansas can win of the three games against Baylor. But Baylor's pitching could dominate the Jayhawks as the Bears for a sweep. Maybe Hamilton for Kansas can win one for Kansas.

Central Florida at Oklahoma State - Fri, Sat and Sun - This might be a more even series than it looks. UCF wins games in a sneaky fashion. It will likely be a 2-1 / 1-2 series.

Oklahoma at Texas Tech - Fri, Sat, Sun (for now) - Oklahoma should sweep the series if their 3rd game of the series is pitched well and the OU offense scores their 9 runs. Texas Tech can hit though. with the wind blowing form a northerly direction early in the weekend, the games could be high scoring in the Texas Panhandle wind.

[TropicalSooner]

Here are the Big 12 Softball standings after the first weekend of play. Shown is the BA ranking, the Slug% ranking and the ERA ranking for each team.

1st - Oklahoma - 3-0 (24-1) - #2 BA, #1 S% and #1 ERA
T2nd - Texas - 2-1 (21-3) - #1 BA, #2 S% and #3 ERA
T2nd - Oklahoma State - 2-1 (21-3) - #4 BA, #3 S% and #2 ERA
T2nd - Texas Tech - 2-1 (21-5) - #6 BA, #4 S% and #7 ERA
T2nd - Central Florida - 2-1 (14-8) - #7 BA, #8 S% and #6 ERA
T6th - Baylor - 1-2 (16-5) - #10 BA, #10 S% and #4 ERA
T6th - BYU - 1-2 (16-6) - #3 BA, #5 S% and #8 ERA
T6th - Houston 1-2 (17-7) - #5 BA, #6 S% and #9 ERA
T6th - Kansas 1-2 (16-7) - #8 BA, #9 S% and #5 ERA
10th - Iowa State 0-3 (9-14) - #9 BA, #7 S% and #10 ERa

This weekends games are:
BYU at Texas on Thurs, Fri and Sat - Noticing that the BYU offense is better than Houston's, I wonder if BYU can take a game against Texas this weekend as did Houston last weekend. BYU's pitching is a bit better than Houston's as well.

Houston at Iowa State on Fri DH and Sat - Houston has a chance to sweep I-State but I think that I-State will win one at home. If Swain can pitch, they might for sure win one.

Baylor and Kansas on Fri, Sat and Sun - I think Kansas can win of the three games against Baylor. But Baylor's pitching could dominate the Jayhawks as the Bears for a sweep. Maybe Hamilton for Kansas can win one for Kansas.

Central Florida at Oklahoma State - Fri, Sat and Sun - This might be a more even series than it looks. UCF wins games in a sneaky fashion. It will likely be a 2-1 / 1-2 series.

Oklahoma at Texas Tech - Fri, Sat, Sun (for now) - Oklahoma should sweep the series if their 3rd game of the series is pitched well and the OU offense scores their 9 runs. Texas Tech can hit though. with the wind blowing form a northerly direction early in the weekend, the games could be high scoring in the Texas Panhandle wind.

That's an interesting question you raise about BYU taking a game from Texas. BYU has the better offense statistically as you point out. They also play in thin air in Provo Utah. I wonder if there is any difference in their offensive production between the home games and the away games. Arizona's dry desert air has always seemed to help AU and ASU...wonder if something similar is playing out in Provo? Guess we'll find out this weekend.

Also, the Tech game at Lubbock---Does their stadium face differently than ours where a North / Northeast wind would actually help the hitters and send more balls over the wall?

[OUBeliever56A]

I might be off a little on this direction but the Home Plate to 3B line runs from west to east. So CF is in the SE direction. RF is straight south of home plate.

I have always thought playing 3B, SS and LF late in the day with the western sun shining in your face would be tough.

[TropicalSooner]

Well....the bats went silent for BYU tonight as Mac Morgan and Texas one-hit the Cougars and run-ruled BYU 13-0 in 5 innings.
They play again tomorrow morning at 11:30 am.
We'll see if they have any better luck then.

[1KCSoonerFan]

I am hoping that OU can continue to find consistency in all aspects of their game: Offense, defense, and especially pitching. T-Tech will be a fabulous laboratory for the squad.

The consistency is there to a great degree, but there are a few areas to clean up, IF that is possible. I feel like we have a great chance to win each inning, barring freak plays and such. Lightening strikes where it will.

Go Sooners! I #1 want to see our pitching be great this weekend.

