Tag: NCAA Softball

Thompson ‘Millie Rockin’ her way into Clemson record books

In a history-filled weekend with McWhorter Stadium playing host to the programs first-ever NCAA regional, pitcher Millie Thompson added her own name to the Clemson record books on Friday. In her 17 th start and 14th win of the 2022 season versus UNC …

In a history-filled weekend with McWhorter Stadium playing host to the programs first-ever NCAA regional, pitcher Millie Thompson added her own name to the Clemson record books on Friday. In her 17th start and 14th win of the 2022 season versus UNC Wilmington, the lefthander recorded the first post-season no-hitter in Clemson softball program history en route to a 9-0 shutout victory over the Seahawks, a memory her team won’t soon forget.

“Millie, just an outstanding job in the circle,” third-year head coach John Rittman said. “I mean, anytime you throw a no-hitter, it’s special, but to do it in post-season… I think we’ll all remember that for the rest of our lives.”

The emotions were high for the sophomore, who knew she was contending for the no-hitter, but Thompson kept her composure up until the final pitch. For Thompson, the support she has from both her teammates and coaches is what makes this team and moment so special.

“I was trying not to think about it at the beginning, but it was just a total team thing, like they said, the defense was great,” the sophomore said. “I think I’m going to remember that the most is just how special the support I have from this team and the coaches and from the players… I think that’s what I’ll remember the most.”

While the Virginia-native was also in line for a perfect game, she gave up two hit batters in the second and third innings. Despite this, Thompson took it as a learning experience and is focused on preparing herself for the next opponent rather than perfecting her stat line.

“Yeah, I think I was working on things as well, I was working on going in,” Thompson said. “I know I have to throw in and out against Auburn and Louisiana, so I just wanted to work on that and unfortunately, I hit a few people, but it’ll prepare me for the next day.”

Thompson is known for her wicked changeup and Friday was no different. Facing just sixteen batters in her five innings of work, the sophomore delivered just 49 pitches in the shutout win and historic no-hitter.

“I don’t honestly know how I throw it; I just throw it,” Thompson said about her changeup. “Today, I had one that was a strike and one that was biting low and it kind of changes, which is tough sometimes, but I just know that I’m comfortable with it. I’m gonna throw it in any count and any situation.”

That level of confidence and energy is what Rittman knows Thompson brings both inside and outside the circle to this team. As long as she settles in and makes adjustments as needed, Rittman is confident Thompson will continue to excel for the Tigers moving forward.

“It’s pretty filthy when it’s on and certainly today when she’s throwing it at two different locations, it’s extremely tough and you saw the Wilmington hitters were pretty baffled with it today,” Rittman said regarding Millie’s changeup. “I think the biggest key with Millie is she just can’t overthrow, and we have a couple of sayings with her, queues that keep her kind of focused and one of them is ‘less is more’. She gets out there and tries to throw 90 sometimes, adrenalines flowing, and if she can just settle in and get into the game. […] “You just holler at her a couple of times, she picks it up, and makes adjustments really quick and that’s why she’s so effective and such a good pitcher.”

Clemson continues play this weekend in their home NCAA regional with games on Saturday and Sunday at McWhorter Stadium.

Tigers leave no doubt in 9-0 victory over Seahawks

Following a heartbreaking loss in the ACC Championship last weekend, Clemson came into Friday’s game leaving absolutely no doubt versus the visiting UNC Wilmington Seahawks. The Tigers shot ahead early on in the first, scoring six runs on five hits, …

Following a heartbreaking loss in the ACC Championship last weekend, Clemson came into Friday’s game leaving absolutely no doubt versus the visiting UNC Wilmington Seahawks. The Tigers shot ahead early on in the first, scoring six runs on five hits, highlighted by Alia Logoleo’s two-run homer to left and two costly errors by the Seahawks, good for the eventual 9-0 shutout victory.

Lefthander Millie Thompson earned the win in the circle for the Tigers, throwing a no-hitter and complete game in her 14th win of the season. Seahawks starter Emily Winstead tallied the loss for UNC Wilmington.

After a clutch 1-2-3 inning for Clemson’s starter Thompson in the top of the first, the Tigers came out big. With a back-to-back single and RBI double from Cammy Pereira and McKenzie Clark respectively, Aby Vieira singled down the right-field line to score Clark and double the score 2-0. Directly following, Logoleo sent a ball to deep left field for her 15th homer of the year, scoring Clark and extending the lead to 4-0. Later on in the inning, the Tigers scored two more runs off of two errors, giving Clemson the 6-0 lead after one.

