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Saturday, May 18, 2019

Softball Swings for the fences -- The Jeff McAdams fill-in column today -- Saturday Cardinal Couple

"Worldwide" Jeff McAdams with article today, in a swap with Case.  He'll have the Sunday write-up.  Let's hope the theme of winning stays the same.

Softball Swings for the Fences


NCAA opening rounds for Softball got underway, with the Cards visiting Evanston, IL with hosting 16 seed Northwestern.  The first matchup for the Cards was with Southern Illinois.  They're the Salukis, a breed of dog similar to a Greyhound.

The Cards got the scoring going early.  Sidney Melton got it started with a walk, and then of course stole second, because that's just what she does.  The throw to second was missed and the ball rolled out into the outfield, giving Melton enough time to pop up from her dive, and get the wheels spinning again to 3rd and slid between the catcher's legs to beat the throw at the plate for the first run.  Megan Hensley, Taylor Roby, and Rebecca Chung all got walks, and then a passed ball let Hensley slip home for the 2nd run.

In the 2nd inning, Celene Funke beat the throw for an infield single, and then, well, yeah, she stole
2nd as well (do you really need me to confirm that Melton or Funke stole 2nd when they get on 1st at this point?).  Then it was Melton's turn again.  Just between us friends, she never should have swung at this ball, it was high and tight, and probably would've been called a ball, but Sid chased it upstairs, and with an awkward swing, not only made contact, but got some power behind it and took it past the left field fence.  Funke and Melton both cross the plate on the shot making it 4-0.

The Salukis would get their bats unlimbered, though and score 2 in the 3rd inning, and 3 in the 4th to take the lead 5-4.

The Cards would answer that 5th run in the bottom of the 4th, though.  Maddy Newman got an infield hit, advanced to 2nd on Caitlin Ferguson's sacrifice bunt, and then reached the plate on Funke's single.  (OK, in the interest of fairness, Funke got caught out trying to steal 2nd to end the inning.)

While SIU was done scoring, the Cards weren't.  Hensley got her power going with a solo shot to left centerfield for her 13th of the season.  She leads the team, here.  Taylor Roby reached, then advanced when Rebecca Chung got hit by a pitch.  Erin Wilbur came in to fill in for Chung on the basepaths.  Roby and Wilbur both advanced on a Kyra Snyder groundout, and then came home for the 2nd and 3rd runs of the inning on a Maddy Newman double.

The Cards would add one more in the bottom of the 6th.  On two outs, Sid Melton got a single on a bunt, advanced to 2nd when Hensley got to take a stroll, they both would advance, and Taylor Roby reach first on a fielding error by the SIU shortstop.  Rebecca Chung got the final RBI with a single that brought Melton home.

The Cards will play hosting Northwestern in the 1-0 game of the double-elimination Regional.  SIU drops down to the elimination half of the bracket and will play Detroit Mercy who were on the losing side of the other first day game.

The schedule for the day is the 1-0 game between NU and UofL at 2 P.M.

Jeff McAdams

8 comments:

  1. So far so good with todays softball. ESPN3
    I am so grateful that UL softball does not make the players wear those stupid bows in their hair.
    Teams that make it a part of everyones uniform look ignorant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's interesting...I've paid a bit of attention to bow-wearing vs non-bow-wearing in Softball for a while. UofL, under both Pearsall, and now apparently under Aprile, seems to leave this up to individual players to decide. UofL's team used to be almost completely non-bow until Kelsi Jones transferred in (she always wore a very small one). Since then, there have been more on the team, but certainly not everyone.

      Delete
  2. Rain delay UL up 1-0 at bottom of 5th.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The bows are seriously part of some teams uniforms? That's ridiculous not to mention sexist. Why don't they just make them wear skirts too?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've never actually been able to confirm that, but there sure are some teams that are remarkably consistent across the whole team, if it's not.

      Delete
  4. With rain still in the Evanston area it looks like they won't continue until about 6 p.m. today.

    Top rain songs?


    Paulie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Purple Rain, I can't Stand the Rain

      Delete
  5. If you wanna see a rainbow, you gotta stand a little rain.

    Curtis "Cloudy" Franklin

    ReplyDelete

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