Gopher Softball 2019

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Holy Man said:
Just more data to get my blood boiling when they get hosed in the seeding. The scandalous seeding the year they went 51-3 (RPI like 3) or so might be the biggest hose job I have ever seen in college sports. And that says a lot in the corrupt world of college sports.
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Totally agree on the screwing. I'll only quibble on the RPI. I believe the 2017 Gophs RPI was #12 after winning the BG10 tourney then getting screwed by the NCAA, then ended up #13 after losing to Alabama. The non-conference schedule wasn't as tough as this year, Northwestern wasn't near as good either (hurting RPI that year), and they had very few top 25 wins. They hit #1 in either the coaches or Team USA poll, I can't remember which.
 

Panthadad2 said:
Totally agree on the screwing. I'll only quibble on the RPI. I believe the 2017 Gophs RPI was #12 after winning the BG10 tourney then getting screwed by the NCAA, then ended up #13 after losing to Alabama. The non-conference schedule wasn't as tough as this year, Northwestern wasn't near as good either (hurting RPI that year), and they had very few top 25 wins. They hit #1 in either the coaches or Team USA poll, I can't remember which.
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As I recollect it :)confused:) it was 11 RPI after the tourney and 12 after losing to Alabama. And we were #1 in the coaches poll. Which doesn't mean anything, but you know the players were well aware of it and it added to the horrible sucker punch the team got at Buffalo Wild Wings watching the show.
 

Panthadad2 said:
I'll stick my neck out and say the Gophies could be a bubble Super Regional host if they take the conference tourney next week. Right now they're sitting at 2W 5L against Top 1-7 RPI teams, and 3W 3L against RPI 9-16 teams. Wins against NW and MI would put them at 5W 3L against RPI 9-16 teams. Hate to get my hopes up though. Need to win games first.
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Consensus nationally is that the ladies are locks to host a regional and in the mix for a super. Most of the projections I've seen have the Gophers either No. 8 or No. 9 nationally, which I figure is about right. At this point, I just want to host a regional since the only time they've made the supers was when they hosted in 2014. If they get a top-eight seed, that's icing on the cake.

With all that having been said, I'm also fine with winning a bunch of games in Bloomington and letting the chips fall where they may. ;)
 

MRJ: With all that having been said, I'm also fine with winning a bunch of games in Bloomington and letting the chips fall where they may.

My feeling exactly. Just keep on winning game after game after game.
 



National Pitcher of the Week for Amber. Hopefully Partain is able to play this weekend
 

Quick links for where the ladies are ranked are listed below. Softball seems to have more than the average college sport, so there's a bunch to wade through. But with the postseason about to start, I figured I'd give everybody an overview.

Ranked #12 in NFCA Coaches Poll. Link: https://nfca.org/index.php?option=com_nfca&top25=1&list=1&year=2019&pdiv=div1&Itemid=230

Ranked #7 in USA Softball/ESPN.com Poll. Link: https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball/College-Corner/2019-College-Corner/Top-25-Polls

Ranked #8 in Softball America Poll. Link: https://www.softballamerica.com/rankings/ncaa-division-i-softball-top-25/

Ranked #8 in Fastpitchnews.com Poll. Link: https://fastpitchnews.com/fpn-college-softball-rankings/fpn-ncaa-di-softball-rankings-may-7-2019/359380

Also ranked #7 in Fastpitchnews.com Power Rankings. Link: https://fastpitchnews.com/scoreboard/powerrank/?l=NCAA%20D1

Ranked #12 in herosports.com poll. Link: https://herosports.com/rankings/college-softball

And finally (as was noted earlier), ranked #8 in the RPI. Link: http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/2019WSBrpi1.html

That's an awful lot of polls, but figured some would find it interesting! :)
 


I'm hoping the MPL area weather forecast on selection Sunday for the following weekend is good. In 2017, there was some speculation that the committee saw the bad weather forecast, panicked, then stuck Minnesota with Alabama to make it look like they were the first team out (the weather was bad that weekend but playable...D3 had a super regional at St. Kate's). If the Gophs get screwed again and don't get to host a regional, I hope 1) the committee at least sends them to a regional that would align them in a winnable super regional game, and 2) doesn't send them to a regional like Deliverance Alabama with hometown bought-and-paid-for umpires.
 