[OUBeliever56A]

Well....the bats went silent for BYU tonight as Mac Morgan and Texas one-hit the Cougars and run-ruled BYU 13-0 in 5 innings.
They play again tomorrow morning at 11:30 am.
We'll see if they have any better luck then.

Well, so much for game #1 of the series. Mac Morgan must have pitched very well while the Longhorn bats were doing their job at the same time. When the top three hitters for Texas gets on base they score runs. Henry, Scott and Mitchell can hit.

[OUBeliever56A]

Friday update:

This weekends games are:

BYU at Texas on Thurs, Fri and Sat - Noticing that the BYU offense is better than Houston's, I wonder if BYU can take a game against Texas this weekend as did Houston last weekend. BYU's pitching is a bit better than Houston's as well.

They played a single game on Thursday and a DH on Friday. Texas won all three easily with the closest game being 7-3 on Friday first game. Texas regained form after the Houston weekend and BYU fell to 1-5.

Houston at Iowa State on Fri DH and Sat - Houston has a chance to sweep I-State but I think that I-State will win one at home. If Swain can pitch, they might for sure win one.

- Due to weather, Houston and Iowa State played a DH on Friday. Surprisingly, I-State won both game 9-1 and 9-4. (No, Swain did not pitch for the Cyclones.) Who would have thought this would happen with I-State being 0-3 and Houston picking up a win and a close game with Texas. But, maybe Houston's pitching overachieved against Texas and I-State's pitching found a secret.

Baylor and Kansas on Fri, Sat and Sun - I think Kansas can win of the three games against Baylor. But Baylor's pitching could dominate the Jayhawks as the Bears for a sweep. Maybe Hamilton for Kansas can win one for Kansas.

- pitched Kansas to victory 3-2 over Crandall of Baylor. A bit of a surprise.

Central Florida at Oklahoma State - Fri, Sat and Sun - This might be a more even series than it looks. UCF wins games in a sneaky fashion. It will likely be a 2-1 / 1-2 series.

- OSU won with Kilfoyl outpitching Sara Willis (ex Washington player) as both pitched a complete game. OSU won 2-0. OSU had only 3 hits with a solo HR by Godwin.

Oklahoma at Texas Tech - Fri, Sat, Sun (for now) - Oklahoma should sweep the series if their 3rd game of the series is pitched well and the OU offense scores their 9 runs. Texas Tech can hit though. with the wind blowing form a northerly direction early in the weekend, the games could be high scoring in the Texas Panhandle wind.

- OU won 14-0 with Jennings and Maxwell leading the effort.

[OUBeliever56A]

Saturday update:

This weekends games are:

BYU at Texas on Thurs, Fri and Sat - Noticing that the BYU offense is better than Houston's, I wonder if BYU can take a game against Texas this weekend as did Houston last weekend. BYU's pitching is a bit better than Houston's as well.

- They played a single game on Thursday and a DH on Friday. Texas won all three easily with the closest game being 7-3 on Friday first game. Texas regained form after the Houston weekend and is 5-1 in conference while BYU fell to 1-5.

Houston at Iowa State on Fri DH and Sat - Houston has a chance to sweep I-State but I think that I-State will win one at home. If Swain can pitch, they might for sure win one.

- Due to weather, Houston and Iowa State played a DH on Friday. Surprisingly, I-State won both game 9-1 and 9-4. (No, Swain did not pitch for the Cyclones.) Who would have thought this would happen with I-State being 0-3 and Houston picking up a win and a close game with Texas. But, maybe Houston's pitching overachieved against Texas and I-State's pitching found a secret this weekend.

- On Saturday, Houston's offense returned and they defeated I-State 10-2. Iowa State and Houston are both 2-4 in conference play.

Baylor and Kansas on Fri, Sat and Sun - I think Kansas can win of the three games against Baylor. But Baylor's pitching could dominate the Jayhawks as the Bears for a sweep. Maybe Hamilton for Kansas can win one for Kansas.

- On Friday, Hamilton pitched Kansas to victory 3-2 over Crandall of Baylor. A bit of a surprise.

- Kansas defeated Baylor again 2-0 on Saturday. Brooks and Hamilton tossed a shutout against Baylor for their 2nd win in a row.
- The two play again today. Baylor is desperate for a win.

Central Florida at Oklahoma State - Fri, Sat and Sun - This might be a more even series than it looks. UCF wins games in a sneaky fashion. It will likely be a 2-1 / 1-2 series.

