Tag: NCAA Softball

Alabama softball P Montana Fouts available for NCAA Super Regional series

Montana Fouts is eligible to return after suffering a knee injury in the SEC Tournament.

As Alabama softball prepares to take on Northwestern in an NCAA regional, some good news has found its way to the clubhouse. Star graduate student pitcher Montana Fouts has been cleared to play and will be available for the matchup, according to Chase Goodbread of the Tuscaloosa News.

Fouts missed time during this postseason and was unavailable due to a knee injury she suffered after she appeared to hyperextend it while in the circle of an SEC Tournament contest.

Alabama is the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament and seeks to get past Northwestern after winning the Tuscaloosa Regional over Middle Tennessee in Game 7.

The first contest of the best-of-three series takes place Friday, May 26 at 7:00 p.m. CST.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama softball as the postseason continues.

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Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on Twitter @SpurrFM. 

Texas softball cruises past Texas A&M, advances to fourth straight super regional

Texas softball sends Texas A&M home.

Texas softball is moving on to the super regionals for the fourth straight season after taking down Texas A&M 11-5 in the regional final.

Beating an in-state rival is always fun, but doing in on the big stage is that much sweeter.

Sunday’s victory over A&M was less of a nail bitter compared to the first matchup between the two in the regional. Texas broke out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and would continue the offensive outburst all game.

Courtney Day was locked in at the plate, picking up five RBIs on two doubles. Her three-run double in the fifth gave the Longhorns a comfortable 10-2 late.

Sophomore pitcher Sohpia Simpson recorded the final outs against the Aggies yet again to seal the victory.

Texas is set to take on the winner of the Knoxville Regional next week with a trip to the Women’s College World Series on the line.

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Auburn softball splits Saturday’s action, advances to Championship Sunday

After suffering a tough loss to No. 16 seed Clemson on Saturday, Auburn bounced back to eliminate Cal State Fullerton.

After earning a convincing 12-2 win over Cal State Fullerton on Friday in the Clemson Regional opener, the Auburn Tigers took part in a challenging second day that saw them go 1-1 on the day.

The day began with an anticipated game with regional host, Clemson. The game was tight through the first four innings, but a five-run 5th inning would allow Clemson to pull away from Auburn and earn the 7-0 win.

In the nightcap, Shelby Lowe’s stellar outing in the circle lifted the Tigers to a 5-0 win over Cal State Fullerton in an elimination game. Auburn led 1-0 prior to a two-hour rain delay and was able to extend the lead to 5-0 in the middle innings to eliminate the Titans.

Here’s a recap of how Saturday’s action unfolded:

Patrick Murphy on Montana Fouts: ‘She’s our version of Tua’

Montana Fouts has been a leader for Alabama softball since she arrived in Tuscaloosa and head coach Patrick Murphy offers high praise for the pitcher.

Alabama softball pitcher Montana Fouts has enough accolades to divide among five players and have all five lead successful careers. She’s been a star not just for the Crimson Tide, but has been a national representative for the sport.

Her success and leadership at Alabama have assisted the program in more ways than imaginable. Head coach Patrick Murphy understands how important she is and has been to the team, the program and the game.

In the SEC Tournament, Fouts suffered a leg injury and has not been able to play since. There’s no clarity as to whether or not she will be able to pitch again this postseason.

During recent media availability, Murphy talked about Fouts and had nothing but extremely positive things to say about the graduate student pitcher. He even compared her to former Crimson Tide star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

“I’ve said it before. She’s our version of Tua. I don’t know how else to describe it. She’s just one of those once-in-a-lifetime kids.”

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama softball as the postseason continues for the Crimson Tide.

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Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on Twitter @SpurrFM. 

Auburn softball enters Clemson Regional with ‘extra motivation’

After missing a chance to host a regional this season, the Auburn Tigers are driven to make a statement in Clemson.

When it came to picking a regional host, the No. 16 Auburn Tigers had a resume worthy of such honor. However, the NCAA Tournament selection committee failed to share those sentiments, thus moving Auburn into the traveling category.

Auburn will compete in the Clemson Regional, hosted by the No. 16 overall seed, Clemson. Should Auburn come out of the weekend on top, their next destination would be Norman, Oklahoma to face the postseason’s top overall seed.

D1Softball’s Rhiannon Potkey understands Auburn’s frustrations and feels that the orange and blue Tigers will have extra drive heading into the weekend.

The Tigers certainly have enough reasons to be miffed by their placing in the bracket. Not only did the committee not give Auburn a national seed, they sent the Tigers back to Clemson for the second straight season. Auburn beat Alabama and LSU head-to-head in SEC play, and both squads received national seeds over the Tigers. If they needed extra motivation, they got it.

This bracket will not be a breeze for any team, as the Clemson Regional features three of the game’s top pitchers in Auburn’s Maddie Penta, Clemson’s Valerie Cagle, and Cal State Fullerton’s Myka Sutherlin. Auburn’s performance against regional hosts such as Alabama and LSU should boost Auburn’s chances of winning the regional, as Potkey has predicted that Auburn will upset Clemson for the weekend victory.

