slot canyon

Scheduled for 2 games Wednesday night against the Kennesaw State Owls (black and gold) from the Atlantic Sun conference. Their two primary campuses are in Kennesaw, Georgia and Marrietta, Georgia. Majority of players from in-state but do show 4 players from California. We actually played them in the Tallahassee regional last year and won 5-2. Their record is 17-17. Of players with greater than 50 at bats four have BA greater than .300, ranging from .320 - .348. Lexis Solórzano has 8 HR with BA .268. Primary pitcher Haley with 2.42 ERA with two additional throwers having ERA 4.24 and 5.40. Bennett appears to be the #2 pitcher and has faced 251 batters. She has 42 strike outs but issued 68 walks and hit 23 batters meaning that about 36% of batters reached base either by walk or by bruise. From what I can tell, opponents have been successful on stolen bases about 84% of attempts. On paper, I would say AU is better in all phases of the game and against better competition. Would expect many attempted stolen bases when situation presents itself.

Taylon laid out on a ground ball, got to her knees and attempted to get runner out at first but could not get any velocity on the ball and runner safe. Moments later the infield umpire called for the Auburn trainer to look at Taylon and Coach Dean also came on the field. She looked a little shaken but was not holding any ribs or giving an indication that any extremities were bothering her. Coach Dean took little time and took her off the field and brought on Dowell. Interestingly, it was immediately after that when Tannon had her errors you noted above then turned the double play. Something I wanted to mention about yesterday.....during the pregame introductions, Aspyn Godwin had on catchers gear. I presume she was helping warm up the pictures so it sounds like the knee is OK. I know she has been running well but to squat like that means something. Got to be a tough job. About four years ago I went on the field after a game and talked to Courtney Shea and asked why anyone would want to be a catcher as it seemed like so much work. She said when she was first started playing ball she was in the outfield but like a lot of young kids could not always pay attention to the game so her dad moved her to catcher where she would have to pay attention. Thought that was funny.

About a month ago I began considering going over to Starkville for the Friday and Saturday SB games Driving distance from Bham about the same as going down to AU and no problems getting tickets since free admission to softball games. I thought it might be fun to get an inside look at Nusz Stadium and attend an away game. Initially looked into a motel in Starkville and seemed to be adequate choices available but beginning about 2 weeks ago they were full and I got a room in Columbus about 22 miles away. By this week I noticed they were sold out also. Found out later the AU team was at another motel in Columbus. The area was filled up because of multiple sporting events which included baseball, softball, track, and basketball that I know of. We ended up parking about a 20 - 30 minute walk from Nusz Stadium. The stadium is nice with chairbacks numbering 1,000. They pipe in a lot of excessive loud music and audio which was irritating. I mean it is really loud. The pregame introduction is drawn out compared to what I am used to at Auburn. During the Friday game went to concession stand and found about 15 people ahead of me. Understaffed and very slow. I gave up after about 10 minutes as had barely moved. I know it sounds like I am bitching but just some observations. During the Saturday game it seemed there were fans who were going to attend the baseball game (started at 2 pm) who come into the SB game to sit in the shade and then went over to baseball. Compared to Auburn home games I would say their fan base is sedate. They definitely don't have out Auburn hard hat cheer guy. During our 8th inning rally there were some AU fans who started some Auburn cheers and others joined in. We let our presence be known. In the past I know coach Vann Stuedeman has been coaching from 3rd base on offence. She was in the dugout during the game and rarely came on to the field. After the game the MS team would do a "cheer" to the fans and then immediately go up into the stadium to meet with family and friends. I estimated attendance at both games to be 1/3-1/2 full and was reported Sat. as 476. They have a pretty good contingent who gather around the outfield. After they score or hit a homerun someone would run around and throw a t-shirt into the stadium. Pretty sure many saw the terrible call on the attempted bunt (I think 7th inning). From my vantage point behind home plate the home plate umpire clearly should have been able to make the strike call. When he appealed to the 3rd base umpire it was like someone had to wake him up and then he signaled "no swing". Also thought they had a ball foul down 3rd base line that was called fair. I could not tell for sure on replay when I got home last night. CMD came out of the dugout on both occasions. Feel I should give the game ball to my wife. Walking back to the car in the dark Friday night I attempted to go around some slow walkers and she got her foot hung up on some uneven pavement and did a face plant skinning up both hands and knees. Next morning she was fairly bruised and I offered to just drive home and we could watch the game in our recliners and not have to walk to and from the stadium. She would have nothing to do with it and wanted to cheer for the Tigers and that's what we did. "Mama knows best". Got home in plenty of time to watch the BB game which made for a very good day. Pitching should be interesting today......look for a committee effort.

Phillip Marshal has free article in Auburn Undercover with a little bit more info. Also states Handley is OK.

Saw a post game picture with Lexie Handley leaning over and smiling so not sure how severe her back problem might be. Could be possible she might be in the rotation at some point this weekend. I have no inside info just hopeful.

I have not looked on social media for any pictures but a couple of what I would call reliable sources on this site (4WDE and all4AU) have added support to the initial revelation by TD1. I went back and looked at the end of the A&M game and when Martin came out on the field to celebrate she had her right hand taped from above the wrist down to about mid-hand. Prior to the post about a cast (TD1) 4WDE had hinted at some changes other than those possibly related to Handley's back issue. See the post "Monday, 04:14 PM.

