Chamberlain and Self hit 2-run homers in T6. BEAT BAMA 5-2.

[Plainosooner]

Before the sixth, OU had no hits and three baserunners. And trailed 2-0.

Chamberlain hpb on a 1-2 pitch in the first. Parker walked to lead off the second. Self has walked to lead off the 5th.

Bama's runs came after Self failed to call off Pendley on a bloop to short left. She would have caught the ball. and a rocket double an out later, which should have been a single but an out call at second was overturned. Then a solo homer in the third.

 

[Soonersincefitty]

Well, I've got one word for that disquieting report there...CRAP!

That's it.

 

[Plainosooner]

All of OU's outs are on pop ups or strikeouts. A good rise ball pitcher has eaten this team up all year. Shelby Pendley is playing hurt. She's been great at short, but seem hampered at the plate. The fifth ends when Self, who hasn't played very well in the post season, left first early on a two out hit and run and with little Pendley getting on, would have brought Chamberlain up as the go ahead run. Really dumb play.

BTW, this is the biggest crowd ever at Bama. Most standing and sitting on the berm than in stadium seats. Over 4000 tickets sold.

Parker has pitched well, but Bama has gotten their hacks. OU hasn't come close. The righties are either fanning or getting jamed. Two lazy flies to the outfield are the only balls out of the infield. Bama's pitcher is also a freshman.

Going to B5, Tide leads 2-0.

============

Third time through the order and the Sooner batters adjust. Lay off the high pitch. Callie Parsons ignites a five run sixth with a lead off pinch hit single.

 

[Plainosooner]

Bama goes quietly in the fifth. One walk. Sooners have pinch hitter, then Chamberlain and Pendley in T6.

 

[Plainosooner]

Callie Parsons solid single to center for OU's first hit, pinch hitting for little Pendley. Then Chamberlain goes yard, liner just over the fence in left center. Now a meeting at the mound after 2-0 to Pendley. Shelby walks. Still no outs. Miller attempts to sacrifice, but beats it out. First and second, no outs.

Casey sacrifices. Second and third, one out.

Parker sac fly to deep left center. Both runners move up. OU up 3-2 two outs.

Self hits the top of the foul pole in left. 5-2 Sooners.

Nirschl walks on a 3-2 pitch. Ellis fouls out to the catcher. Sooners up 5-2 heading to B6.

 

[Soonersincefitty]

Thanks there Plaino... see, that wasn't so hard...

 

[Plainosooner]

Pendley throws out three straight from deep short. Bama goes in order in B6.

5-2 Sooners to the seventh.

 

[Plainosooner]

T7, Callie Parsons works the count to 3-2 then out on a soft liner to short left center. Staring the fourth time through the order, Bama changes pitchers.

Chamberlain, Major League pop up to second. Pendley flew out to center.

Sooners head to B7, up 5-2.

 

[Plainosooner]

Well that got interesting. Parker lost the strike zone in the 7th.

Eighth place hitter perfect bunt to lead off. Then two outs and a runner at third. Then two walks and nine straight balls bringing up the Tide cleanup hitter. 3-2. Two fouls. Then waved at a perfect 3-2 change up to end the game. Sooners have one inning with any hits,, but bat around for five runs, after being no hit for five and win 5-2.

Game two, tomorrow at 4 p.m.

 

[K2C Sooner]

Plaino, is this a double elimination tourney? I admit I'm a little ignorant on this subject......

 

[Soonersincefitty]

Thanks Plaino for the color commentary.
With all the static restrictions, you do keep it interesting.
Good job.

 

[Plainosooner]

Thanks there Plaino... see, that wasn't so hard...

Fitty, I am very superstitious, but only about sports. Really no where else. I was just watching and enjoying and we didn't have a hit, so I started doing a report. We still didn't get a hit. So like last weekend, I started posting the Sooner batters after each at bat and editing as I went along. Suddenly, we scored five.

That was a really good softball game. But I don't see any way Parker can pitch two games tomorrow. The Sooners really need to win game two. My motto for tomorrow: "No Ifs."

 

[Schoonerman]

Plaino, is this a double elimination tourney? I admit I'm a little ignorant on this subject......

Yes, best of three, OU takes Game 1. Winner of this series meets Michigan! Nice win for OU tonight!

 

[Soonersincefitty]

Not sure about that K2C.

As I understand it, OU wins this series and they advance to the Natty.
I don't know what happens if they lose.

 

[Plainosooner]

Plaino, is this a double elimination tourney? I admit I'm a little ignorant on this subject......

No. Last weekend The Regional was a four team double elimination. The Super Regional is between two teams only. It's a best two out of three. Both would be tomorrow if Bama wins game two. But no IF's.

The WCWS will be the same thing, except not a week apart. The eight teams are in two four team brackets, although I believe there is one cross over. But two four team brackets, which gets you to two. Then those two, no matter if they lost a game or went undefeated, play best two of three for the national title.