Potkey likes Auburn’s chances should they get past Cal State Fullerton on Friday.

The Tigers have plenty of pop in the lineup, led by [autotag]Nelia Peralta[/autotag], [autotag]Lindsey Garcia[/autotag], and [autotag]Denver Bryant[/autotag] among others. Auburn is 1-2 all-time in games against Cal State Fullerton. The two teams last met in Fullerton in 2015 with the Titans beating Auburn 3-2. That is where Auburn will start. They are just hoping for a better finish than the last trip to Clemson.

Auburn’s run to the Women’s College World Series begins Friday at 4:30 when the Tigers face Cal State Fullerton at McWhorter Stadium.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

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Ranking the Regional Hosts in the 2023 NCAA Softball Tournament

Did the selection committee get it right?

The NCAA Softball Tournament is here and it is time to take a look at the teams hosting regionals.

Some teams such as the Oklahoma Sooners and the UCLA Bruins did not have too much to worry about on Selection Sunday, however, teams such as the Auburn Tigers were watching nervously to see if they would be hosting a regional.

The power rankings of the teams selected to host are as follows:

Alabama Softball: Schedule set for Tuscaloosa Regional

The schedule is set for the No. 5 Alabama Crimson Tide and the rest of the Tuscaloosa Regional for the NCAA

Alabama softball entered the Tuscaloosa NCAA Regional hosted at Rhoads Stadium as the No. 5 seed overall. Patrick Murphy and the Crimson Tide have a 40-18 record on the 2023 season with an in-conference record of 14-10.

Many were shocked to see Alabama earn the No. 5 seed, given the strength of other programs in the SEC and how the Tide failed to win the SEC tournament, or even reach the final.

While the team wasn’t able to win the SEC, winning a national title is still within reach. However, the Tide must first get through the Tuscaloosa regional.

Here’s what you need to know about Alabama’s first step toward a national championship.

The field is set: Here’s a look at the 2023 NCAA Softball Tournament field

Which team has the best chance of knocking off the two-time defending champion Oklahoma Sooners?

The regular season has come to a close, and it is time for 64 teams across the country to begin their trek to the Women’s College World Series.

The first step in the trip begins this weekend as the NCAA Regionals begin at 16 campus sites across the country. The top seed of the field is the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners, who carry a 51-1 record into the tournament and have won 43 games in a row after dropping a 4-3 contest to Big 12 rival Baylor on Feb. 19.

UCLA, Florida State, Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma State, Washington, and Duke join the Sooners as top-eight seeds and will host the super regionals next weekend should they emerge as champions of their respective regionals this weekend.

Which team has the best chance of dethroning Oklahoma this postseason? Here’s a look at all 16 regional sites, plus the 64 teams that make up the field ahead of NCAA regionals.

2022 Women’s College World Series final does better ratings than CWS counterpart

With the Women’s College World Series coming out ahead, both the WCWS and the College World Series saw huge ratings in 2022

Both college softball and college baseball are considered growing entities, but, as of now, one appears to be ahead of the other, and it might not be what you think.

Both the Women’s College World Series and College World Series were broadcast on ESPN. The WCWS produced both a higher peak viewership and a higher average viewership. The WCWS accomplished this while having lower ratings than in 2021.

How streaming figures into this is a bit of a question mark. These are only cable numbers. When including cord-cutters, the numbers are going to be much higher.

This is a very good thing for the future of sports for women’s athletics and college sports in general.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfZBpdfO1vI/

I’m just going to put this out there: The tournament that had the Oklahoma Sooners win yet another national championship had better ratings. I’m just saying.

After a bit of a down year in 2021, the CWS’ ratings were up 19% to get back to pre-pandemic numbers.

This is definitely something to keep an eye on in the future. Both baseball and softball are going to be getting more interesting at the collegiate level very soon.

More and more high school baseball players are opting to go to college with the MLB draft still shortened following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, in softball, Women’s Professional Fastpitch, a professional softball league is in its first season. The WPF has multiple former Sooners in its ranks, including Collegiate Player of the Year Jocelyn Alo and WCWS Star Hope Trautwein.

ESPN put both the CWS and WCWS on their streaming service ESPN+, making it even easier to follow college sports than ever.

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This video of Texas catcher Mary Iakopo drilling a foul ball off ESPN’s camera is too good

Look out!

It won’t count on the scoreboard, unfortunately, but Mary Iakopo was a part of one of the most unlikely moments of the college softball postseason on Saturday.

The catcher for the Texas Longhorns softball team was up to bat in the bottom of the first with her team trailing the Oklahoma Sooners, 2-1, in a postseason edition of the Red River Rivalry. After taking a ball, Iakopo drilled a shot down the third-base line that couldn’t quite stay fair.

But as the ball sailed through the Oklahoma City sky, it was set on a collision course with one of ESPN’s cameras that was situated in the outfield. It hit the camera squarely in the lens in an impressive feat of precision that must have certainly scared the life out of the operator.

Was this insane shot purely a function of luck that probably couldn’t be replicated even with hundreds of attempts? Sure. Was it awesome? Absolutely. Are we going to pretend Iakopo did it on purpose just to show off? You bet.

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