AU travels to Nusz Park in Starkville. 1000 chairback seats. Free admission. Auburn baseball is also having a series in Starkville on same dates. Coach Van Stuedeman is from Vestavia Hills, Alabama and played high school ball at VHHS. Attended college in the state and assistant coach at BAMA 2000 - 2011 which may explain her recruiting connection to the state of Alabama. This years roster has 5 players from Alabama including the 5th player from Oak Mountain HS. Also, she has had an number of players from the Birmingham Thunderbolts travel team with 4 players 2017 class, 2 in 2018 class and 4 in the 2019 class. The State is 19 - 8 overall and 0 - 3 in conference having lost a recent 3 game series at Kentucky. Top 3 pitchers have ERA's ranging between 2.29 and 2.80. Emily Williams appears most used and has faced 198 batters with 75 strike outs (38%) and also surrendered 41 walks (21%). Hitting is lead by the remarkable Mia Davidson with BA .515 and 14 HR. She has SO 8 of 68 at bats. She is likely the highest rated recruit they have had and is also a terrific catcher. Four players have BA above .300. As a team they have been very successful at stolen bases with 32 out of 34 attempts (AU 50/60). One comparison stat I found interesting revolved around double plays. Auburn has turned 17 and Mississippi State 5. Some on this forum have indicated there may have to be some modifications/adjustments in our pitching rotation which is a concern. Hope our hitting holds up.

There is a very good slow motion video of the strike out/caught stealing play from yesterdays game on the softball twitter page. Fantastic play. I suspect today we will see A&M pitching McBride; statistically appears to be their best pitcher. This would be the same rotation they used for LSU series. Wondering who may get the start for AU today. Looking at season stats below. All of our pitchers have given up between 20 - 22% hits ( based off At Bats) so no big difference there. Appears Harris minimizes bad pitches (base on balls and wild pitches) while having good SO%. Handley has good strike out % but gives up a lot of bases via walk and is prone to wild pitches which can advance runners. Swindle is a bit of a mystery. I have seen her pitch some very good innings then go into a funk and then recover. Pulling for her to improve her consistency. Pitcher ERA AB BB WP SO Martin 1.14 293 15 (5.1%) 3 (1%) 86 (29%) Handley 1.38 114 17 (14.9%) 9 (7.9%) 41 (36%) Harris 2.02 101 7 (6.9%) 1 (1%) 42 (42%) Swindle 2.54 150 17 (11.3%) 2 (1.3%) 30 (20%)

Thought that first line drive by Godwin was the most impressive hit of the game. I think you are right regarding any potential injury to Perry any movement of Snow to 1st. I believe Handley played the corners in high school and has stated she could play there. Do not know if they are working her at those positions at practice. Because of the earlier injury to Tissier, we have a similar shortage of back up at catcher so I suspect they are giving Handley maximum practice there. I would hate to see Tannon Snow moved from third; she has been so impressive there as well as at bat. That double play she turned last night was fantastic. Her return after "illness" warms my heart. I had not seen that Gator vs Vols score...….bit of a shocker. Also just saw LSU over Tex A&M 17 - 3 at College Station. LSU scored 8 runs in the 5th.

My favorite plays last night in the Michigan State game were the back to back bunts with Bree ending up making it to 3rd base off the throwing error into right field and then getting home off of the Podany bunt. We have not been good at bunting for the most part this season. The revised schedule today has Radfrod at 2 and Mercer at 4:30. Both listed as being on SEC+.

Thanks for the preview. I had glanced at some of the teams and stats and am of the same opinion you posted above. Cassady Greenwood, a freshman catcher at Louisville, is Carmyn's younger sister. Yes, I have been trying to get my $'s worth from my 1 month subscription to Flosoftball (intend to post my impression later). Currently the Spring Games in Clermont, Florida are underway (Feb. 22 - March 30) and is billed as the largest college softball event in the world with almost 400 teams participating. From the few games I have tuned in there seems to be a camera located behind home plate which televises the game with no announcer. Today I will be riveted to the computer watching a couple of morning matchups. First game will be a couple of NCAA III teams Thiel College vs Trine University. Second game will be Widner University vs Otterbein University. I may miss the AU game today as I suspect I will be watching Concordia College Moorhead (Cobbers) from Minnesota playing Eastern University. Don't know if anyone caught it but Concordia lost a defensive battle with Widner yesterday 17 -10. Humor aside; not making fun of any of these teams. Impressive how many young ladies put in the time and effort into playing this sport at so many levels. Unfortunately, I don't believe Muhlenburg and Canisius play this year but that is a match up I would love to watch. Looks like our Sunday games my be in jeopardy if current rain outlook holds.

Thanks for the clarification. Had to put my mind into math mode. Agree about Michigan. Going into the Judi Garmin Classic, on paper they did not look like any kind of a threat to those teams.

Did you mean 1/16? That's a lot of time......you could almost blink in 1/16th of a second. Also, noticed Michigan won against both UCLA and Washington.

Went back to look (Flosoftball replay) at the top of 6th last out where Washington batter executed a great bunt down first base line. Veach sprang up and ran a couple of steps forward to bare hand the ball and while still leaning forward threw off of one leg to get runner at first. Very close play. Their runner had great speed. Also excellent coverage by Crack to cover 1st. One of the best executions I have seen this year. Looks like 60% - 70% chances for "light showers - rain" for the entire day in Fullerton.

So many squandered opportunities. Also keep in mind that this was the first game of the entire tournament for Washington. Totally fresh pitchers for them. Hope the players can get off the mat and play a good game tomorrow against UCLA. Need to learn from this one and realize we should be able to win a game like this. I thought that Washington's speed on the bases was a factor in the game.