Softball vs #21 ASU (4 PM EST) Open thread + livestream
Should be a good one as Queen Romo I: Lady of the Seven Inningdoms, Sovereign of All Free Softballers, Conqueror of the Big Ten Conference, Slayer of the Spartans of the North, Tree Nuts of the South, Lions of the East, and Devils of the West and company go for their eighteenth straight victory.
be a very interesting game. Can Coach Hutch keep the hot bats going? Or can ASU pitching keep us in check?
Thanks for the link.
Susalla solo shot!
1-0 Michigan.
She is unstoppable right now.
Really glad to see her breaking out this year. She's shown flashes of this talent level over the last couple seasons, but wasn't able to crack the line-up on a regular basis. Now we're seeing her put it all together, and it's a pretty impressive thing. A huge boost to the heart of our order.
for Kelsey. Romo leads the team with 6 dingers, Kelsey with 5, Sweet and Taylor with 4.
today. She leads the team in complete games with 4 and has the best strike out to walk ratio.
2 solo bombs!
Sierra Lawrence with this one.
for a 2-0 lead.
Solo shot from Lawrence!
2-0 Michigan.
If she could play every game in Tempe she would have 100+ career homers by now.
now 2-1 M.
That is the 2nd HR given up by Haylie; Megan has 2 and Sara has 1.
with another walk - Hutch ain't messing around with that.
Betsa in for Wagner now with one on, no out in bottom 4th.
Betsa has gotten it done every time this year, but has also allowed a concerningly high number of walks.
wish she would have gone after them a little more.
Haylie was trying to paint the corners and got a little wild.
at least what I've seen the last two years.
Squeeze brings in another ASU run.
2-2.
streaming issues with this game?
perfect stream here.
downloaded the 'hook' app and clicked this http://pac-12.com/videos/arizona-state-university-2#
It's been fine for me for the last 20 min or so. Before that I was having some buffering pauses but nothing too bad.
basically worthless but I thought it was because Im overseas
Safety squeeze for ASU.
they're up in the bottom of the 5th with Betsa needing to hold us level against the heart of their order.
we get another shot at #1 florida next weekend, but I just checked the schedule and saw that we play first thing in the morning again versus this asu team, right. before the florida game. We will be Florida's first game of the day. I wonder how this decides our pitching. On the other hand I've seen this help teams offensively by getting the bats warmed up.
I don't think pitching is a concern in this situation--Wagner and Betsa seem to be pretty even. One will start against Florida and one against ASU. It doesn't matter too much which one starts which game, because they are so even.
Michigan doesn't really have a #1 yet, although I suspect Betsa will end up starting Fridays & Sundays in the conference season if she can improve her control. Right now, it really seems like Betsa has a higher upside although Wagner is more consistent.
driesenga had that one rough start against I forget who recently and it seems she's been in the dog house ever since
Michigan has 3 blowout wins this weekend, and we haven't seen Driesenga once. Either she is not able to play or she has lost the #3 spot to Freshman 1B/P Tera Blanco, who has 2 relief appearances this weekend.
Or they were such blow outs that blanco finally got a shot... but still, I fully expected driesenga to start at least one of those
leadoff walk erased on a slick double play started by Swearengen at 3rd.
This announcer keeps referring to runs as "points." No wonder he didn't make the varsity, lol.
Betsa walks the leadoff hitter but the defense turns a double play (god I love double plays in softball) and a fly out ends the inning.
Top 6th, tied 2-2, Romo due up.
romo on 2nd, sac bunt by blanco..... need to score her here
Bomb to right field, 4-2
nice!!!
is SWEEEEEEET
4-2 Michigan on a 2 run homer.
we must be leading the country in Homers after this weekend, and I'd argue possibly the toughest schedule so far
Susalla almost goes back-to-back as she continues to crush the ball. Falk strikeout ends the top half of the inning.
4-2 Michigan.
I can't figure out whether I like these commentators, or whether they annoy the hell out of me.
1 million times better than the clowns at alabama.. they were ridiculous
one of them calls runs "points" and I'm laughing at the idea that one of them is the "color commentator," as neither seems to know much about the game, but they seemed like nice guys.
finally woken. She was highly touted coming out of HS. She was considered the Johnny Bench of softball. Her Freshman and Sophomore years at teh plate were average.
Last year she had some good games but nothing like this year.
did you guys notice from mgoblue that ramirez kind of confirmed the reason for the fielding switch with romero? doesn't seem serious, but it is mentioned as injury - related.
Q: Tell us a little about flip-flopping with Sierra Romero between shortstop and second base.
A: In practice, we both practice both positions, because we never know when we might need someone. It's been working out better, because then there's no so much strain on Romo's arm. We work well together, whether she's at short and I'm at second or she's at second and I'm at short. We just feel like we click really well together. She helps me a lot; I help her. It works well.
but I question the validity of the injury. Abby is strong as SS, and Romo is subject to an error or two.
Romo had great range over there - just wondering if we lose anything there.
I think she planned to take the summer off to rest, not doing the junior team USA stuff, but she got called in to the senior team instead and wasn't going to miss that opportunity. Hopefully it's just normal wear / jadedness and not something that will eventually require surgery.
I saw her younger sister was on the junior team and will play for oklahoma next year. they didn't want to continue the sisterly tradition, I guess. but nemitz's sister is coming, right ?
Yes, Romo's sister is rated the #1 recruit in the country by at least one website that does that sort of thing. I would be more dissapointed about that if Michigan's 2016 class wasn't absolutely loaded in its own right. Mackenzie Nemitz is part of that, as is another in-state player Alex Sobczak, who is right up there with Chiddy as the best offensive player in the history of the state.
Wagner back in for Betsa.
Obviously hope that's not going to be an ongoing injury.
It is a deep staff though, so hopefully Tera and Sara can hold things down and Megan won't be rushed back.
was not pitching all that terrible. It just looked like she needed a break. I am not surprised Coach Hutch brought her back in.
I agree, I mean rushed back in the future if it's a nagging injury.
Is Betsa going to be ok? I wish this was like CFB where we get updates really quickly.