National Invitational Softball Championship

[LetsGoRabbits]

Jacks leading Tarleton St 5-0 after two complete

rain delay in bottom of 3rd. Jacks have bases loaded, 2 out, Yoder at the plate

Roz has two hits
Joc had a two run BOMB to LF in the bottom of the second

Tarleton pitcher has a ton of walks- that is my official number, a ton, cuz i dont feel like looking.

TK has completed 3 innings in the circle. no hits allowed and 7 Ks. she did walk one in the second, i believe the first batter of the inning, otherwise the second

if the jacks can finish this one off, they will have the hawkeyes tomorrow at 1pm our time
also provided the rain does not mess things up. sounds like they are having the same kind of rain issues in ft collins that we have been having

[LetsGoRabbits]

tarp is coming off, i guess that means they think they will play soon.

there is not really any announcing, although you can hear some conversation in the background

skies look blue, so hopefully this one gets going again soon, unfortunately i have to go to work so i probably will not be able to see the rest

[LetsGoRabbits]

Tarleton switches pitchers
new pitcher walks Yoder to bring in another run for the Jacks
Roz pops to CF to end the inning

jacks get the 6th run with ZERO hits in the 3rd lead 6-0 going to the top of 4

[98Jackfarmer]

Wow, Tk got rocked for 4 runs after the break. She then settled down till the 7th. She gave up a hit or two. An error caused the 5th run. I wonder if she is wearing down? IDK

[Jacked_Up]

Jacks beat Tarleton 11-5 and go 3-0 against the Texans for the season. SDSU will play Iowa at 1 p.m. Friday.

[LetsGoRabbits]

the 4 winning teams from day one play in two games at 1pm central time tomorrow
we play the hawkeyes
maryland plays BYU

the two winners are into the single elim 4 team championship on saturday
the losers at 1pm tomorrow will play again at 4pm central time against the remaining 2 teams from the losers bracket

the Jacks SHOULD beat the hawkeyes tomorrow!!!

that said, my honest opinion is that there is zero advantage for us to win the first game tomorrow.

if we win against Iowa, assuming TK pitches, one would guess she will also pitch the first game on Saturday.

that would mean Saturday plays like this:

10am Saturday- maryland (if the seed holds and they win the other half) would play against whoever emerges from our half of the bracket with one loss

the winner of the 10am game rests until 4pm

1pm Saturday- Jacks use TK in game one (because every game on saturday is win or go home) against whoever emerges from the other half with one loss

if the Jacks win at 1pm

they then play with little rest and start our #2 starter in the final

strategically it would be better to lose first game tomorrow play UC Davis (RPI 124 at end of reg. season) later tomorrow, or play Tarleton again if they upset the Aggies
then we would play, probably, Maryland in the 10am game with TK pitching
get to rest a bit until 4
start Shannon vs whoever remains and very likely have TK available for at least some work if necessary

[LetsGoRabbits]

Wow, Tk got rocked for 4 runs after the break. She then settled down till the 7th. She gave up a hit or two. An error caused the 5th run. I wonder if she is wearing down? IDK

maybe you are correct, but i dont feel like we have seen signs of her being worn down

the loss to USD last week was basically one hit, and she was definitely getting a little squeezed by the ump. the girl got into a favorable count, she made her best swing. she got the fat part of the bat on the ball and it went out

TK came back and pitched 14 innings the rest of the SLT and gave up ONE run. and that one was all about walking 3 batters in the rain. so i really do not think the fact she gave up 3 runs in the SLT was about fatigue

again, compared to the rest of the summit season, giving up ZERO earned runs and ONLY ONE unearned run in over 80 innings, yes, compared to that TK really sucked in the SLT, hahahaha))) but she gave up 3 runs in 3 games in SLT. that ERA would have STILL beaten the next best pitcher in the league for the ERA crown

as for today, 4 runs and 4 hits in the top of the fourth
my honest thought is that, first off we jumped out to a 5-0 lead before the rain
second we have a rain delay
third we come back from the delay and add another run

