Gopher Softball - 2016

Really enjoyable video Goldy Gopher. Thanks for posting.

#8 Washington beats Nebraska in extra innings and then beats #2 Michigan by the same score, 6-5. Scored the winning run against the Wolverines in the bottom of the 7th. Guess the Huskies don't lose to Big Ten teams. Have now beaten, arguably, the top three squads in the conference.
 

Big Ten results yesterday

Michigan State beat Columbia 7-2.
Penn Sate lost to Notre Dame 6-2. Also lost to North Florida 2-1.
Minnesota beat Houston 6-1.
Indiana beat UTEP 5-4.
Maryland lost to Stony Brook 10-4.
Illinois beat Tulsa 5-4.
Ohio State lost to USC Upstate 2-0.
Michigan lost to #8 Washington 6-5. Also beat Long Beach State 10-4.
Northwestern beat #10 UCLA 7-2.
Nebraska lost to #8 Washington 6-5.
Purdue beat Cal State Bakersfield 6-3.
Iowa lost to Coastal Carolina 6-5.
 

Houlihan, Groenewegen Earn Weekly Honors

Maddie Houlihan and Sara Groenewegen each took home Big Ten awards with Houlihan earning her first Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor and Groenewegen being named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season and eighth time of her career, the conference announced Monday.

Houlihan helped the Gophers get past Mount St. Mary's coming up with a grand slam in the fourth inning. She was just getting started on the weekend as she finished with three home runs and now has four on the season. She drove in eight runs while scoring six times. She hit .313 with a perfect fielding percentage as the Gophers went 5-0 on the weekend.

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/022916aaa.html
 


Michigan 12-2
Nebraska 10-3
Minnesota 10-4
Ohio State 9-4
Purdue 9-5
Michigan State 9-6
Illinois 8-6
Indiana 8-6
Northwestern 7-7
Penn State 7-7
Wisconsin 7-7
Maryland 5-10
Iowa 4-11
Rutgers 2-11

#3 Michigan plays #15 UCLA tonight in Los Angeles.
 


Gophers with a couple of games today. At 8:30 Western Carolina and at 1:30 #9 Georgia.
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Going with Anderson.
0-0 after 1.
Western Carolina changes pitchers in the bottom of the 2nd with no score and two runners on.
Gophers grab a 6-0 lead going into the top of the 3rd.
7-1 heading into the 4th.
Stober in to throw the the 7th. Gophers win 7-1.
 

Georgia, the Gopher's next opponent, has played one team in the top 25 so far this year. They faced UCLA on Feb 26th and were run ruled 14-5 in 5 innings. They rank high for such a weak out of conference schedule, but then again they are SEC.
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Gophers down 1-0 after one inning. Minnesota left a runner in scoring position in their at bat and Groenewegen had a walk and a wild pitch to advance the runner during Georgia's at bat.
Gophers pick up 4 runs in the top half of the 2nd inning. 4-1 going into the bottom.
Back to back home runs (1-2 count and 2-2 count) by the Bulldogs make it 4-3, no outs, still batting bottom of 2.
Gophers up 5-3 going into the bottom of the 3rd. Really need to close the door this inning.



Score remains 5-3 heading into the 5th.
3 at bats for Sara G today and 3 strikeouts. Rough game for her at the plate.
5-3 into the bottom of the 5th.
Score still 5-3 going into the bottom half of the 6th. Groenewegen with 9 strikeouts and has given up 3 hits thus far.
Georgia closes to within 1, 5-4. The Bulldogs with runners at first and second, one out. Now two out. Georgia scores to tie it up. 2 errors by the Gophers this inning really making it tough. Plus they haven't been able to solve the Georgia pitcher that came in after they scored their 5 runs.
Start of the 7th, tied 5-5. Need some heroics.
Gophers lose 6-5. Seemed like a game they definitely could have won. Dang.

Gophers with 9 hits and 5 runs in the first 3 innings. Another timely hit and they might have blown it open. Georgia brought in Chelsea Wilkinson in the 4th and she completely shut the door on Minnesota. One hit was all the Gophers could muster off her. She faced the minimum 12 batters, as I believe Parlich recorded the lone hit, but was subsequently erased on a double play. Think Groenewegen legs probably tired on her. 124 pitches on the day.
She threw 125 in another outing earlier in the year, but that was in a blowout win where a single miscue on the mound was no big deal. Oh well, get another crack at them tomorrow.
 