- On Friday, OSU won with Kilfoyl outpitching Sara Willis (ex Washington player) as both pitched a complete game. OSU won 2-0. OSU had only 3 hits with a solo HR by Godwin.

- On Saturday, the score was 4-4 thru 5 innings. OSU scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 6th to break the game wide open.
- The two play again on Sunday with UCF looking for at least one win in Stillwater.

Oklahoma at Texas Tech - Fri, Sat, Sun (for now) - Oklahoma should sweep the series if their 3rd game of the series is pitched well and the OU offense scores their 9 runs. Texas Tech can hit though. with the wind blowing form a northerly direction early in the weekend, the games could be high scoring in the Texas Panhandle wind.

- On Friday, OU won 14-0 with Jennings and Maxwell leading the effort.

- On Saturday, the Sooners scored 12 in the first inning, to win 15-2 in 5 innings.
- The two teams play again on Sunday. Nicole May will likely start for Oklahoma. I think Texas Tech has sent all five to the circle already, so OU knows what to look for.

[OUBeliever56A]

Friday and Saturday update from other conferences:

SEC:
Texas A&M 3-0 at Mississippi State 2-1 - Friday postponed - plays a DH on Saturday. ** A&M won both ends of the DH on Saturday, 9-0 & 8-5.
Alabama 1-2 at Georgia 0-0 - On Friday, Georgia won 4-2 as Beaver lost for Bama. ** Georgia beat Bama 11-3 for two in a row on Saturday.
Missouri 2-1 at Tennessee 0-0 - On Friday, Tennessee wone easily 9-0. ** Tennessee defeated Mizzou 8-2 on Saturday.
Arkansas 0-0 at Auburn 1-2 - D=Friday postponed - plays DH on Saturday. **On Saturday, Arkansas swept the DH with 6-1 and 5-2 wins.

PAC-12:
Stanford 0-0 at California 1-2 - On Friday, Canady and Stanford won 7-0. ** Stanford won again 5-2 with Krause starting and Candy finishing on Saturday.
Washington 2-1 at Arizona 2-1 - On Friday, Washington won 13-2 with Meylan. **Washington won 11-3 on Saturday.

ACC:
Duke at Florida State - Duke won 10-5 on Friday as they took an early lead and it held up. ** Florida State with Reid in the circle won 4-2 over Duke and Curd on Saturday. **

North Carolina 2-1 at Clemson 2-1 - On Friday, Clemson won 5-0 with [Edit: Spencer pitched for Clemson.] ** Clemson won behind Thompson in the circle on Saturday 4-1.

[TropicalSooner]

Saturday update:

This weekends games are:

BYU at Texas on Thurs, Fri and Sat - Noticing that the BYU offense is better than Houston's, I wonder if BYU can take a game against Texas this weekend as did Houston last weekend. BYU's pitching is a bit better than Houston's as well.

- They played a single game on Thursday and a DH on Friday. Texas won all three easily with the closest game being 7-3 on Friday first game. Texas regained form after the Houston weekend and is 5-1 in conference while BYU fell to 1-5.

Houston at Iowa State on Fri DH and Sat - Houston has a chance to sweep I-State but I think that I-State will win one at home. If Swain can pitch, they might for sure win one.

- Due to weather, Houston and Iowa State played a DH on Friday. Surprisingly, I-State won both game 9-1 and 9-4. (No, Swain did not pitch for the Cyclones.) Who would have thought this would happen with I-State being 0-3 and Houston picking up a win and a close game with Texas. But, maybe Houston's pitching overachieved against Texas and I-State's pitching found a secret this weekend.

- On Saturday, Houston's offense returned and they defeated I-State 10-2. Iowa State and Houston are both 2-4 in conference play.

Baylor and Kansas on Fri, Sat and Sun - I think Kansas can win of the three games against Baylor. But Baylor's pitching could dominate the Jayhawks as the Bears for a sweep. Maybe Hamilton for Kansas can win one for Kansas.

- On Friday, Hamilton pitched Kansas to victory 3-2 over Crandall of Baylor. A bit of a surprise.

- Kansas defeated Baylor again 2-0 on Saturday. Brooks and Hamilton tossed a shutout against Baylor for their 2nd win in a row.
- The two play again today. Baylor is desperate for a win.