Following a scoreless second inning, the Tigers struck yet again in the third. With runners on second and third and one out, Pereira grounded out to short, but scored outfielder Sam Russ in the process. Clark followed suit soon after with an RBI double to center to score Maddie Moore from third to stretch the lead to 8-0 through three innings.

Clemson extended their lead once again in the fourth. With a runner on third and one out, Logoleo grounded out to SS, scoring pinch runner Carlee Shannon. The Tigers led 9-0 after four.

The Tigers were able to get the job done in just five innings of work, run-ruling the Seahawks and earning the 9-0 win on Friday.

Clemson takes the field once again on Saturday, May 21, and will face the winner of game two, either Louisiana or Auburn, in game three. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at McWhorter Stadium in Clemson.

Texas will travel to Seattle for NCAA Softball regional

Mike White’s squad will open the tournament against Weber State on Friday.

Texas softball (38-17) is set for a regional trip to Seattle for the 2022 NCAA tournament, making the 17th consecutive postseason bid for the Longhorns. Texas just missed the cut to host a regional for the third straight season.

Mike White’s squad will open the tournament against Weber State on Friday. The regional is hosted by the No. 13 seeded Washington Huskies who will take on Lehigh in game No. 2 of the regional.

Texas is looking for its first trip to the Women’s College World Series since 2013. The Longhorns have been one win away from a return trip to Oklahoma City in back-to-back tournaments.

The winner of the Seattle regional will take on the winner of the Fayetteville Regional in the super regionals.

Here is a full look at the 2022 NCAA softball bracket.

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Texas softball will play Oklahoma State in decisive Game 3 on Sunday for WCWS trip

After a 4-2 win on Saturday, Texas softball forced a decisive Game 3 on Sunday against the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

In the Stillwater Super Regional on Saturday, Texas’ Shea O’Leary pitched a full game to lift the Longhorns over the Oklahoma State Cowboys 4-2. It was the first time that Texas was able to defeat Oklahoma State this season.

It extended the series to a deciding third game on Sunday with a berth in the Women’s College World Series on the line. Oklahoma State will start ace pitcher Carrie Eberle, while Texas will again have O’Leary on the mound.

“Momentum’s something in this game and we created some momentum today. We’ll keep that going through tomorrow and we’ll have to make sure it’s a dogfight tomorrow. But I’m sure OSU’s gonna come out and fight us hard. We know that,” Texas head coach Mike White stated at the conclusion of the game on Saturday.

Texas’ junior catcher Mary Iakopo hit a clutch two-run home run in the sixth inning on Saturday to take control of the game. It was her 16th homer, which moved her into a tie with Lindsey Stephens (2014) for the most in a single season in school history.

Here’s how to tune in to the crucial Game 3 matchup between Texas and Oklahoma State on Sunday:

When

Sunday, May 30 at 3:15 p.m. CST

Where

Stillwater, Oklahoma

How to watch

ESPN

How to listen

105.3 FM

Oregon softball denied NCAA Regional

Oregon softball ends its two-year hiatus from the NCAA tournament, but in a surprising move, Eugene wasn’t selected as a Regional.

It’s been several years, but the Oregon Ducks softball team is back in the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, in a surprising turn of events, the Ducks will not host a Regional despite a 37-15 overall record and finishing third in the Pac-12.

Instead, a date with former coach Mike White is on the horizon as Oregon will travel to No. 12 overall seed Texas and play in the Austin Regional alongside Texas State, Saint Francis (PA), and the host Longhorns.

The Ducks open up with Texas State Friday, May 21 at 4:30 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN3. The Bobcats finished the regular season with a 38-12 overall record. Saint Francis, who comes into Austin with a 40-8 mark, will take on the 39-11 Longhorns to open up the double-elimination Regional at 3 p.m. PST.

The various NCAA committees have had a history of setting up matchups that might be intriguing to fans as well as the media and have passed them off as coincidence. But pitting the Ducks against the coach that put the program on the map isn’t a coincidence.

White left the Ducks for Texas after taking Oregon to the 2018 Women’s College Series. In White’s last season, the Ducks went 53-10. When he left, the Ducks hired Melyssa Lombardi and after a mass defection of players, it took her just one full season and part of 2020 to get the back to prominence with an NCAA tourney birth.

In order to set up this “coincidence,” Eugene was passed over as a Regional site. Texas hosting a Regional isn’t a surprise. Oregon not hosting certainly is. If Oregon should get out of Austin as the winners, the Ducks will most likely travel to Tuscaloosa to face the No. 4 overall seed barring a giant upset.

According to the NCAA RPI rankings, the main formula the committee usually looks at when determines sites, the Ducks were No. 15. But Oregon was passed over for the likes of Duke, Kentucky, Arizona State, and Washington.

