D 3 softball

WLCALUM83 · April 15, 2022, 09:06:55 PM

4/15/22 Finals:

Berry sweeps BSC 4-3, 8-4. (Game 1: Vikings scored go-ahead run in 6th; Game 2; They put up a 5th inning 6-spot to do the double.)
4/14-15: Hendrix split with Millsaps 2-3 and 2-1. (Majors up 4-2 in 5th of deciding game at the moment
Centre 6, Sewanee 0 (Centre still has a chance to escape the SAA cellar.)

With those results, another Berry win tomorrow clinches the top seed for the conference tournament.
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Centre can leave the cellar with a sweep tomorrow. If Sewanee wins tomorrow's first game, it'll come down to a "night-cap winner move-up" scenario.

WLCALUM83 · April 18, 2022, 05:14:17 PM

SAA Tournament Schedule:

BSC Pod:
4/22: #2 BSC/#7 Centre
#3 Millsaps/#6 Sewanee

4/23: Winners of 4/22 games
Losers of 4/22 games
Game 4 Winner/Game 3 Loser

4/24 Game 3 Winner/Game 5 Winner
If winner of Game 4 is still alive, another game.

Berry Pod:
4/22: Hendrix/Rhodes
Berry/Game 1 Winner

4/23: Loser Game 1/Loser Game 2
Winner Game 2/Winner Game 3

4/24: Deciding final if a one-loss squad is still alive.

WLCALUM83 · April 18, 2022, 05:59:12 PM

SAA Underdog squad to watch: Hendrix (was picked 6th, finished 4th).

Stats in which a team/player other than BSC or Berry led the conference:

Team: National Rank: Stat: Total:

Hendrix 3 Doubles 72
Hendrix 1 Sacrifice Bunts 37
Millsaps 9 Total Stolen Bases 90
Hendrix 12 Total Stolen Bases 81
(BSC 13 Total Stolen Bases 78)

Player: Conf Rank Stat. Total

Molli Perry, Millsaps 1 BA .433
Perry 1 (6th Ntl) Hits 52
Perry 1 (2nd Ntl) SB 41
Kinsey Bryant, Hendrix 1 (20 Ntl) Doubles 13

Millsap's Cassidy Thrash is 4th in the conference in ERA (2.13). While the numbers indicate BSC and Berry have the advantage in most categories, if Millsaps or Hendrix get enough runners on, either one of those squads could keep things interesting, more so if they get to BSC/Berry pitchers early in games.

WLCALUM83 · April 19, 2022, 09:43:45 PM

With the top 8 teams getting in, at this point it appears that Randolph-Macon, Bridgewater, Lynchburg and VA Wesleyan have clinched playoff spots. Ferrum and Roanoke are in great shape to get in. (Shenandoah could still tie Roanoke, but Roanoke owns the head to head tie-breaker). Randolph needs to sweep its' last in-conference DH and hope Eastern Mennonite gets swept. Only Guilford has been eliminated.

WLCALUM83 · April 22, 2022, 04:07:18 PM

4/22/22 Berry Pod results:

Game 1: Hendrix 3, Rhodes 0 (Andie Houser, Grace Bryant and Abbie Lee with the RBIs in the opener--Skyler Teague tossed a 3 hit-complete game.)

Game 2: Berry 5, Hendrix 0 (Vikings' Blair Hall's material was so good today that no Warrior reached base in this game. Berry erupted for 4 runs in the 5th inning to break this one open.) Berry's press release indicates that Hall's perfect game is the first in program history.

4/23 Schedule:

Game 3: Hendrix/Rhodes (loser eliminated.)
Game 4: Berry/Game 3 winner

A Berry Game 4 win gives the Vikings the pod. A Berry loss forces a deciding game 4/24.

BSC Pod:

Game 1 Final: BSC 8, Centre 0 5 innings (BSC put up a 6-spot in the 3rd, highlighted by an Izzy Berkopec 3-RBI triple; Caroline Campbell hurled a 4-hit shutout.

Game 2 Sewanee is up 1-0 on Millsaps in the 4th inning at the moment. Developing. . .

WLCALUM83 · April 22, 2022, 04:57:08 PM

BSC Pod Game 2 has now gone final: Millsaps 3, Sewanee 2 (Majors scored winning run on a fielding error in the bottom of the 7th.

4/23 BSC Pod schedule:
Game 3: BSC/Millsaps
Game 4: Centre/Sewanee (elimination)
Game 5: Game 4 winner/Game 3 loser

4/24:
Game 6: Centre/Sewanee winner vs. BSC/Milsaps winner
Game 7: necessary only if Centre/Sewanee winner is still alive.