Score from Big Ten teams on Saturday

Minnesota 7 Western Carolina 1
Georgia 6 Minnesota 5

Rutgers 6 North Carolina Central 0
Rutgers 6 UNC Greensboro 2

Purdue 5 Charleston 3
Purdue 11 Seton Hall 2

Monmouth 11 Maryland 2
George Washington 9 Maryland 7

Kennesaw State 2 Michigan State 0
South Carolina 8 Michigan State 7

Indiana 5 Murray State 1

Penn State 6 Belmont 1

Michigan 9 Oregon State 3

San Jose State 7 Northwestern 3

Tulsa 2 Iowa 1
Iowa 4 Lamar 3

Illinois 8 Pennsylvania 0
South Florida 5 Illinois 4

Nebraska 6 Wichita State 4
Wichita State 2 Nebraska 1

Oregon State 3 Wisconsin 1

In a big upset, North Dakota State beat #2 Alabama 2-1 in Tuscaloosa yesterday.

Michigan just rolls along. After that loss to #9 Washington they've strung together 7 wins in a row. Now 18-2, wouldn't be surprised to see 24-2 when the conference starts. Betsa and Driesenga are a solid 1-2 pitching punch and they score a ton of runs led by Sierra Romero, so they're almost always playing with the lead. Romero has a .466 average, 7 home runs, 39 RBI's. Besides being the team leader in those categories, she also leads in walks.
 

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Stober gets the start in this one. Batting order remains the same as the games yesterday.
Jacksonville comes in with a record of 11-9. Hitting .237 as a team. 16 home runs on the year and an on base percentage of .354
 



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Stober gets the start in this one. Batting order remains the same as the games yesterday.
Gophers send 21 hitters to the plate in the top half of the first inning. Lead 17-0. Big hit was a Rozell grand slam while pinch hitting for LeMay. 12 hits by Minnesota along with 3 Dolphin errors, 3 walks and a HBP. Wow. (Has to be a couple of records in that inning somewhere.)
Gophers win it 20-4 in 5 innings.
 

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Gophers locked up in a 0-0 game (3rd inning), facing the same pitcher that shut them down yesterday. Groenewegen throwing for Minnesota.
Top of 4, Gophers at bat. Still 0-0.
Gophers fall behind 3-0 in the bottom of the 5th.
Gophers get a 3 run home run from LeMay with two out to take a 4-3 lead in the top of the 7th. On an 0-2 count! Wilkinson right around 120 pitches when it happened. Groenewegen sitting at 94 pitches when she will go out to start the 7th. She has to face the 2-3-4 hitters.
Got the lead off hitter who had been 3-3 against her.
Struck out the second batter.
Gophers win in dramatic fashion over #9 Georgia at their ballpark. (Last out was a warning track fly out, in the sun and leaping by Fabian in RF.)
 

Big Ten records thus far

Michigan 18-2
Nebraska 12-4
Minnesota 13-5 (Last year after 18 games were 14-4)
Ohio State 9-4
Illinois 12-7
Purdue 12-7
Indiana 11-7
Michigan State 10-9
Wisconsin 9-9
Penn State 9-10
Northwestern 7-12
Rutgers 6-12
Iowa 6-13
Maryland 6-13
 

Knighten of Nebraska leads the conference in hitting at .473
Macken of Minnesota is 10th at .400
Parlich and Wenner of Minnesota are 13th at .393

Knighten leads in home runs with 11 (in only 16 games)
Houlihan leads the Gophers with 4

Romero from Michigan leads in RBI's with 39
Macken leads the Gophers with 16

Macken leads in doubles with 12. (No one else in the conference in double figures)

Groenewegen 2nd in base on balls with 15

Romero leads in on base % with .573
Groenewegen leads the Gophers with .500

Rabin of Northwestern leads in stolen bases with 15
Gophers are 16-20 as a team

Groenewegen leads in strikeouts with 105 in 71.1 innings
Lily Fecho of Purdue is next with 102 in 75.2 innings

Groenewegen tied for most games started with 11
Fecho with 11
Vecvanags of Illinois with 11
 



The 13-5 Gophers play a couple of games this evening in Boca Raton, Florida . At 5 they take on Robert Morris. (The Colonials will start the day with a 4-15 record. They have one game today before facing Minnesota.) At 7:15 they play UMass. (4-9, with a game with Robert Morris before playing the Gophers.)

http://www.gophersports.com/gopherhub/#podcast
Interview with Allister. They quiz her about being a northern team and recruiting up here. She talks really fast, no stuttering on words whatsoever. Doesn't use anything as a crutch. Very disappointed about not getting to the World Series last year. Not satisfied to have made it to the Super Regional. Thought she had the club to make it there last year. Said she doesn't care what time of year a visit happens at. If it's really cold, so be it, that's the way it is. Said the new athletics village is a game changer.

