SB loses to #4 Florida & #25 USF

Submitted by MGoSoftball on

The SB Team continues their tourney in Tampa today.  The Team lost to Floriday 2-1 in 10 Innings.  Megan Betsa get the loss by pitching all 10 innings.  She finished with 6 hits, 12 Ks and 6 BB.

Kelly Christner had 2 hits, while Aidan Falk (RBI) and Courtney Richardson each had 1 hit.

Overall it was a hard-fought game that could have went either way.  Florida scored was able to score in the 10th with a single to CF.  We SAC Monte over to 3B with 1 out.  However, we just could not come up with the key hit in the 10th.

 

In the 2nd game today, Team 40 dropped a duece against #25 USF 6-4.  Tera Blanco was the starting and losing pitcher.  She gave up 6 runs (4 ER) on 9 hits.  She struck out 2 and walked 2.  

Kelly Christner went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored and a BB.  Abby Ramirez went 1 for 4 with a run scored.

MGoBoard
Other

Wolverine Devotee

February 11th, 2017 at 6:21 PM ^

I hate the international tiebreaker rule. For those who don't know, it's used after the 7th inning in extras during early season tournament games. A runner starts at 2nd at the start of each inning.

Joined: 06/29/2009

MGoPoints: 31528

1975Blue

February 11th, 2017 at 6:39 PM ^

I'm neutral on the rule, perhaps it would be better to put a runner at first, but then they would probably try to bunt the runner to second.  Think hockey shootout rule, or college football placing the ball on the 25 yd line in OT.  Better to lose 2-1 in 10 innings than in 20 innings.  

Joined: 03/29/2015

MGoPoints: 622

M Ascending

February 11th, 2017 at 6:59 PM ^

While I don't like the rule theoretically, imagine if Betsa had to pitch 15 innings the second day the season, and the team has to come out just 2 hours later to play another ranked team, which was the case today in #25 USF.

Joined: 09/14/2016

MGoPoints: 21355

UNCWolverine

February 11th, 2017 at 8:10 PM ^

man Florida has really had our number the last few years. I feel like half our losses have been to that team, saw one of them in Fullerton two seasons ago. let's get them back on the gridiron this fall...

Joined: 10/06/2008

MGoPoints: 23205

DowntownLJB

February 11th, 2017 at 8:42 PM ^

Blanco struggling in the 6th inning of the game against USF.  M down 6-4 after a 2 run home run and now an error by Monte with the bases loaded brings in 2 more.

Joined: 10/10/2012

MGoPoints: 2261

ಠ_ಠ

February 11th, 2017 at 9:23 PM ^

Welp. It's an inexperienced lineup on opening weekend. Hitting should improve, though I doubt it'll be as good as the past two seasons. Betsa is as good as ever. Blanco is capable, but will have to be more consistent as the #2 option for this team to continue at the level we've seen in recent years.

Joined: 09/23/2010

MGoPoints: 3467

South Bend Wolverine

February 11th, 2017 at 10:12 PM ^

It's a long season and UF & USF are both solid teams, but man, what a rough day.  On the positive side, Betsa absolutely demonstrated in her 1st two appearances that she is ready to play at an elite level.  15 Ks yesterday & 12 more today, holding UF to just one run through 7 regular innings and two bonus-difficulty innings before finally ceding a 2nd.

On the down side, we saw the two weaknesses ruthlessly exposed today as well.  Florida's always-dominant pitching was able to make way too easy work out of an inexperienced line-up, and against USF the lack of an elite #2 pitcher was evident.

I'm not writing off either Blanco or the offense yet - very, very far from it.  These are highly recruited athletes with the best coaching staff in the nation.  Today demonstrated that there's a lot of room left to grow, though.  Fortunately we've got a few navigable games coming up to get in a rhythm before facing elite competition again.

Joined: 09/11/2009

MGoPoints: 7918

snowcrash

February 12th, 2017 at 12:15 AM ^

Last season she struck out 29 batters in 29.1 innings and allowed just 1 HR. Her only problem was that she threw 17 walks. Basically she was a poor man's Betsa. If she could just replicate that on a larger scale, she'll be a decent #2 pitcher.

But today she wasn't close to that. She struck out just 2 batters and allowed 2 HR. If she doesn't return to form things could get dicey.

Joined: 07/22/2008

MGoPoints: 6620

South Bend Wolverine

February 12th, 2017 at 12:30 AM ^

Also worth noting that those 29 innings last season were not, by and large, against elite competition.  She threw 5 against Florida early on and got roasted.  After that, only saw spot duty in games that weren't in any serious doubt.  We'll have to see what she does against other top-25 type teams to get a better picture.  Rough start, but she'll have plenty of chances to make up for it.

Joined: 09/11/2009

MGoPoints: 7918

DaveHuck

February 11th, 2017 at 11:20 PM ^

1st game was close and loss to a very highly ranked team. Good game that lasted to 3 extra innings. I was fine with the international play rule (I have coached games that went that route before and it really does speed up play). Betsa had troubles early, but locked down the latter innings. Major problem was stringing hits together. Betsa was a beast that will carry us far. Tough loss in Game #2. We do need a second quality pitcher to get us through tournaments and doubleheaders. In the second game, hitting again proved to be a problem. We were able to string a few more hits together, but couldn't come up in the clutch. Blanco had more problems keeping the ball in the yard. Two games she has given up big HRs and extra base hits that have hurt her. Hopefully, she will be able to work on those issues. Otherwise, Crockett may see some action in the future.

Joined: 10/04/2015

MGoPoints: 2259