WLCALUM83 · April 23, 2022, 05:39:40 PM

4/23 Finals:

BSC Pod:
Game 3: BSC 2, Millsaps 0, (Hailee Bryan outpitched Cassidy Thrash, and BSC plated single runs in the 3rd and the 6th to hand the Majors a loss).

Game 4: Centre 4, Sewanee 0 (Centre used a 3-run 5th to break this one open and eliminate Sewanee).

Game 5: Millsaps vs. Centre -elimination game.
(UPDATE: Final: Majors eliminate Centre 5-4 with a 6th inning 4-spot)
Millsaps needs 2 wins over BSC to take the pod.

Berry Pod:
Game 3: Hendrix 8, Rhodes 1, (Rhodes eliminated).
Game 4: Berry 12, Hendrix 0 (Hendrix eliminated).
Berry takes this pod.

WLCALUM83 · April 23, 2022, 06:06:51 PM

Quote from: WLCALUM83 on April 19, 2022, 09:43:45 PM
With the top 8 teams getting in, at this point it appears that Randolph-Macon, Bridgewater, Lynchburg and VA Wesleyan have clinched playoff spots. Ferrum and Roanoke are in great shape to get in. (Shenandoah could still tie Roanoke, but Roanoke owns the head to head tie-breaker). Randolph needs to sweep its' last in-conference DH and hope Eastern Mennonite gets swept. Only Guilford has been eliminated.

4/23 Results: Roanoke did sweep Eastern Mennonite 6-5 and 2-0, but Ferrum knocked off Randolph 7-6 in Game 1 of their doubleheader.

Randolph-Macon, Lynchburg, VA Wesleyan, Roanoke, Bridgewater, Ferrum, Shenandoah and Eastern Mennonite are all in the ODAC Conference Tournament. (Randolph could still tie EMU with a win over Ferrum in Game 2, but EMU swept Randolph head to head.)

VA Wesleyan is the 3 seed, having swept Roanoke head to head. Randolph-Macon/Lynchburg and Bridgewater/Ferrum both split head to head. Still a bit of sorting out here, but all entrants appear to be determined.

UPDATE: Lynchburg and Randolph-Macon are the #1 & #2 seeds, respectively. #5 Bridgewater had the tie-breaker advantage over #6 Ferrum.

4/29: #8 Eastern Mennonite/#1 Lynchburg
#5 Bridgewater/#4 Roanoke
#6 Ferrum/#3 VA Wesleyan
#7 Shenandoah /#2 Randolph-Macon

Underdog squad to watch---Ferrum (picked 8th, finished 6th);

On paper, this figures to be a tournament that any one of 4 squads could take. Psychologically, defending national champ VA Wes will want to make a statement and get far enough to be in a position to repeat.

Team: Nat'l/Conf. Rank: Category No.

VA Wesleyan 7, 1 BB 122
" 8, 1 Triples 16
Roanoke 25, 2 " 13
VA Wesleyan 3, 1 Stolen Bases 115
3 ranked squads/
Bridgewater Total Runs 202-230
Randolph-Macon 8, 1 Shutouts 11
VA Wesleyan 20, 2 " 9
Roanoke 28, 3 " 8
3 ranked squads 1-3 ERA 1.80-2.49

Individual: Rank (Nat'l/Conf) Cateogry No.

Shanan Hester, Roanoke 1 BA .462
Jada Karnes, Roanoke 9. 1 Complete Games 17
Gracie Ellis, Randolph Macon 20, 2 " 15
Lyndsey Sears. Ferrum 47, 3 " 12*
Gracie Ellis, Randolph Macon 34, 1 ERA 1.22
4 ODAC In-Tourney Players 14 & 28/,1-2 Doubles 14, 13
Sarah Wimar, Bridgewater 6, 1 HR 11
Rilee Baughan, Randolph-Macon 13, 2 " 10
Sierra Lantz, Eastern Mennonite 19, 9 " 9

*-for comparison's sake, VA Wes's starting pitchers Emily Seale and Lauren Bible both tossed 7 complete games.

UPDATE: Lynchburg broke into the Top 25 (#24) in the 4/26 NFCA D3 Coaches' Poll, which makes things a bit more interesting.

Figures to be evenly matched. Will anyone pull off a surprise and sneak up while the top squads knock each other out?

