OlderWhiskey

Widra with a 2-out, bases loaded single in top 4 to score two; then she and Elkins worked the double steal for a run. Nice effort by the Tigers. Lowe looked like the 2021 Lowe.

We upset LSU in Baton Rouge. Scratched out 3 runs in 3d, 6th, and 7th with small ball. Wohlers had a couple doubles. Lowe gave up a 2-run HR to put LSU up 2-1, but we kept getting runners on base, and Milanowski beat out an infield hit to score the tying run. Then LSU infield botched one to let us score the go-ahead in the 7th. Lowe pitched 4 1/3, Widra 2/3, and Penta the last two. Dean had inserted Milanowski at first after we got a 1-0 lead; I figured for defense, but she turned out to be important at the plate. Fun to watch. Happy for the girls to get that satisfying W. Miss. St. run-ruled UT in Starkville.

Nice comeback win for the girls after shaky 1st inning by Penta. Encouraging to see the continued development of the younger Penta.

Here are some other names I picked up from Ultimate College Softball; I don't even know who they all are. Ashley Waters, Kristi Bredbenner, Clarissa Crowell (Penn St.), Kirin Kumar. The betting favorite still seems to be D'Amour.

This is an opportunity for Auburn softball to move forward again. We were glad to get Dean back in the fall of 2017 when Myers resigned. He had, at least, taken James Madison to a Super Regional. And to be fair, he has done a decent job recruiting. However, I've never had much regard for his softball acumen since his second SEC game, when he pitched to LSU's best hitter with their fastest player on second in bot 7 of a tied game, with first base open.

Arkansas is a little better than we are on paper. They're hitting .308 as a team, with OPS of .903 and 29 homers (Ellis has 8). Our comparable numbers are .275, .839, and 20. Of course, they haven't batted against Maddie Penta yet. They did, however, bat against Wishnowski of Northern Iowa in their last game. She pitched a 7-inning game against us in their 4-2 win, gave up 6 hits. Arkansas touched her for 7 hits and 7 runs in 2 innings. Arky won 9-0 in 6. We can beat Arkansas, but we need the kind of hitting we showed in the 3d game against Mizzou.

Lech's second homer was waaay up the road. Glad to see Abbey Smith get the start. She went 2 for 3 and scored the first run.

Auburn leading Virginia 2-1 going to the 5th. Myers on the hill for us. We strung together some singles and walks to harvest a run in the 4th, sending their SP to the showers. Had bases loaded with 2 out, but grounded into a force play. Virginia tied it in the 5th. Armstrong relieved Myers, now Herberholz has relieved him. In top 6, Cavs have a runner on 2d with one out. Virginia got another run in T6 and now lead 3-2 going to T7, as we did nothing in B6. It's now 4-3 the wrong way going to T8. Bauman replacing Herberholz. I have to go make dinner. Go Tigers!

Penta had a no-no, but faced 23 batters. Earlier baserunner got on via a Peralta error. 11Ks for Penta, 10 for the UNI pitchers. The pitcher who started today (Heyer) is not the pitcher from yesterday (Wishnowski). Damn, they have some good pitching. Auburn had two hits on the day (Tresvik and Packer).

Following through Sidearm Stats. Click on the bar graph. Going to top 6, still 1-0. Tresvik, Wohlers, and Lech will be due up in our half. McDermott came in to pitch for UNI. She walked two, but struck out Packer and Peralta. Going to top 7. Smith playing left as of top 6. 3 outs needed.

Auburn leads UNI 1-0 going to bot 4 in the Sunday game. Heyer pitching for UNI, Penta for us. Each has 6 Ks. In the 2d, Packer singled, stole second, took 3d on a PB, and scored on a bunt from Peralta. Had runners on 2d and 3d with one out in bot 4, but Peralta struck out, and Penta popped out.

And Northern Iowa beat us today. Bad 4th inning. Peralta uses poor technique and allows a run in, Wohlers throws one away, Lech misjudges a pop fly at first. 6 hits for Auburn and 2 for UNI, but they win 4-2. They looked better than us the whole game.

Well, we wanted tougher scheduling and we got it. As Big Fat said above, it was a lot closer game than the score. I was surprised that Roach didn't play. She was the first sub in the infield all last year. I also expected to see Smith, but maybe her bat isn't strong enough. The batting outlook is gloomy, though. Belmont got more hits than we did. Consider that we lost Ellis, Garcia, and Denver Bryant, plus McCondichie. I will be very surprised if we do as well as last year.

Not a tournament. Each SEC team has an off week during the SEC season, during which they play out-of-conference opposition. Last year we went to Oklahoma for the "Classic" with them, Northwestern, and Weber State, but it wasn't really a tournament. Sometimes, a team may play SEC opposition on a non-conference basis. In 2017, we had a game scheduled with UT in Columbia, TN (later cancelled by weather). One year under Myers, we played a 3-game series vs. Longwood.

Just for accuracy's sake, James Madison took a game from LSU in the Harrisonburg Super Regional in 2016.