Conference awards out - Amber pitcher of the year unanimously, Hope/Makenna/Amber/Natalie first team, Natalie all-freshmen, Maddie second team, Katie and Allie all-defense
 
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Konwent from the neighbor to the south the only conference player on USA top 10 poty finalists, Amber was on top 26. Drake has a senior pitcher on the list
 






In any other year, Natalie would have been FOTY. But I can't disagree with Danielle Williams winning the award this year.
 

beavergopher said:
She was at the baseball game last night.......in a boot. So?
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Would be a dirty, rotten shame is MaKenna can't play this weekend! Hopefully the boot is just for protection and rest.

Something about her -like the way she played vs Northwestern- says she is going to do everything she possibly can to be out there
 

Tucker said:
Would be a dirty, rotten shame is MaKenna can't play this weekend! Hopefully the boot is just for protection and rest.

Something about her -like the way she played vs Northwestern- says she is going to do everything she possibly can to be out there
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Agree. She's a gamer. Injury to her elbow has been since the Nebraska series. I'm guessing she'll play this weekend.

Sent from my SM-J337V using Tapatalk
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
In any other year, Natalie would have been FOTY. But I can't disagree with Danielle Williams winning the award this year.
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Also agree. She was lights out until she faced Amber and the Gophers.

Sent from my SM-J337V using Tapatalk
 

Natalie DenHartog has been named a Schutt Sports/NFCA Freshman of the Year Top-10 finalist, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) announced Thursday.
 

http://www.startribune.com/maddie-h...uccess-in-four-seasons-as-a-gopher/509672332/

She started all the Red Knights’ games for five seasons. “There was one game I almost missed,’’ Houlihan said. “We had a tournament on the day I was being confirmed. Our coach got the game moved back, and I went straight from the Basilica to the softball field.’’

“Being a freshman is great,’’ Maddie said. “Opponents don’t know you and you don’t know them. You just play. You just swing the bat.’’

"I’m taking it all in, even the little things,’’ she said. “If it rains this week, I’m going to enjoy that, because we’re the bad-weather Gophers"

"We love the Big Ten tournament — all of it.’’

“We’ve had outstanding teams; a great team in 2017. But right now, the way we’ve come together, I think this is our best. I really do.’’

Some great quotes from Maddie Houlihan, a great Gopher :)
 

Tucker said:
http://www.startribune.com/maddie-h...uccess-in-four-seasons-as-a-gopher/509672332/

She started all the Red Knights’ games for five seasons. “There was one game I almost missed,’’ Houlihan said. “We had a tournament on the day I was being confirmed. Our coach got the game moved back, and I went straight from the Basilica to the softball field.’’

“Being a freshman is great,’’ Maddie said. “Opponents don’t know you and you don’t know them. You just play. You just swing the bat.’’

"I’m taking it all in, even the little things,’’ she said. “If it rains this week, I’m going to enjoy that, because we’re the bad-weather Gophers"

"We love the Big Ten tournament — all of it.’’

“We’ve had outstanding teams; a great team in 2017. But right now, the way we’ve come together, I think this is our best. I really do.’’

Some great quotes from Maddie Houlihan, a great Gopher :)
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Maddie is a gamer. I guess we will see if this team is better than 2017.
 

Rutgers / Purdue still hasn't started and targeting a 1030 first pitch still tonight
 


Ideally can pitch Sydney for first 3 and Hannah or Carlie for the last 2, make it quick and get to bed before doubleheader Saturday
 

rowdaboat said:
Ideally can pitch Sydney for first 3 and Hannah or Carlie for the last 2, make it quick and get to bed before doubleheader Saturday
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That's a "jinx" type comment for me. I'm too superstitious for those.

My type of comment: Purdue is a scrappy up bunch. I hope the Gophs keep up the intensity.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

Badgers up 8-1 in 6th, not good enough to get a run rule win yet
 


Some stats fro WI-OSU

OSU pitchers walked 12 batters
Wisconsin batted 7-18, and still scored 10 runs.
OSU threw 72 more pitches than Menz, but only 5 more strikes.
 

Every team Michigan faces in the tournament will be a West team (unless by extreme small chance Indiana wins out). Finally. They swept Illinois earlier in the year, but two games were by only 1 run. If they beat IL, then they get WI next who MI didn't have to play during the season.
 


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