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Stober with the start.
After 3 complete, Gophers down 2-0.
After Stober records the first out in the 4th inning, Gophers bring Anderson in.
Gophers hitless through 4 innings.
Gophers now facing a 3 run deficit as they come to bat in the bottom of the 5th.
Minnesota down 4-0 and coming up to bat in the bottom of the 6th.
Gophers pick up 1 run in the 6th and also break the no-hitter. 4-1 now.
Minnesota with a disappointing loss to Robert Morris. Managed 1 hit, committed a couple of errors.

Gophers in control of game 2. 10-0 in the 4th inning.
 

Gophers split on Saturday. Lost the first game to Mercer, 5-1 and took the second game 1-0 on a perfect game by Sara Groenewegen over a good Florida Atlantic team. The lone run coming on a home run by Sydney Fabian. The 15-7 Gophers face LIU Brooklyn today at 12:30
 

Gophers have an 8-0 lead over LIU Brooklyn going into the bottom of the 5th with Stober coming in to pitch in place of Groenewegen.
It's over, Gophers win 8-0 in 5 innings. Macken, Wenner and Palkovich each with 2 hits. Palkovich, Dwyer and LeMay each with 2 RBI's.
Groenewegen gave up a lead off double to start the game and then held them hitless.

Tuesday they play Tulsa in Tulsa and the next day hook up once again against Oklahoma at their place.
 

https://twitter.com/GopherSoftball/status/709888641330319361

Groenewegen, the NFCA co-pitcher of the week, https://nfca.org/index.php?option=c...division-i-weekly-honors&catid=109&Itemid=149, gets the start.
Gophers up 3-2 with Tulsa coming to bat in the bottom of the 4th. Groenewegen at about 46 pitches.
Heading into the top of the 6th, Gophers with a 4-2 lead.
Tulsa with a 4 run inning now leading 6-4 with the Gophers coming to bat in the top of the 7th.
Gophers had runners on 2nd and 3rd, no outs. Groenewegen hits a grounder to third, Parlich tries to score, is out at the plate, Groenewegen tries to advance to second and gets thrown out there.
Gophers lose it 6-4.
 

The 16-8 Gophers take on the 17-4 Sooners at 6 tonight in a rematch of a February 12th game won by Minnesota 1-0. Oklahoma comes in with a 9 game winning streak. Opposition was shut out in 5 of those wins. The Gophers are 3-3 in their last 6 games.
In case anyone wants to listen to it. http://thefranchiseok.com/listen-up/franchise-2/

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Gophers going with Stober.
Lefthanded Paige Parker going for the Sooners.
Announcer says it's a full house.
Gophers up 5-4 in the top of the 3rd. Houlihan hit a 3 run home run in the 2nd. Macken led off the 3rd with a home run and Wenner followed suit.
Parker replaced after 2.1 innings.
Anderson replaces Stober. Stober goes 2.1 innings. 5-5 now in the top of the 4th.
Gophers defeat Oklahoma in extra innings 12-10. Gophers down 8-7 going into the 7th, tied it up and then scored 4 in the 8th. Macken with 2 home runs. Houlihan with a home run and a double along with 5 RBI's. Sooners had the winning run at bat. This one wasn't over till it was over.
Groenewegen threw the last 4 innings.
Nice win, especially after the loss yesterday.
 

Gophers are being pounded by Tulsa 10-1 in the top of the 4th. Stober and Anderson having their problems from the looks of things. Stober started and went 2 innings giving up 9 hits, 4 walks and 9 earned runs. Anderson came in and gave up 4 hits, 1 walk and 1 run in her inning. Kind of tough to win when it goes like that.
Gophers end up losing 10-1.

Now playing Kansas, the host team. Game just started. Groenewegen gets the start in the circle, but not hitting.
Minnesota jumps on top 3-0 in the 3rd. Kansas pulls their ace after 3 straight hits.
Gophers up 4-2 with Kansas batting in the bottom of the 6th. Groenewegen around 100 pitches.
Gophers win 4-2. LeMay with a home run. Palkovich with a couple of hits, 1 RBI and 1 of 3 stolen bases by the Gophers. Groenewegen with 8 strikeouts, 8 hits and 4 walks.
Minnesota with 1 more game tomorrow against UMKC before opening the conference season at Purdue on Friday.
 

https://twitter.com/GopherSoftball/status/711571631345242112

Groenewegen pitching, but once again not hitting.

Macken leads it off with a home run to give the Gophers a lead in the bottom of the 1st.
Gophers up 2-0 in the bottom of the 2nd. Dwyer drove in Palkovich.
Groenewegen hits the lead off batter in the top of the 3rd and she eventually scores on a double to left center. 2-1.
Still 2-1 as the Gophers come to bat in the bottom of the 4th.
Top of the 6th. Runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Tough jam. Gophers escape and keep the lead. Only have 3 hits against this club.
Despite being out hit 6-4, Gophers win 2-1.
 