The Ducks had a better conference record than Arizona, ASU, and Washington, and Oregon has a better RPI ranking than Regional hosts Washington (16) and Kentucky (18). But for whatever reason, Jane Sanders Stadium was passed over.

UCLA, the defending national champions, is the No. 2 overall seed with its 41-4 record with two of those four losses coming to Oregon. The Pac-12 received six bids with Stanford also getting an at-large.

It wasn’t all disappointing news for Ducks, however. The Pac-12 announced its annual awards and Oregon was properly represented. Allee Bunker, Haley Cruse, and pitcher Brooke Yanez were all First-Team conference selections. Alyssa Brito and Terra McGowan were on the Second Team with Hannah Delgado on the Third Team.

Brito and Bunker were on the All-Defensive squad with Brito and Delgado on the All-Freshmen team.

 

 

Four consecutive at-bats, four homers?!? See Notre Dame’s Gaskins going off

Gaskins went homer happy

Although the Notre Dame softball team doesn’t get much love, that needs to change after an absolutely massive performance yesterday. Freshman Karina Gaskins had an afternoon to remember against Georgia Tech in the second game of their doubleheader.

The infielder had four consecutive at-bats with the best possible outcome, homers.

https://twitter.com/ndsoftball/status/1373435437839175682?s=21

They weren’t all solo shots either, Gaskins totaled 10 RBI’s on her four long-balls leading the Irish to a victory in the second game, earning a split of the doubleheader.

In total the Irish hit six homers over the two Saturday games, but Gaskins’ individual performance was the highlight of the day. The softball looks to take the series this afternoon as their rubber match is set for a noon eastern start in Atlanta.

Alabama softball announces all 2020 seniors are returning in 2021

The Alabama softball team will have all 7 seniors from the class of 2020 will be returning for the 2021 season.

This is fantastic news for the University of Alabama softball team as all 7 seniors from the class of 2020 will be returning for the 2021 season after the coronavirus ended their season early.

Alabama, who was 14-8 on the season before their season was abruptly ended when the coronavirus took the world by storm. Although the Tide opened the season as the No.1 team in the country, Alabama struggled to remain consistent in several different series.

Alabama softball’s class of 2020 included Sarah Cornell, Alexis Mack, Claire Jenkins, Krystal Goodman, Bailey Hemphill, Elissa Brown, and Taylor Clark.

In late March,  the NCAA voted to allow schools to provide spring-sport student-athletes an additional season of competition and an extension of their period of eligibility due to the impact of spring sports because of the coronavirus.

This is what the NCAA had to say regarding this decision:

“Members also adjusted financial aid rules to allow teams to carry more members on scholarship to account for incoming recruits and student-athletes who had been in their last year of eligibility who decide to stay. In a nod to the financial uncertainty faced by higher education, the Council vote also provided schools with the flexibility to give students the opportunity to return for 2020-21 without requiring that athletics aid be provided at the same level awarded for 2019-20. This flexibility applies only to student-athletes who would have exhausted eligibility in 2019-20.

Schools also will have the ability to use the NCAA’s Student Assistance Fund to pay for scholarships for students who take advantage of the additional eligibility flexibility in 2020-21.

Division I rules limit student-athletes to four seasons of competition in a five-year period. The Council’s decision allows schools to self-apply waivers to restore one of those seasons of competition for student-athletes who had competed while eligible in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 spring season

The Council also will allow schools to self-apply a one-year extension of eligibility for spring-sport student-athletes, effectively extending each student’s five-year “clock” by a year. This decision was especially important for student-athletes who had reached the end of their five-year clock in 2020 and saw their seasons end abruptly.

“The Council’s decision gives individual schools the flexibility to make decisions at a campus level,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Penn. “The Board of Governors encouraged conferences and schools to take action in the best interest of student-athletes and their communities, and now schools have the opportunity to do that.”

The Council also increased the roster limit in baseball for student-athletes impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the only spring sport with such a limit.”

With these 7 Alabama seniors returning plus the new talent coming to Tuscaloosa, Alabama has an incredible chance to return to the WCWS once again, and may open up as the No. 1 team again in the country next season.

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Texas Softball: Split double header, drop first game of the year

The Texas Longhorns softball team split a double header and wasted a pitching gem by senior Miranda Elish, who was the hero of game one.

The Texas Longhorns were back for two more games in the Texas Invitational with another matchup with Lipscomb and the Duke Blue Devils. The Longhorns struggled right out of the gate as Shealyn O’Leary was in the circle and had trouble with command of her pitches. Lipscomb, who was run-ruled on Friday by Texas, jumped all over them early 3-0.

