Gopher Softball 2017

#7 LSU, Gopher opponent next weekend, plays #4 UCLA and #17 Utah today.
#14 Michigan matches up with #18 Texas A&M
#1 Florida State plays #9 Arizona
Florida Atlantic, another opponent for the Gophers next weekend, plays #24 Kentucky.
 

#7 LSU, Gopher opponent next weekend, plays #4 UCLA and #17 Utah today.
#14 Michigan matches up with #18 Texas A&M
#1 Florida State plays #9 Arizona
Florida Atlantic, another opponent for the Gophers next weekend, plays #24 Kentucky.

Side note: Great job by Karissa Hovinga (believe that is who is doing it) stepping in and calling pitches. I'm assuming she is doing it this weekend also.
 

#7 LSU, Gopher opponent next weekend, plays #4 UCLA and #17 Utah today.
#14 Michigan matches up with #18 Texas A&M
#1 Florida State plays #9 Arizona
Florida Atlantic, another opponent for the Gophers next weekend, plays #24 Kentucky.

Thanks for the reminders. My daughter and I will probably stay up late tonight to catch the Florida State / Arizona game. That game will be telling to see if FSU deserves their #1 ranking (or anywhere near it given the Texas A&M loss Thursday). Might try to catch the LSU / UCLA match up too. It would be cool to see if our Minnesota connection in Sydney Smith pitches for LSU. I sure wish the Gophers were playing in that tournament!
 


Thanks for the reminders. My daughter and I will probably stay up late tonight to catch the Florida State / Arizona game. That game will be telling to see if FSU deserves their #1 ranking (or anywhere near it given the Texas A&M loss Thursday). Might try to catch the LSU / UCLA match up too. It would be cool to see if our Minnesota connection in Sydney Smith pitches for LSU. I sure wish the Gophers were playing in that tournament!

If I may ask, how are you able to view them?
 


If I may ask, how are you able to view them?

Bought a subscription to FloSoftball (FloSports). You can view it online, but ROKU also has a FloSports app that's nice. They have live feeds on all five fields for this tournament. Plus, they're broadcasting some travel ball tournaments this summer that my daughter might be in; so I figured grandma and grandpa might want to use my login.
 

Bought a subscription to FloSoftball (FloSports). You can view it online, but ROKU also has a FloSports app that's nice. They have live feeds on all five fields for this tournament. Plus, they're broadcasting some travel ball tournaments this summer that my daughter might be in; so I figured grandma and grandpa might want to use my login.

Thank you.
 

Gophers tie it up in the bottom of the 7th. 4-4.....Gophers grab the lead 5-4.
Minnesota wins it 5-4. Nice 7th inning comeback.
 

Gophers tie it up in the bottom of the 7th. 4-4.....Gophers grab the lead 5-4.
Minnesota wins it 5-4. Nice 7th inning comeback.

I was worried I was going to have to re-think my 52-1 prediction. Good comeback. Hope to see a little easier game in the second one...
 



Too bad for Cal Poly, Sara G gets the ball.

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Going to extra innings with Cal Poly tied 1-1. International tie breaking rules are being used.
 

3-1 over Cal Poly in 8 innings.

Check this out. 8 innings for Groenewegen, 2 hits, 0 earned runs, 5 K's, 0 walks and total pitches an extremely efficient 81.
 

I was worried I was going to have to re-think my 52-1 prediction. Good comeback. Hope to see a little easier game in the second one...

52-1 ??? May I ask who wins that 1 game vs the Gophers? lol
 



Remaining undefeated teams in D1
Arizona xxxxxx 2-0 early over LIU and a big one with #1 Florida State later this evening. Arizona lost to Florida State 1-0 Cross them off.
Minnesota....victors in a couple close ones
Oregon....the Ducks beat Montana 6-0 and 17-0 over Hawaii.
Tennessee xxxxxxx The Vols fall to Texas today, 4-2. Cross them off.
Texas A&M.....The Aggies defeat BYU 11-1 and also beat Michigan 3-0. (3 earned runs off Betsa. 5 hits and 6 walks given up by the Wolverine ace.)
Utah.... gets #8 LSU later tonight. The Utes over LSU 3-0. (Utah has won 9 times by shutouts! Team ERA is 0.62, Katie Donovan is having a great year in the circle.)xxxxxxx The Utes go down twice today.
 