Gophers (19-9) kick off the conference season on Friday. They travel to West Lafayette to take on Purdue (18-11) in a 3 game series.
Guessing the Boilermakers will throw Lily Fecho in at least 2 of the contests. The left hander is 13-4 with a 1.52 ERA, 110.2 innings pitched with 134 strikeouts and has given up 84 hits. Issued 31 walks and surrendered 7 home runs. Presently Big Ten Pitcher of the week.
Purdue hitting .277 as a team. Gophers are at .300
Home runs, Purdue has 16, Gophers have hit 27
Purdue has scored 127 runs while the Gophers have scored 167
Purdue has been successful in 54 out of 59 stolen base attempts. Gophers are 26 out of 32.
Purdue has a .949 fielding percentage. Gophers are at .959
Purdue has played 2 teams in the top 25. Lost to Arizona 11-1 and beat UCF 3-2.
The #22 Gophers are 4-4 against top 25 teams.
Minnesota is #19 in RPI, Purdue is 57
 

Gophers take the opener against Purdue by a score of 5-0. Game was scoreless until the 5th when Minnesota picked up 3 runs and added 2 more in the 7th. Groenewegen with 13 strikeouts. (Minnesota got their 2 in the 7th after 2 outs. Purdue coach pulled Fecho at that point with no one on.
Guessing she was going on a pitch count. All I can figure.)
 

Gophers take the opener against Purdue by a score of 5-0. Game was scoreless until the 5th when Minnesota picked up 3 runs and added 2 more in the 7th. Groenewegen with 13 strikeouts. (Minnesota got their 2 in the 7th after 2 outs. Purdue coach pulled Fecho at that point with no one on.
Guessing she was going on a pitch count. All I can figure.)

Did Groenewegen hit?
 


You know, just when I was thinking Michigan just takes names and kicks a$$, they get dumped in the opener by Northwestern 13-12. How in the world did Northwestern score that many runs on 6 hits? (Haven't seen a box score yet.)

Wisconsin pounded Michigan State 10-1.
Penn State beat Rutgers 12-8.
Ohio State over Maryland 12-2.
Indiana beat Iowa 5-3.
Nebraska thumps Illinois 10-2.
 

No messing around by Allister. Groenewegen right back out to the circle for today's game.

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Gophers win 4-1. Groenewegen beats Fecho again. Purdue run was unearned. Palkovich doubled home a couple of runs and Fabian did the same.

Box score for today's game. http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-softbl/stats/2015-2016/16game30.html

Last year the Gophers opened up against the Illini and Groenewegen started all 3 games (pretty sure). In the rest of the conference series she went on Friday and came back Sunday except when they played Purdue. Fecho started the Friday and Saturday and Allister did the same with Groenewegen. Thinking maybe Allister is going to wait and see what Purdue does tomorrow and then decide.
 

Way, Way Too Early Conference Standings

Minnesota 2-0
Indiana 2-0
Ohio State 2-0
Penn State 2-0
Illinois 2-1
Wisconsin 2-1
Michigan 1-1
Northwestern 1-1
Michigan State 1-2
Nebraska 1-2
Iowa 0-2
Maryland 0-2
Rutgers 0-2
Purdue 0-2
 

No messing around by Allister. Groenewegen right back out to the circle for today's game.

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Gophers win 4-1. Groenewegen beats Fecho again. Purdue run was unearned. Palkovich doubled home a couple of runs and Fabian did the same.

Box score for today's game. http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-softbl/stats/2015-2016/16game30.html

Last year the Gophers opened up against the Illini and Groenewegen started all 3 games (pretty sure). In the rest of the conference series she went on Friday and came back Sunday except when they played Purdue. Fecho started the Friday and Saturday and Allister did the same with Groenewegen. Thinking maybe Allister is going to wait and see what Purdue does tomorrow and then decide.

If Fecho starts on Sunday, so does Sara.
 

You have got to be kidding me. 4 B1G softball games being played today (throughout the nation there is a total of 7) and the ONLY B1G game that is not being streamed by BTN2Go is...you guessed it, the Gophers-Boilermakers! Penn State-Rutgers, Iowa-Indiana, Northwestern-Michigan all being streamed.

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Anderson in the circle and a shake up of the batting order.
4 errors in 5 plays allowed Purdue to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 2nd.
Minnesota came back with a few more in the top of the 3rd to reclaim the lead at 4-2. Everything happened after 2 outs.
Purdue leaves runners at 2nd and 3rd in the bottom of the third as Anderson works her way out of it. Still 4-2.
Purdue picks up one run in the bottom of the 5th to make it 4-3.
That's the way it ends, 4-3. Fecho and Groenewegen throw the last 2 innings for their squads. Sara G with 5 strikeouts.
Gophers move to 3-0 in the conference.
 





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