Looking ahead to Oregon State, UF is the better team, but the UF pitchers can't be giving out free passes like candy. The best defense in the nation can't continually bail out walks to good teams. The slight edge I'd give to OSU is with their pitching. The ERA for both teams is almost identical, but OSU is stingy with walks, this will be quite the battle with our hitters who have good eyes and patience, and they strike out a lot of batters. Pitching can be their equalizer. It was at the Tennessee regional and at the Stanford super regional.
After not expecting UF to even sniff OKC, I already consider this season a great year. That said, winnng the first game is soooo important. Obviously, it's almost impossible to make it through the entire loser's bracket. But, even more, the team that loses that first game and wins the 2nd would have to "flip" into the other side of the draw - with the prospect of facing Oklahoma before the championship series.
Oregon State can be very good at times. They won 3 out 4 from Tennessee and played UCLA tough loosing all 3 games by 1 run. Gators also very good at times particularly as of late.
Kudos to Northwestern softball team for getting to CWS. As a result of of Chicago weather they practice six months a year indoors and only play 13 home games in front of their fans.
yeah, if someone had told me there would be 1 SEC team going to OKC, we would have been my third or fourth pick. Happy to be wrong though, it does make the season a surprising success. And the draw isn’t bad to make a bit more noise. But even 2 and out, just getting there would be fine with me.
Agree....house money from this point on. Given the injuries and Echols not having a typical year this is a fantastic result.
The number of free passes we toss will determine how far we go at OKC IMHO. We wouldn't stand a chance against Oklahoma if we gifted them a baserunner each inning.
Oklahoma is the team to beat so there is that going on. I'm not sure any of the other 7 teams can beat the sooners twice, maybe UCLA, but I doubt it. I think Oklahoma is going to repeat. I agree with the person above, UF is playing with house money. Let's see how far that takes the Gators. I certainly didn't have this team in the WCWS after the way they played during the SEC season when they went 13-11. The freshmen ran into better pitchers and it took a while for them to adjust. Getting Hannah back and having Charla swinging the bat better than she did all season are huge plusses. Outside of Oklahoma, I think UF can compete with the other teams. Play fast, loose, and have fun, no pressure. That's the ticket for success. Oh, and don't walk too many batters.
Still feel Oklahoma has unfair advantage with games being played minutes from their campus and nearly all tickets purchased by Oklahoma fans. Even worse this year with Okie State being there too.
Better for Oklahoma and Okie State, sucks for the other six teams' fanbases and their teams. Coupled with the fact the Big12 tourney is played in the same park. Oklahoma gets every advantage except playing on their home field.
That is such a horesh*t call. The strap was not part of the batter. By that theory you can hang all kinds of crap off your batter now.