Central Florida at Oklahoma State - Fri, Sat and Sun - This might be a more even series than it looks. UCF wins games in a sneaky fashion. It will likely be a 2-1 / 1-2 series.

- On Friday, OSU won with Kilfoyl outpitching Sara Willis (ex Washington player) as both pitched a complete game. OSU won 2-0. OSU had only 3 hits with a solo HR by Godwin.

- On Saturday, the score was 4-4 thru 5 innings. OSU scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 6th to break the game wide open.
- The two play again on Sunday with UCF looking for at least one win in Stillwater.

Oklahoma at Texas Tech - Fri, Sat, Sun (for now) - Oklahoma should sweep the series if their 3rd game of the series is pitched well and the OU offense scores their 9 runs. Texas Tech can hit though. with the wind blowing form a northerly direction early in the weekend, the games could be high scoring in the Texas Panhandle wind.

- On Friday, OU won 14-0 with Jennings and Maxwell leading the effort.

- On Saturday, the Sooners scored 12 in the first inning, to win 15-2 in 5 innings.
- The two teams play again on Sunday. Nicole May will likely start for Oklahoma. I think Texas Tech has sent all five to the circle already, so OU knows what to look for.

Baylor seems to be really underachieving this year...and I really don't know why.
OSU seems to be really overachieving this year.....and I don't know why here either.
And I thought UCF might be the surprise newcomer to the league with respect to being a contender--or at least a spoiler, and winning games we don't think they could. I'm not sure that's going to happen now, either--although I think Cindy Ball-Malone will ultimately do some good things for the Knights.

Thanks for all the updates '56. Lots of things to keep track of.

Off-topic....but....
Do you know if any of our class of '24 signees are playing spring ball in HS this year or do they start travel ball this early? and how they are doing as they complete their Senior year in HS (or Trav Ball)?

[OUBeliever56A]

I will share what I know about the 24 and 25 recruits this week in an effort to help.

[TN Sooner]

LSU loses to ole Miss

https://www.espn.com/college-softball/g ... els-tigers

[inconnu]

Ole Miss also upset Miss State recently. Maybe they will soon be ranked?!

Ole Miss plays LSU again tomorrow, to see who wins that 3 game series.

[OUBeliever56A]

Sunday update:

This weekends games are:

BYU at Texas on Thurs, Fri and Sat - Noticing that the BYU offense is better than Houston's, I wonder if BYU can take a game against Texas this weekend as did Houston last weekend. BYU's pitching is a bit better than Houston's as well.

- They played a single game on Thursday and a DH on Friday. Texas won all three easily with the closest game being 7-3 on Friday first game. Texas regained form after the Houston weekend and is 5-1 in conference while BYU fell to 1-5. X

Houston at Iowa State on Fri DH and Sat - Houston has a chance to sweep I-State but I think that I-State will win one at home. If Swain can pitch, they might for sure win one.

- Due to weather, Houston and Iowa State played a DH on Friday. Surprisingly, I-State won both game 9-1 and 9-4. (No, Swain did not pitch for the Cyclones.) Who would have thought this would happen with I-State being 0-3 and Houston picking up a win and a close game with Texas. But, maybe Houston's pitching overachieved against Texas and I-State's pitching found a secret this weekend.
- On Saturday, Houston's offense returned and they defeated I-State 10-2. Iowa State and Houston are both 2-4 in conference play. X

Baylor and Kansas on Fri, Sat and Sun - I think Kansas can win one of the three games against Baylor. But Baylor's pitching could dominate the Jayhawks as the Bears for a sweep. Maybe Hamilton for Kansas can win one for Kansas.

- On Friday, Hamilton pitched Kansas to victory 3-2 over Crandall of Baylor. A bit of a surprise.
- Kansas defeated Baylor again 2-0 on Saturday. Brooks and Hamilton tossed a shutout against Baylor for their 2nd win in a row.
The two play again today. Baylor is desperate for a win.

- Kansas beat Baylor one more time on Sunday to sweep the Bears. This time Brooks pitched a complete game shutout against the Bears to win 1-0.
- Kansas is now 4-2 in the Big 12 with Baylor falling to 1-5. Baylor has scored 7 runs in 6 Big 12 games.

Central Florida at Oklahoma State - Fri, Sat and Sun - This might be a more even series than it looks. UCF wins games in a sneaky fashion. It will likely be a 2-1 / 1-2 series.