Texas would respond and rattle off eight runs in a row over the next several innings while O’Leary kept them at bay. Kaitlyn Slack got the Longhorns started when she hit a RBI fielder’s choice that drove home Lauren Burke for the first run of the game. Mary Iakopo brought in the tying run with a RBI single that brought Shannon Rhodes around to score.

With Texas up 5-3 in the fourth inning, the extra base hit parade got started. Iakopo RBI triple brought it to 6-3 and Reagan Hathaway’s double off the wall brought in another run. Texas led 8-3 after four innings. There would be more trouble on the way for the Longhorns pitching.

Over the next 1.1 innings freshman standout Courtney Day really struggled win the circle. She gave up her first run of the year, then a couple more over one inning plus. Ariana Davis replaced her without much success. They gave six earned runs and found themselves tied. O’Leary would come back into the game but wouldn’t record an out.

All-American senior pitcher Miranda Elish would come into the game with the bases loaded and one out. She would proceed to strike out both batters to end a six-run inning for Lipscomb. Elish returned for the seventh and after loaded the bases back up, struck out the next two to shut down any attempt to take the lead.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Iakopo was on third base and they refused to pitch to Elish. Walking her on four pitches brought a red hot Lauren Burke to the plate who hit into a RBI fielder’s choice that gave Texas the walk off. Elish picked up her seventh win on the year. Texas would then face a red hot Duke team in the night cap.

After pitching the final 1.2 innings of the first game, Miranda Elish took the ball in the second game. After a 12-11 scoring fest in the first game the Longhorns and Duke broke out into a pitchers duel. Elish went the distance with five strikeouts and giving up just one run. The first earned run allowed by Elish in 35 innings.

On the other side of the circle, it was Duke’s Peyton St. George who stole the show. The junior pitcher also went the distance, getting the best of her matchup with Elish. The Longhorns would leave nine on base throughout the game and just couldn’t get a timely hit off of St. George. For the first time this season Texas failed to score a run resulting in a 1-0 shutout. Elish took her first loss on the year (7-1) and St. George improved to 4-1.

The Longhorns wrap up the tournament with a matchup against Weber State on Sunday.

Lucky 13: Texas Softball run-rules their way to another win

The Texas Longhorns struggled early with scoring but broke through in the fourth inning and Miranda Elish pitched a shutout.

The Texas Longhorns softball team were at it again with the second game of their doubleheader in the opening day of the Texas Invitational. After the Longhorns took the first game against Lipscomb, Miranda Elish looked to match her teammate Courtney Day who picked up her third win on the season.

The offense got off to a bit of slower start int this game with not being able to get a run in the first inning but in the bottom of the second Kaitlyn Washington comes through for Texas. With two on,  Washington smashes a two-run triple to get the Longhorns an early 2-0 lead for Elish.

North Dakota State had opportunities against Elish but even with runners on in the second and third innings, they couldn’t get the timely hit to bring anyone around to score. In the fourth, Elish sent them down in order. Day comes through in the fourth to get the scoring started with an groundball to third.

The Longhorns blew the game wide open in the fourth inning setting up their ninth run-rule game in 13 opportunities. MK Tedder added two more runs on single. A hit by pitch drives in a another run. Texas ended the inning the way it started with another RBI single by Day. Longhorns led 10-0 after four innings.

Elish finished off the Bisons in the fifth inning to secure her sixth win of the season with a two-hit shutout. She also struck out eight as Miranda went the distance. The Longhorns will play two on Saturday with another matchup with Lipscomb and Duke.

Texas Softball: Longhorns defeat Lipscomb, remain undefeated

Texas softball defeated Lipscomb on Friday morning, improved to an impressive 12-0 record.

This team is special.

After defeating Lipscomb on Friday morning in the tournament opener, Texas softball has now improved to an impressive 12-0 record. The Longhorns put up 12 runs in just five innings, surrendering 0 runs in return. That now marks eight games this regular season that Texas has run-ruled their opponent.

This is the third-best start to a season in program history. Along with their bats, their pitching staff has been tremendous. Texas’ pitchers have not allowed a home run to an opposing batter this season.

Freshman pitcher Courtney Day earned the win and improved to 3-0 in the circle. Day pitched for three innings and allowed only one hit. Her collegiate career ERA is still 0.00 through 17 innings.

It didn’t take long for Texas’ offense to explode, scoring five runs on four hits in the bottom of the first inning. Junior right fielder Lauren Burke was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and nearly completed the cycle – finishing just a home run short.

Although it’s still early on in the season, Texas looks unstoppable. Softball America currently ranks the Longhorns as the No. 2 team in the country.