go back and check how many times this year has TK had a six run cushion??
she has pitched in so many games where we win by one or two
AND in a lot of those games we have only scored 1 or two total

i honestly think between the delay and the 6-0 lead TK lost a tiny bit of focus in the fourth

i am not gonna look back right now at all the boxscores, but SERIOUSLY go look how many games did TK pitch that we won 1-0, or 2-0, or we lost without scoring a run. i would not be even slightly surprised if TK has one of the lowest run support numbers of any pitcher in the country

just off the top of my head i remember games she started
first game of the year
we beat UN 1-0
she started 3 games this year vs UNO 1-0, 1-0, and 0-1
we beat SHSU 2-0
we beat SFA 2-0 she went all 9 innings, piece a cake compared to the 14 innings vs UNO
we beat TX St 2-0
we put up a 0 for her vs OSU
UCA 3-0
beat KU 2-1

anyway that is just looking at scores and remembering that she pitched those games. i KNOW there are plenty more examples. we have given her 2 runs or less in most of her starts including scoring zero runs behind her in both losses in SLT

so that is my theory. she is so used to pitching with her back against the wall that she lost a little focus after the rain delay today

[98Jackfarmer]

I’m sure you’re right LGR. It was just such an anomaly to see! Heck, why not start Lasey today with the scenario you lay out?

[LetsGoRabbits]

I’m sure you’re right LGR. It was just such an anomaly to see! Heck, why not start Lasey today with the scenario you lay out?

that is probably the strategically smart choice
but at the same time the hawkeyes are a big 10 school from a neighbor state. i sure do want to give them a whooping. i imagine the coaches and players also want that and there are at least some advantages to beating the school from our neighbor state no matter what happens the rest of the weekend. but i am with you, i would start Shannon today, and i think i can imagine our coaches going that route

also i am not trying to say Shannon is a bad pitcher. she has been very valuable this year and had DEFINITELY won her share of games, including our win over Iowa St and I know there are other big ones. not looking this moment, but i am not positive that she was not the starter in our win over Baylor also. she has had a good year, but i dont think there is any doubt who our ace is

[98Jackfarmer]

that is probably the strategically smart choice
but at the same time the hawkeyes are a big 10 school from a neighbor state. i sure do want to give them a whooping. i imagine the coaches and players also want that and there are at least some advantages to beating the school from our neighbor state no matter what happens the rest of the weekend. but i am with you, i would start Shannon today, and i think i can imagine our coaches going that route

also i am not trying to say Shannon is a bad pitcher. she has been very valuable this year and had DEFINITELY won her share of games, including our win over Iowa St and I know there are other big ones. not looking this moment, but i am not positive that she was not the starter in our win over Baylor also. she has had a good year, but i dont think there is any doubt who our ace is

Lasey is sporting a 15-6 record with a 3.13 overall ERA. I guess whichever way they choose to go I'm fine with.

[98Jackfarmer]

Lasey is listed in the starting lineup.

[LetsGoRabbits]

WHY in the world are the hawkeyes the home team. We have the higher RPI

well hawkeyes have 3 across so far in the bottom of 1
we are GONNA NEED the sticks to get going today!!!!

[LetsGoRabbits]

you see here is the PERFECT example of what i was saying.
as i already explained at length, it is almost better for us to lose this game, the only problem now is that TK is not pitching this game so assume she will pitch this afternoon in what will be an elim game. i hope that will not put ANY doubt about her starting tomorrow morning at 10am

but as much as i know this game does not matter, now i am very frustrated that we are down to the hawkeyes!!!! i do not believe they are the better team and i want us to WIN this game. how stupid is that. i know the rest of the tourney sets up better if we dont win

[98Jackfarmer]

Make the Iowa pitcher work!

[LetsGoRabbits]

Wow hawkeye pitcher struggled in the second. EVERY one of our hitters got into a hitters count, but nobody could come through with a hit

and hawkeyes leadoff the bottom of the second with another hit