$:-\$ $:-\$

WLCALUM83 · April 23, 2022, 09:38:26 PM

USA South Tournament Pairings:

East Division: Pfeiffer gets a bye:
4/26: #5 NC Wes/#4 Methodist (play-in) winner gets Piedmont 4/28
4/28: #3 E Wm Peace/#2 W Huntingdon

West Division: Piedmont gets a bye:
4/25: #5 Wesleyan-GA/#4 Maryville-TN (play-in) winner gets Pfeiffer 4/28.
4/28: #2 E Greensboro/#3 W Covenant

Underdog squad to watch: Methodist (was picked 7th in East, finished 4th)

How the numbers stack up: (through games of 4/21/22:) (Mostly citing squads other than div. leaders)

Team: Rank: Category:

Pfeiffer 1 (N'atl) Walks (159)
NC Wes 3 (Conf) Triples ( 11)
Piedmont 7 (N'atl Stolen Bases (98
Maryville-TN 17 (N'atl) " (79)
Huntingdon 11 (N'atl) Shutouts (10)
Wm Peace 4 (N'atl) Hits (345)
Covenant 13 (N'atl) Fielding Pct. (.972)

Individual: Rank: Category:

Lauren Conway, Wm Peace 3 (Conf.) BA (.472)
Katherine Murphy. Wm Peace 6 (Nat'l) CG's (6)
Cheyanne Cox, Greensboro 1 (Conf.) ERA (1.40)
" " 1 (N'atl) Shutouts (8)
Sarah Koonce, Maryville-TN 4 (Nat'l) HBP (11 times)
Kassie Siimmons, Greensboro 6 (Nat'l) HR (11)
" " 8 (Nat'l) RBI (42)
Rebekah Stegmayer, Piedmont 5 (Nat'l) SB (33)
Bailey Murphy-Huntingdon 1 (Nat'l) Toughest to SO (Hasn't yet)

Piedmont has bounced back nicely after having a tough go of it at the NFCA Leadoff Classic. Wm. Peace may have more of the team-wide pop in the bat, but Piedmont's 1-2 pitching punch of Maloch/McBrayer are not to be overlooked.

4/26 UPDATE: Piedmont and Pfeiffer both just broke into the NFCA D3 Top 25 Coaches' Poll released earlier today (#20 and #24, respectively.)

WLCALUM83 · April 24, 2022, 02:49:10 PM

BSC Pod Final:

BSC 8. Millsaps 1 (Majors eliminated)

It'll be BSC/Berry for the SAA AQ.

WLCALUM83 · April 24, 2022, 07:58:15 PM

Region 10: Northwest Conference.

Per Linfield's schedule, it appears that the Oregon squad has already clinched the NWC's AQ for the NCAA Tournament.

justafan12 · April 25, 2022, 09:15:01 AM

Quote from: WLCALUM83 on April 24, 2022, 07:58:15 PM
Region 10: Northwest Conference.

Per Linfield's schedule, it appears that the Oregon squad has already clinched the NWC's AQ for the NCAA Tournament.

So no conference tournament for the NWC? I like that.

Caz Bombers · April 25, 2022, 10:28:45 AM

Quote from: justafan12 on April 25, 2022, 09:15:01 AM
Quote from: WLCALUM83 on April 24, 2022, 07:58:15 PM
Region 10: Northwest Conference.

Per Linfield's schedule, it appears that the Oregon squad has already clinched the NWC's AQ for the NCAA Tournament.

So no conference tournament for the NWC? I like that.

the tournament was this past weekend. Linfield walked off PLU in extras in yesterday's title game.

https://nwcsports.com/news/2022/4/24/general-linfield-crowned-northwest-conference-softball-tournament-champions-earns-aq-into-ncaa-tournament.aspx

justafan12 · April 25, 2022, 01:08:58 PM

Sorry, just assumed that was the regular season ending given the date.

So per the link, D3 regionals start play May 13. That means Linfield will not play a true game for 18 days. I would think at least George Fox would make the NCAA tournament as well so same for them. That is a long time to keep a team "game ready." Coach Vaughan has been there a long time so if anyone can do it I would pick him.

justafan12 · April 26, 2022, 01:28:13 PM

Random regional thoughts:

You got the Texas teams on an island again; TLU, ETBU and looks like UMHB could get in this year. Who gets brought in to make this a 4 team regional or do additional teams come to Texas giving both TLU and ETBU a regional as they did last year?

If its one regional in Texas; I don't see Belhaven coming to Texas. That would put 3 teams from the ASC in one regional and out of the kindness of their heart the NCAA says they want to avoid conferences teams facing each other in the first round. Birmingham Southern would be the likely choice if only one regional in Texas.

Belhaven does not have lights so not sure they are an option to host unless they use another facility. You could put Belhaven, Berry and BSU along with a team from the ODAC and have a 4 team regional.

Linfield should get to host in the north west. Their conference should get another team in along with one team from the California conference. Someone needs to travel to Oregon for a 4 team regional.