WCWS vs. LSU - game thread

[AU64 10,122]

I'm not sure I take the bat out of Rhodes hands down by 5 with a runner on 2nd. But who am I to second guess a two time National Champion Coach?

Some psychology to get a run on the board....mostly need to get out of this inning with no more LSU runs now.

[AU64 10,122]

OH WOW....a throwing error on a force out play...a run scores and two left in scoring position. 2nd error today....and a really bad time for it.

[WarTiger 3,907]

lsu with 2 runners on...chooper back to walters she throws to cooper at 3rd and its too high and gets away from Cooper.. run scores. it's 6-1 runners on 2nd and 3rd. That would have ended the inning because I have no doubt coopers throw to first would have gotten the baserunner.

[WarTiger 3,907]

fly ball to center ends the inning. Heart of the order for Auburn.

Carosone, Cooper and Melero.

[WarTiger 3,907]

Carosone singles to right on the first pitch. Cooper up

[WarTiger 3,907]

Cooper grounds to 2nd... Carosone moves to 2nd.. 1 out. Melero coming up

[WarTiger 3,907]

Melero grounds to 1st....2 outs. Carosone moves to 3rd. Carlee Wallace up.

[WarTiger 3,907]

Wallace grounds to short...throw in time...inning over. After 6 complete, Auburn trails 6-1.

[around4ever 4,139]

I'm not sure I take the bat out of Rhodes hands down by 5 with a runner on 2nd. But who am I to second guess a two time National Champion Coach?

Some psychology to get a run on the board....mostly need to get out of this inning with no more LSU runs now.

Yeah, it was good to get that 0 off the board. Walters did not help herself with that throwing error. Hoover is throwing darts but we are getting good contact just right at them. We have done it before!! Let's go Tigers!!

[WarTiger 3,907]

Walters gets a strikeout for out #1.

[WarTiger 3,907]

grounder to short..Fagan playing on the edge of the grass and makes a rocket throw for out #2.

[WarTiger 3,907]

fly ball to right center..run down and caught by Melero.

Auburn coming to bat and needs 5 runs to keep the game going and 6 to win it. Fagan, Estell and Rhodes coming up.

[WarTiger 3,907]

Fagan sharp grounder to 3rd..throw to first and she dropped it. Fagan on to lead off the 7th. Morgan Estell coming up.

[WarTiger 3,907]

Estell lays down a bunt....and she beats the throw. Runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Rhodes coming up.

[WarTiger 3,907]

rhodes grounds to 3rd....they tag the base and throw to 1st for the double play. Auburn with a runner on 2nd and down to their final out. Jenna Abbott up

[WarTiger 3,907]

Abbott strikes out and the game is over. Auburn falls 6-1 and drops to the losers bracket to play Tennessee saturday at 11 AM.

[passthebiscuits 6,846]

Tough pitcher today ...maybe more luck sat

[around4ever 4,139]

Tough road from the Loser's Bracket. We can take UT on Saturday which could very well set up a rematch with LSU. We can still do this!!

[AU64 10,122]

Tough loss but I thought AU played a good game for their first visit to the WCWS......LSU pitcher looked good and I don't recall that she walked a single batter....gave us nothing for free. Only 78 pitches....a far cry from the ULL game where their pitcher had over 200 pitches.

Need to get UT on Saturday.

[FoundationEagle 637]

Tough road from the Loser's Bracket. We can take UT on Saturday which could very well set up a rematch with LSU. We can still do this!!

Only 2 teams ever have won the wcws after losing game 1. Add to that we now have to beat TN and then turn around and beat either LSU or FL 2 games in a row....I'd say we are toast. Not impossible but I'd put our odds at less than 5 percent now

[AU64 10,122]

Tough road from the Loser's Bracket. We can take UT on Saturday which could very well set up a rematch with LSU. We can still do this!!

Only 2 teams ever have won the wcws after losing game 1. Add to that we now have to beat TN and then turn around and beat either LSU or FL 2 games in a row....I'd say we are toast. Not impossible but I'd put our odds at less than 5 percent now

Maybe....but let's take that 5% and run with it. We can make things tough on UT and LSU...have done it earlier in the year...can be done again. We have 3 good pitchers...not dependent on one pitcher to carry the load. Just need to pick up the hitting.

[around4ever 4,139]

Our pitchers have lived on getting ground balls all season. I think LSU only had four ground balls today and only two of those were outs. Not a typical outing for Harper and Walters.

[AU64 10,122]

Our pitchers have lived on getting ground balls all season. I think LSU only had four ground balls today and only two of those were outs. Not a typical outing for Harper and Walters.

Maybe I'm drinking the koolaid but lots of these stats about coming from the losers bracket are from the days when a team had one "ace" who pretty much pitched every day.....saw that last year with Lexi pitching several games in a row ....just got worn out.

We have the staff to put a relatively fresh pitcher on the mound each game and get a solid performance.

The two errors hurt us but no way we were going to win by scoring just one run. I think the big thing for Saturday is to see some hitting again.

[GBAU83 212]

No worries. I figured/predicted we would lose the first one and then run the the losers bracket to make it to the championship game. Don't know if it was first game jitters, or what but not a normal AU performance. The loss will be a bigger motivator than the win would have been.

[Mikey 16,614]

Let's look at our team:

Batting average, somewhere in the top five. Home runs, somewhere in the top five. Runs scored, somewhere in the top five. Defense, somewhere in the top five....Pitching, 102nd. Does something jump out at you there?

When a team gets into tournament play pitching becomes paramount. I don't know how or why we pitched so well in Baton Rouge, both against LSU and in the SEC tournament. That carried over into the regional and then went away. We've now reverted to mid-season form and that's not a good thing. Remember bammer scoring 31 runs in three games in Auburn? That's been closer to the norm than not. When everybody has good pitchers a team cannot depend on having to score runs in bunches to win. This is a world series and everybody but Auburn has outstanding pitchers.

Is it impossible that we win out? Of course not, but when the first thought about a team is "If the pitchers can just..." it's not a good sign.