Agree it was amazing to watch a team completely turn around a game from an 11-3 run-rule loss to a 12-11 win. We scored 9 runs on 10 hits in the final two innings, while Hambrick, who has struggled mightily this season, held the Buckeyes hitless over the same period.
The addition of DeBord, who started the season a little slow and has been criticized here for missing cutoffs, has been huge for this team. She made two or three phenomenal catches and doubled Ohio State’s lead off hitter off first on a line drive she caught way over in left center field. Then she made a diving catch on the logo and for an encore, she hit the 3-run HR to tie the game 11-11. She and Krapf were absolutely phenomenal today. But there were so many heroes it’s an injustice to single out anyone.
Yes, this team has limitations due to its lack of star power among its veteran pitchers and a lack of experience among the rest of the staff, but I’m seeing progress despite some rough outings. Enter was hit pretty well in Game 2 today but she was lights out on Friday and she is showing why Lonni Alameda thought she had enough talent to recruit her to Florida State.
The enthusiasm displayed by the team after the game during the Rouser might have been even better than after the LSU super-regional win in 2019.
I posted earlier that this may be the best hitting team since 2019. Now i have to revise that. I now think this is the second-most prolific offense in Gopher history, behind only the 2017 team.
Keep this offense together, add Susa, who was rated as highly as Fiser and Leavitt before she tore her ACL last April, develop one stud pitcher from this freshman class, and we could be all the way back.
This year, we unfortunately have dug ourselves such a deep RPI hole that we will likely have to win the B1G tourney to keep our NCAA streak alive, but this is still a tremendously fun team to watch.