 

[K2C Sooner]

Fitty, I am very superstitious, but only about sports. Really no where else. I was just watching and enjoying and we didn't have a hit, so I started doing a report. We still didn't get a hit. So like last weekend, I started posting the Sooner batters after each at bat and editing as I went along. Suddenly, we scored five.

That was a really good softball game. But I don't see any way Parker can pitch two games tomorrow. The Sooners really need to win game two. My motto for tomorrow: "No Ifs."

Do you wear your ballcap backwards during the game? Just Joking............

 

[sybarite]

Since Osorio is the Bama pitcher most likely to give OU trouble, we shouldn't have as much difficulty tomorrow. We now know how to hit her, and a replacement wouldn't have the one pitch that we haven't hit well for several years. Traina was a rise ball pitcher as was Hoover (LSU).

I imagine that we will start Parker tomorrow. If there is trouble, she will be relieved immediately, leaving her OK for a third game. But, with the exception of two swings, Bama never hit Paige.

 

[Plainosooner]

In case you didn't get to see the game, they showed Pendley in the pre game, and she was limping noticeably. But she played A GREAT GAME at short. She made every play on about six ground balls, including four from the hole and one on a short hop against their fastest slapper. Snap throw.

A couple of other observations. In the past, both in the regionals and supers, there have seemed to be a lot of home cooking from the folks in blue. That has not been the case this year, when I've been watching. I surely haven't agreed with every call, but nothing like the old days of two different strikes zones, like I saw when OU baseball played at Virginia, back when Buschelle's class were underclassmen. I was ready to throw a rock through my tv in back to back trips.

The officiating has been fair when I've seen it and that's all I worried about on the trip. Bama's field is laid out so that the first base dugout faces the afternoon sun, which puts the sun in your dugout's eyes for a 6:00 game for an hour and a half. Its hard to look into the sun when watching the game for that long. We didn't get a hit until the sun went down. If we go to game three, it will be the same issue, unless game two takes a while.

And one other thing. Callie Parsons needs to start in center tomorrow. Doubt it happens, but she's a senior and she's darn well earned it.

 

[Plainosooner]

Do you wear your ballcap backwards during the game? Just Joking............

No, of course not. The play by play strategy worked.

If we hadn't had a hit before the 7th, I might have changed some clothing.

This is going to sound weird, but I really want this. I want Chamberlain and Pendley to go out as champions. They got a very unfair bracket being seeded 11th. If they make it to OKC and then win it, then two great Sooners and several other seniors who've been clutch for three or four years, will have the ending they've earned.

They will have to overcome a lot to make it happen. But they took a really big step tonight.

If you didn't watch on ESPN, and see that 3-2 change up, I'm pretty sure the replay will be on the official site, likely tomorrow. At least fast forward through to the last six innings. That was a great job.

 

[Brentwood Sooner]

Any highlights available?

 

[Soonersincefitty]

Well, and again I maintain that is the 'magic', if you will that Patty Gasso brings to the equation.

She's not a loser.

 

[Plainosooner]

Any highlights available?

Pretty limited on the highlights. I'd have added four or five plays Pendley made at short. But I suspect ESPN has some control over that and may even charge for use of their highlights.

It doesn't show their great bunt to lead off the seventh.

It doesn't show in retrospect the crucial play that Miller made, beating out her sacrifice attempt in the sixth.

It doesn't show their lead off hitter's bloop double starting the first and it doesn't show the out call at second that was overturned.

It does show Chamberlain's homer, Self's homer, Parker's sac fly and gutsy last pitch of the game. Their clean up hitter was batting as the winning run in a 5-2 game with the bases loaded and two outs in B7 and Parker looking like a tired lady after 120 pitches and an eight pitch at bat.

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=127251&DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=210104207

 

[Plainosooner]

If you want to watch any whole game, here is the list of replays available online from ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/sitemap/_/sport/college-studio/league/ncaa-softball

And here is the link to the replay of OU v Bama in game one:

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/_/id/2504677/size/condensed/

 

[Plainosooner]

That replay said OU v Bama but ended up being the Tennessee game. They had every regional replay except OU v Bama. Which figures. ESPN doesn't show replays of SEC teams losing. This is like watching LHN, with Vince Young beating USC for the112th time this year.

It will eventually show up, but you may have to wait a day or two. That sucks.

 

[roygbell]

A softball pitcher that can throw that rise ball is darn hard to hit. It is the opposite of a baseball pitcher who throws a good drop ball. A drop ball is a tough baseball pitch to hit. Same with the softball pitcher who those a good rise ball. A baseball drop ball is coming in from the top on a downward trajectory and then drops at the plate. A softball rise ball is just the opposite as it comes in at a low trajectory and then rises at the plate.

 

[Plainosooner]

The replay availability got a little weird. I wrote ESPN an email telling them about the problem that on the OU v Alabama link, we were getting FSU at UTenn instead. I woke up this morning with their having replied that the glitch was fixed, with a link attached. The link wasn't fixed.