- On Friday, OSU won with Kilfoyl outpitching Sara Willis (ex Washington player) as both pitched a complete game. OSU won 2-0. OSU had only 3 hits with a solo HR by Godwin.
- On Saturday, the score was 4-4 thru 5 innings. OSU scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 6th to break the game wide open.
The two play again on Sunday with UCF looking for at least one win in Stillwater.

- Oklahoma State won 6-4 on Sunday over UCF. UCF made it close with 3 runs in the 6th but OSU scored in the bottom of the 6th to create the final score of 6-4.
- OSU is now 5-1 while UCF dropped to 2-4.

Oklahoma at Texas Tech - Fri, Sat, Sun (for now) - Oklahoma should sweep the series if their 3rd game of the series is pitched well and the OU offense scores their 9 runs. Texas Tech can hit though. with the wind blowing form a northerly direction early in the weekend, the games could be high scoring in the Texas Panhandle wind.

- On Friday, OU won 14-0 with Jennings and Maxwell leading the effort.
- On Saturday, the Sooners scored 12 in the first inning, to win 15-2 in 5 innings.
The two teams play again on Sunday. Nicole May will likely start for Oklahoma. I think Texas Tech has sent all five to the circle already, so OU knows what to look for.

- OU won the final game of the series to sweep the series, 11-1. May scattered hits (all singles) to get the win for OU while Brito hit 2 HRs, Jennings 1 as Jennings, Brito and Boone had 3 RBIs each.
- OU is 6-0 in conference play while Texas Tech falls to 2-4.

Big 12 Standings thru the weekend games:

1st - Oklahoma - 6-0 (27-1)
T2nd - Texas - 5-1 (24-3)
T2nd - Oklahoma State - 5-1 (24-3)
4th - Kansas 4-2 (19-7)
T5th - Texas Tech - 2-4 (21-8)
T5th - Houston 2-4 (18-9)
T5th - Iowa State 2-4 (11-15)
T5th - Central Florida - 2-4 (14-11)
T9th - Baylor - 1-5 (16-8)
T9th - BYU - 1-5 (16-9)

[OUBeliever56A]

Sunday updates:

SEC:
Texas A&M 3-0 at Mississippi State 2-1 - postponed - plays a DH on Saturday. ** A&M won both ends of the DH on Saturday, 9-0 & 8-5. Sunday- Mississippi State won 6-5 to salvage one win in the series.
Alabama 1-2 at Georgia 0-0 - Georgia won 4-2 as Beaver lost for Bama. ** Georgia beat Bama 11-3 for two in a row on Saturday. Sunday- Alabama did win on Sunday 5-4 as they scored all five runs in the 4th inning.
Missouri 2-1 at Tennessee 0-0 - Tennessee wone easily 9-0. ** Tennessee defeated Mizzou 8-2 on Saturday. Tennessee swept the Tigers with a 4-0 win on Sunday.
Arkansas 0-0 at Auburn 1-2 - postponed - plays DH on Saturday. **On Saturday, Arkansas swept the DH with 6-1 and 5-2 wins. Sunday- Auburn managed to win one game of the series with a 2-1 win.

The big news on Sunday was that Ole Miss defeated LSU 5-2 to give LSU their first loss of the season. Berzon took the loss for LSU.

PAC-12:
Stanford 0-0 at California 1-2 - Canady and Stanford won 7-0. ** Stanford won again 5-2 with Krause starting and Candy finishing on Saturday. Sunday- Stanford won 7 to 4 with Houston and Krause pitching to sweep California.
Washington 2-1 at Arizona 2-1 - Washington won 13-2 with Meylan. **Washington won 11-3 on Saturday. Sunday- Arizona defeated Washington and Meylan 2-0 to salvage one game in the series.

Oregon won their second PAC-12 series of the season 2-1 with a 5-1 win over Utah in the rubber game of the series.

ACC:
Duke at Florida State - Duke won 10-5 as they took an early lead and it held up. ** Florida State with Reid in the circle won 4-2 over Duke and Curd on Saturday. ** Sunday- Duke won 9 to 5 over FSU to win the series. Is Duke (5-1) now the favorite in the ACC? (VA Tech is 9-0 and in first and Clemson is also 5-1.)

North Carolina 2-1 at Clemson 2-1 - Clemson won 5-0 with [Edit: Spencer pitched for Clemson.] ** Clemson won behind Thompson in the circle on Saturday 4-1. ** Sunday- Clemson won again with Spencer in the circle for them, 9-1.