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It’s truly the Elite Eight, with Oregon top seed and Oklahoma the back-to-back national champion
By Arnie Leshin
After a weekend of tight nervous games, some coming on home field advantage final at–bats, some in extra innings, some on dazzling defense and others on quality pitching, the Women’s Division I Softball Championships will play next at the World Series in Oklahoma City.
Usually, there’s been heavy rain mixed with other nasty weather that would force Sunday games, sometimes Monday games. But despite the daily rain in Gainesville and Tallahassee, Florida and Florida State survived despite being on the brink of elimination, and with lengthy delays.
Play starts Thursday at noon after top-seed Oregon (51-7) shook off the challenge of the game one 9-6 loss to 16th seed Kentucky, by winning the next two and now face 8th seeded Arizona State (46-9) in a scheduled noon start.
Next comes two-time defending champion Oklahoma (55-3), the 4th seed that had no problem disposing of 13th seeded Arkansas (39-16) twice with strong hurling, and it will now meet up with 5th seeded Washington (48-8) in game two Thursday. The Huskies gained the Elite Eight by twice defeating 12th seeded Alabama.
Then comes the clash of Southeastern Conference rivals Florida and Georgia, the No. 2 and No. 7 seeds, respectively. The Gators (53-9) were in danger of being ousted when they scored three runs in their last at-bat on three walks and back-to-ball errors to win 5-4. That was game one.
In game two, the visiting 15th seeded Aggies (40-17) got even by also scoring a 5-4 victory. But again with a chance to upset Florida, A & M led 3-2 in the seventh when Gator freshman Jordan Matthews connected on a 1-2 pitch for a walk-off three-run home run and again the Aggies blew it.
As for Georgia, it turned in back-to-backs wins against 10th seeded Tennessee, but the 4-3 and 2-1final scores could have gone either way. Key hits in the late innings put the Bulldogs on top, but the big one came off the bat of senior Cortni Emanuel, with her game-winning home run in the top of the eighth on a 0-2 changeup sending Georgia (47-10) to Oklahoma City.
In the opening day finale, it is 3rd seeded UCLA, which has won the most national titles, 12, had no trouble disposing of 14th seeded Arizona, 7-1, in the Pac-12 match-up, but it became a struggle in game two before the Bruins (55-5) squeaked by 3-2, and the Wildcats concluded at 40-15.
It was three tough tests for FSU, the 6th seed. The Seminoles (46-13) had to go some after dropping the 6-5 game one. Next they edged the visitors, 6-5, and in game three, pulled out a 5-3 triumph.
Notice that all eight top seeds advanced. Notice that every home team won. Some came close to being eliminated, but home field advantage paid dividends.
How close were these games? Well, Florida outscored A & M, 14-12, Florida State outscored LSU, 14-12, and Georgia got past the Volunteers by a single run each time.
Then there was Oregon losing game one, 9-3, to Kentucky and UCLA coming close to a game three versus Arizona. But no upsets. The eight survivors are all capable of winning it all. Last year, Oklahoma won its second national title in a row and has now four times.
It’s a long road to Oklahoma City for everybody but the Sooners. They hosted the Regional and Super Regional, never had to leave the state, and now have only a short ride to Oklahoma City.
It’s anybody’s guess as to who comes away as the winner, but Oklahoma has two straight years of the experience, has a well-balanced lineup led by freshman Jocelyn Alo, whose 27 home runs are the most in the nation.
The Sooners also boast of senior southpaws Paige Parker and Paige Lowery in the circle, as well as being adept in the field and on the bases. But there’s also seven other schools in quest of the same championship trophy.
At least the teams that advanced have Sunday off. Monday, too. Play resumes Thursday and an expected capacity crowd will be at the Hall of Fame Ballpark.