So I called them and was told it had been pulled, which wasn't true. But after 25 minutes on the phone, with my telling the nice idiot on the phone that wasn't true, that they'd just screwed up their details online, she finally got to the place and they are "working on it."

You ought to be able to watch a replay this afternoon, I suspect. They're supposed to send me another email when it's fixed. Watching the last two innings are worth the effort.

===================

Roy I understand the challenges of hitting a good rise ball. The real issue is laying off the pitch in your eyes. It's not like a drop ball in baseball. It's like a good rising fastball at the shoulders. When it's in the middle of the plate, it's hard to lay off because it looks hittable.

Last night, the Sooners actually had three ground outs, but only one was really a ground out, by Parker, who isn't going to beat out anything on the ground. The other two were sac bunts. The only other ground ball was the single up the middle by Parsons that started the rally.

We don't know how good Alabama's infield defense is, because we NEVER tested them. Everything else was in the air. The infield was kind of ragged. Arnold, who plays a great third base, got a horrible hop on a grounder that was ruled an error, but that Brooks Robinson would have been challenged to play. It changed directions on the second hop.

Balls in the air don't take bad hops.

The Sooners got it done. And need to one more time today. And OU played a very high quality of defense after the first batter of the first til the first batter of the seventh. The latter was just a well designed hard bunt past Chamberlain who was charging so hard that it went between her and Parker.

But the approach at the plate produced six innings out of seven with no hits.

 

[sybarite]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12926694

The movement of softball pitches.

 

[sybarite]

A little perspective:
Home runs: (season)
Alabama 58 (58 games)
Oklahoma 60 (56 games)
Now, add in the 21 by Lauren and the 24 by Shelby to get 105.
The rest of the OU team matches the Alabama power.

Alabama power hitters:
Runyon 18
McCleney 8
Bell and Spencer 7

Oklahoma Power hitters:
Pendley 24
Chamberlain 21
Self 10
Parker 9
Nicole Pendley 8
Miller 7

 

[Plainosooner]

First of all, ESPN finally fixed it so you can go to ESPN 3 and watch the whole game replay.

OU's offensive stats are a little gaudier than OU's but Bama's schedule and pitching opponents were tougher. So the specific numbers aren't perfectly telling. Bama has wins over seven teams in the Supers. OU now has two.

We can all dump on the preferences that have been given to the SEC schools, but they did have the toughest league in the country this season. I'm pulling for losses in all their games, even if they were playing Texas. Even when they play Oregon. But they are putting a lot of emphasis on softball and it shows in the talent level in their league.

OU has over 100 home runs this season. And OU is as good a defensive team as there is in the country. Not perfect. But there is such a fundamentally sound approach.

It's going to take a really good team to beat OU.

 

[sybarite]

I'm not buying the SEC rpi numbers at all. When the one Big Twelve team that played 17 games in the southeast in preseason ends up with a high rpi while finishing near the cellar in the conference, it tells me something is wrong with the rpi and how the southeastern teams have an advantage. I think they get too much credit for a win, and some bad losses don't seem to hurt, unless they pile up.

At this point, I think LSU would be gone if it weren't for seeding. Georgia was horrible. It's difficult to tell about Auburn since they keep "winning' strangely. Florida is good, maybe the best.

I still look for Florida, Michigan, Oregon, and the Bama-OU winner to be the champiionship contenders. I think the others are pretenders.

 

[Plainosooner]

And yet UTenn won the post season tournament and Auburn has been very good for the second half of the season. And they finished half a game behind Florida in the reg season standing and were in second place and led the conference championship game until late.

The only SEC team that isn't a contender for a national title is Kentucky, and maybe LSU.

I mean you're dissing LSU but they played OU twice, totally shutting down OUr offense in game one and run ruling us in game two. They were fifth place in the SEC after being ranked first after beating OU and taking two of three from Florida. So they aren't that bad.

 

[sybarite]

Actually, Auburn won the tournament when Tennessee dropped a pop fly that would have clinched it. Too much emphasis is placed on that LSU series. Let LSU come to Norman. LSU, as does the SEC, gets away with playing too much in their own backyard. Did Lousiana-Lafayette, another southeastern power, ever win on the road? LSU wouldn't be here if they had played ASU on a neutral site.

Florida is the only team that was impressive when they left home, but they hardly left home. They are good. I think the SEC should have had about three fewer top sixteen seeds. Until they leave the south, I won't give them credit.

 

[Plainosooner]

BTW, LSU is threatening to route Arizona in the first inning. Three in, bases loaded, still no outs.

 

[Plainosooner]

Be thankful that the plate umpire at Baton Rouge isn't in Tuscaloosa. Very weird strike zone. They've played an hour and haven't finished the second inning. Which means that OU's game two will not start in ESPN.

Unless LSU run rules them.