52-1 ??? May I ask who wins that 1 game vs the Gophers? lol

I figured we'd split with Washington. That prediction is tongue in cheek though. Obviously we'll drop a few games along the way. But I'm trying to be extra positive...

We don't play Michigan in the regular season again, which means nothing will truly be decided until the tournament.
 

Some top 25 match ups today

#15 James Madison plays #2 Auburn.....James Madison getting the best of Auburn 1-0. (Only 1 hit allowed by the Duke's Megan Good.)
#1 Florida State plays #4 UCLA.#1 Florida State plays #14 Michigan
#19 Arizona State plays #14 Michigan

Side note: Maryland hosts their own tournament in a few weeks. Wasn't aware they were doing that.
 

1 lf 7 Sam Macken L
2 3b 28 Danielle Parlich L
3 rf 20 Maddie Houlihan L
4 c 23 Kendyl Lindaman R
5 2b 3 MaKenna Partain L
6 1b 32 Sydney Dwyer R
7 dp 17 Sara Groenewegen R
8 cf 2 Dani Wagner R
9 ss 16 Allie Arneson R


10 p 5 Tori Finucane

lineup for today's game
 

Gophers pounding on Idaho State 11-1 after 3 innings. Lindaman with 4 RBI's
Gophers win it in 5 innings 12-2. Finucane goes 4 innings and Judge throws a scoreless 5th.
Middle of the order drove in all the runs.
 

I would highly recommend purchasing season tickets this year. Tickets will be hard to come by until they expand the seating capacity in Jane Sage.

I expect them to be in the top 10 when the rankings are released Tuesday.
 

I would highly recommend purchasing season tickets this year. Tickets will be hard to come by until they expand the seating capacity in Jane Sage.

I expect them to be in the top 10 when the rankings are released Tuesday.
Good call!

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Next Saturday the Gophers take on Florida Atlantic University. They're coached by one of the greatest pitchers ever, Joan Joyce. Certainly the greatest female sling shot pitcher of all time. 753-42 won lost record. 150 no-hitters. 50 perfect games. Lifetime ERA of 0.09 etc.
From Wikipedia: Joyce played on the USA women's national basketball team in 1964 and 1965, setting a national tournament single game scoring record in 1964 with 67 points. She was a four-time Women's Basketball Association All-American, and a three-time Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) All-America player. After softball, she joined the LPGA Tour, which she was on from 1977–1994.[4] Her best finishes included sixth-place in tournaments in 1981, 1982 and 1984, including a round of 66.[4] She is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for lowest number of putts (17) in a single round (both men and women), set at the 1982 Lady Michelob.
Quite the athlete and still coaching.

Here's a youtube video of Joyce's team in the IWPS championship game, 1979. Joyce doesn't pitch in the video, but Magaret Rebenar does, also throws sling shot. She was a head coach at Oklahoma State for awhile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cvvSRqfJXc
 

Thanks for the link. That old slingshot style pitch is fun to watch; and fun to try in the back yard. The delivery in the video looks totally illegal at full speed; kind of like a baseball submarine pitch. But in slow motion, you can see her wrist is vertical to her elbow at release.
 

How the teams ranked ahead of Minnesota fared over the weekend

Florida State 4-1-1
Auburn 4-1
Florida 5-0
Oklahoma 3-2
Oregon 5-0
UCLA 3-2
LSU 3-2
Washington 4-1
Arizona 4-1
Alabama 5-0
Georgia 2-3

(Too lazy to list who the wins and losses were against.)
 

