Mississippi State, Texas, Boston U, Howard Stand Out
Weather Cancellations, Runs Galore, Pitching Questions Highlight Week 2
While it wasn’t the case for every game this weekend, one could say that on the whole, scoring was certainly up across the softball world. Whether that was due to great hitting or subpar pitching remains to be seen, but we saw a lot of football scores being put up and for the casual who loves offense, it was a ton of fun! Let’s look at some of the highlights from the weekend.
Clearwater Cut Short
In a weekend that saw many games canceled due to weather, the Clearwater Invitational was also cut basically in half due to inclement weather in Florida. But that was not before the teams at the tournament put on what can only be described as an offensive explosion. With scores like 15-7, 20-10, and 14-10, it was hard not to double take and make sure we weren't looking at football scores. Was this good offense? Subpar pitching? Time will tell, but in 1 and a half days, runs were certainly coming quick and fast in Florida.
Mississippi State Impresses
Despite losing their final game against UC Davis on Sunday, Mississippi State racked up multiple victories against ranked opponents over the weekend and two impressive wins over Louisiana during the week. In an already loaded SEC, the Bulldogs are looking like a team that will at the very least be a tough weekend series opponent and tough out in the SEC Tournament.
Howard Sweeps the SWAC
In the first inaugural HBCU softball invitational, Howard came away the clear class of the field. Racking up 5 wins and adding another run rule to their resume, the Bison swept their SWAC opponents in impressive fashion. Tori Tyson and the Bison once again have thrown down the gauntlet to the rest of the MEAC letting them know who should actually be favored to win the conference.
Texas Flexes
Following their impressive showing in California, Texas won their two Clearwater competitions against a Tennessee and Stanford team both ranked in the top 10 at the time. They remain undefeated amongst a handful of teams, including dreaded rival Oklahoma. But the Longhorns showed once again that they are now more than ever ready and poised to challenge the Sooners for the conference and beyond with excellent pitching and timely hitting.
Georgia Squeezes in 4 Wins at Clearwater
Due to some serendipitous scheduling, the Bulldogs were able to squeeze in 4 games before the rain ended the invitational early, but not before Georgia made their mark. Following an excellent extra inning victory against a pesky Wisconsin team, Georgia ran off 3 ranked wins in a row, including a 20-10 points fest against Florida State. Georgia always has a great offense, and we still don’t know how solid their pitching is just yet. But the Bulldogs are undefeated and have impressive wins on their resume.
Houston Quietly Racks up Wins
While we expected excellent showing from Big 12 newcomers BYU and UCF for softball (shakes fist at Cincinnati), Houston has been a pleasant surprise going 10-1 in the first two weeks. While the competition has not been as steep as the rest of the conference, the Cougars are still getting the wins and more importantly, not losing games they shouldn’t lose. We’ll see how much they have truly improved as they head to Baton Rouge this weekend facing much tougher competition.
Boston U is Undefeated, Shows Out in Charlotte
The hardcore softball dorks looked at last weekend’s schedule and saw Boston U and Charlotte as a battle of top Mid Major programs. In this iteration, Boston came out on top winning both games in Charlotte en route to another undefeated weekend. Boston will be clear favorites to win the Patriot League this year, and with their start and wins over Charlotte, are even getting into some top 25 polls this week. Anyone who follows softball outside of the big conferences knows, this isn’t easy.
Wide open ACC?
A conference that has historically been dominated by Florida State looks to be more open than it has even in past years as Clemson and Duke have come on as strong programs. Virginia Tech, Duke and Louisville have been impressive so far this year against quality competition. While Florida State has played the toughest competition of any team in the ACC so far, one can objectively look at their performances and raise questions about pitching. If anyone can figure it out it’s the Seminoles, but the rest of the ACC seems to have closed the gap, and it should make for a great conference title race.
JMU Looks Like its Old Self
James Madison continued to improve on their opening weekend performances by posting an undefeated 4-0 on the weekend at their first at home tournament in February in school history. I went about this more in depth in another article, but the Dukes secured quality wins against preseason Big East favorite Villanova and last year's A-10 champ George Mason. JMU showed they can win in a variety of ways while also being undaunted when behind, scoring 13 consecutive runs in 2 innings and run ruling Lehigh after going down 5 runs. Their competition takes a significant step up this weekend, but the Dukes are looking like their old selves and seem prime to upend their preseason predicted 5th in the Sun Belt.
We had another great weekend of softball despite the weather getting in the way of things. I look forward to previewing an exciting week three later this week!