Miss. State @ SE Louisiana - SOFTBALL GAME THREAD - first pitch 5:00pm

[BulldogBear]

The 9-0 Bulldogs will make one more stop in Hammond, Louisiana before heading back home again, although they'll be back on the coast this upcoming weekend for a slate of four games in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Tournament at Gulfport.

So, the opponent tonight is SE Louisiana and is not particularly inspiring at first glance so I thought I'd look into it a little bit. The Lionesses are actually 9-1, the only loss being 9-1 affair against UT-Martin (8-2). Their schedule thus far:

Buffalo (1-4) - W8-4
Tennessee State (2-8) - W8-0
Southern Illinois (5-3) - W5-4
Tennessee-Martin (8-2) - L1-9
Tennessee State (2-8) - W5-2
Mississippi Valley State (1-9) - W6-3
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W9-7
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W10-1
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W10-5
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W9-1

SE Louisiana's opponents' total W-L record is 19-66. If you remove the loss, then their 9 victories are over opponents with a combined W-L record of just 11-64. If I take that further and remove SIU, then 8 of their 9 wins are over opponents with a combined W-L of a whopping 6-61. Suddenly, 9-1 is not too impressive, although someone has to lose each game and better to be on the upper end. I've not been one to always criticize the competition out of hand however, and I also believe that there is too much emphasis on SOS these days because there doesn't seem to be enough focus on the fact that those with high SOS should at least demonstrate some notion of success against it. A schedule loaded with a bunch of losses to top teams doesn't automatically mean you're any good! All that is to say, a team can only play its schedule and maybe some degree of scrutiny should eyeball how they do against their competition, even if not impressive. IOW, I'm not one who dismisses a 12-0 mid major football team averaging a 57-14 victory in their games and says that they suck because they haven't played anyone any good. Enough philosophy, what I'm really getting at is, let's take a look at whether or not SELa is dominating these opponents. They've outscored all opponents 71-35 (about a 7-4 per game average). In the 9 wins, they actually average an 8-3 victory...but of course that's against 11W-64L worth of opponents. So, how do we look in comparison?

6 wins is the best of any of our opponents. That's Houston (twice), South Alabama, and USM. The USA on the road is a pretty good win, but is made less so by their dropping a game to (4-5) Samford the same weekend. Our schedule:

Georgia Southern (5-5) - W6-0
Houston (6-4) - W9-1
Tennessee tech (3-6) - W7-4
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W2-1
Houston (6-4) - W7-1
South Alabama (6-3) - W4-2(8)
Southern Mississippi (6-5) - W6-0
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (3-6) - W7-4
Samford (4-5) - W5-2(8)

Does anyone else see the trend? USA accepted, we tend perform better against the better teams. Note that we beat AAMU 2-1, whilst tonight's opponent outscored them 38-14 (average 9-3 pg) thru four games. That doesn't mean much but it's interesting to note. The big difference is that our opponents' combined W-L record is 39-46 and our nine wins are by an average score of 6-2. This is a game we should win obviously and four our perception I'd a rather a team be 9-1 even if against some lesser competition early in the season. This seems to be one of those ones where the opponent doesn't seem to be a real threat as long as you take them seriously. I've no doubt our girls will, but it is the 5th game in another long weekend, so I'll be sweating it out a bit at first. Should have a lineup soon! Hail State!

[BulldogBear]

Katie Anne Bailey - C
Emily Heimberger - 2B
Kayla Winkfield - SS
Caroline Seitz - 3B
Morgan Bell - 1B
Mackenzie Toler - DP
Sarai Niu - RF
Loryn Nichols - LF
Amanda Ivy - CF

Regan Green - P

[BulldogBear]

We led off with 3 extra base hits. Doggies lead 2-0 in the top of the 1st with nobody out.

[BulldogBear]

A sac fly makes it 3-0

[BulldogBear]

A sac fly makes it 3-0

As it remains headed to B1

[BulldogBear]

Leadoff Lioness bunted for a single but later got thrown out attempting to steal 2B. Green then struck out the next two. 3-0 Bulldogs after 1 played.

[BulldogBear]

Nichols led off with a single and then stole 2B

[BulldogBear]

Ivy ground out but Nichols gets to 3B, 1 out

[BulldogBear]

Bailey F-7, Nichols tags for the score

Bulldogs lead 4-0

[BulldogBear]

Heimberger singles, then advances all the way to 3B on an error

[BulldogBear]

Winkfield F-8

Dogs leading 4-0, mid 2nd inning

[BulldogBear]

B2



F-8, 1 down

[BulldogBear]

Backwards K, 2 down

[BulldogBear]

Green record her 4th K of the game, ending the 2nd inning. Bulldogs carry a 4-0 lead into the 3rd. I'm about to go to class so I'll have to check out for a while.

[Really Clark?]

After 4 up 6-0. Freshman Niu hit another rocket that LF somehow tracked down. Still scored the run though. She looks to be a beast for us hitting in the future. If not this year.

[ScoobaDawg]

6-0 thanks to Sac fly's by Niu and Bailey.

Heading to the bottom of the 4th.
Green has 4k's on the night now.

[BulldogBear]

6-0 thanks to Sac fly's by Niu and Bailey.

Heading to the bottom of the 4th.
Green has 4k's on the night now.

Maybe it'll be a short game!

[ScoobaDawg]

8-0 3 outs away


SUMMARY, TOP OF 5TH
2 Runs, 2 Hits, 2 Errors, 1 Left on Base


P: T. BISHOP; B: C. ADAMS; K. ANNE BAILEY ON SECOND; 2 OUTS
Adams grounded out to 2b (0-1 K).
8-0


P: T. BISHOP; B: K. ANNE BAILEY; A. IVY ON SECOND; 2 OUTS
Bailey singled to shortstop, RBI, advanced to second on a fielding error by ss (3-2 BBSBF)
Ivy scored.
7-0


P: T. BISHOP; B: A. IVY; C. CARTER ON SECOND; 2 OUTS
Ivy doubled to left center, RBI (1-2 BKF)
Carter scored.


P: T. BISHOP; B: L. NICHOLS; C. CARTER ON SECOND; 1 OUT
Nichols lined out to ss (1-1 BK).


P: T. BISHOP; B: L. NICHOLS; C. CARTER ON FIRST; 1 OUT
Carter advanced to second on a fielding error by c.


P: T. BISHOP; B: L. NICHOLS; S. NIU ON FIRST; 1 OUT
Carter pinch ran for Niu.


P: T. BISHOP; B: S. NIU; O. GOLDEN ON FIRST
Niu reached on a fielder's choice (0-1 F)
Golden out at second ss to 2b.


P: T. BISHOP; B: O. GOLDEN

[BulldogBear]

If we hold 'em here, it's over!

[ScoobaDawg]

GAME

SUMMARY, BOTTOM OF 5TH
0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors, 0 Left on Base
P: R. GREEN; B: A. GUTIERREZ; 2 OUTS
Gutierrez, A grounded out to ss (2-2 FFFBFB).
P: R. GREEN; B: W. SULLIVAN; 1 OUT
Sullivan, W. flied out to cf (0-0).
P: R. GREEN; B: T. ESTAIN
Estain, T. grounded out to p (0-0).