How the teams ranked ahead of Minnesota fared over the weekend

Florida State 4-1-1
Auburn 4-1
Florida 5-0
Oklahoma 3-2
Oregon 5-0
UCLA 3-2
LSU 3-2
Washington 4-1
Arizona 4-1
Alabama 5-0
Georgia 2-3

(Too lazy to list who the wins and losses were against.)
I would not call you lazy!

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B1G Records

Minnesota 14-0
Wisconsin 12-2 (Lost to the one ranked team they played. Pitching has been good. Stevens named Pitcher of the Week.)
Michigan State 10-2 (Junior, Lea Foerster hitting over .500 and named Player of the Week. Really weak schedule so far.)
Michigan 9-4-1 (3 of their losses were to ranked teams and the tie was against #1 Florida State. Betsa can beat anyone.)
Illinois 8-5
Ohio State 7-5
Penn State 6-7
Indiana 6-8
Northwestern 3-10
Iowa 2-7
Maryland 2-11-1
Nebraska 2-10 (Really tough schedule. 9 games against ranked teams and 2 against a team receiving votes)
Purdue 2-12 (New coach, bad record.)
Rutgers 1-8

(Ha, thank you Rugger14.)
 

I posted a separate thread about this, but I'll add it here, too. Minnesota up to #10 now, and they even got a 1st place vote.
 


http://www.twincities.com/2017/03/01/never-mind-the-snow-gophers-softball-off-to-best-start-ever/

Pioneer Press article:

Dani Wagner lettered six years at Hayfield High School in southern Minnesota, batted .700 as a senior, started in four sports and was the 2013 Rochester Area Female Athlete of the Year.

Not exactly a one-dimensional player.

But there was Wagner her first two Big Ten softball seasons with the Minnesota Gophers, a part-time shortstop, defensive replacement and absentee hitter — all before being moved to center field in 2017.

Suddenly, everything is clicking for Wagner at the plate, where she has emerged as an unlikely weapon in a potent lineup that has undefeated Minnesota (14-0) off to the best start in program history...


'''They face their toughest challenge of the season this weekend, in the belly of the SEC beast, where it faces tough Florida Atlantic University (12-3) and No. 13-ranked LSU, which thrives at home supported by what promises to be a raucous crowd.

Power, timely hitting and tight defense are complimentary pieces to the Gophers’ greatest strength — pitching depth.

The starting staff runs five deep led by two-time All American Sara Groenewegen, who is 7-0 with a 0.66 earned-run average and 53 strikeouts. Senior Tori Finucane (2-0) is backed up by freshmen Amber Fiser (3-0) and Carlie Brandt (2-0) on a staff that has a combined 1.67 ERA.
 

http://www.twincities.com/2017/03/01/never-mind-the-snow-gophers-softball-off-to-best-start-ever/

Pioneer Press article:

Dani Wagner lettered six years at Hayfield High School in southern Minnesota, batted .700 as a senior, started in four sports and was the 2013 Rochester Area Female Athlete of the Year.

Not exactly a one-dimensional player.

But there was Wagner her first two Big Ten softball seasons with the Minnesota Gophers, a part-time shortstop, defensive replacement and absentee hitter — all before being moved to center field in 2017.

Suddenly, everything is clicking for Wagner at the plate, where she has emerged as an unlikely weapon in a potent lineup that has undefeated Minnesota (14-0) off to the best start in program history...


'''They face their toughest challenge of the season this weekend, in the belly of the SEC beast, where it faces tough Florida Atlantic University (12-3) and No. 13-ranked LSU, which thrives at home supported by what promises to be a raucous crowd.

Power, timely hitting and tight defense are complimentary pieces to the Gophers’ greatest strength — pitching depth.

The starting staff runs five deep led by two-time All American Sara Groenewegen, who is 7-0 with a 0.66 earned-run average and 53 strikeouts. Senior Tori Finucane (2-0) is backed up by freshmen Amber Fiser (3-0) and Carlie Brandt (2-0) on a staff that has a combined 1.67 ERA.
Great article! I want to see all sellouts this year! We need to force them to put in some outfield seating!

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