Daily Dozen: Friday, April 29
Top Stories1. Wichita State hitters rewrite the record books. Their program’s record book. The NCAA’s record book. East Carolina’s record book. For all we know, the Guinness World Records. Let’s start with the second inning. Wichita State batters hit seven home runs in that 13-run inning at East Carolina, shattering the previous NCAA single-inning record of five. The Shockers finished with 10 total home runs in the 24-1 victory. That is good enough to tie BYU (2008) and UTSA (2004) for the second-best total in a game, trailing only Oklahoma’s 13 home runs against UTEP a season ago. We’re not done. Addison Barnard hit three of her team’s home runs, extending her nation-leading total to 29 this season. Only 13 players in Division I history have reached 30 home runs in a season, and Barnard has plenty of time left. She also drove in seven runs, giving her 74 this season and a double-digit lead on the rest of the nation. Zoe Jones and Lauren Mills hit two home runs each. We’re still not done. With one of Wichita State’s few hits that stayed in the park, Sydney McKinney, who is second in the nation in batting average, broke the school’s career hits record.
Meanwhile, listen to Addison Barnard’s visit with the D1Softball Podcast.
2. Oklahoma State gets Miranda Elish back, but Florida State’s Chloe Culp steals the show. Culp might not have wanted you to read her lips too closely, but she could hardly have put it better. The sophomore’s sixth hit of the season was a pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, which replays showed she celebrated with an exhortation that surprised even her. That propelled No. 3 Florida State to a 2-1 victory to sweep the two-game set against No. 6 Oklahoma State. It also foiled a strong pitching effort from Oklahoma State’s Morgan Day, the Illinois State transfer who has been pressed into an even greater role with Miranda Elish out of action with a biceps injury. Elish was back in the lineup Friday, collecting a single in her final at-bat, but there are few indications she will resume pitching in at least the short term. FSU may be officially out of the ACC title race, but the two-game sweep against the Cowgirls provides further insurance that the only postseason road trip will be a potential trip to Oklahoma City.
And just because you need some Josie Muffley defense in your life.
3. A very Plain Huskey win. Washingtin’s Gabbie Plain and Madison Huskey came to play. After watching Stanford take the series from the top two teams in Pac-12 the past few weeks, Washington jumped out on top early. Huskey kept her hot bat, hitting a two-run blast off Alana Vawter in the first inning. She homered again in the fifth. Even though Kelley Lynch drove in a pair as well, Plain really only needed Huskey’s first-inning homer. The conference’s reigning pitcher of the week struck out seven in a shutout. She found trouble in the second inning, but used one of those strikeouts to leave the bases loaded. For the final five innings, Stanford only managed two more baserunners. Plain has now thrown 21.1 consecutive scoreless innings the past four appearances.
4. Florida gets run-ruled again and LSU’s offense roars again. For the second straight week, the Gators were run-ruled. This time, LSU took advantage of Florida’s pitching. Elizabeth Hightower allowed three straight hits in the first. Taylor Pleasants doubled in the first run and Allie Newland brought in two with a clutch two-out single. Pleasants later homered as well. Georgia Clark and Shelbi Sunseri both had three hits. All 11 Tigers who registered at-bats collected at least one of the team’s 17 hits. On the other side, Florida had no answers for Ali Kilponen. The Gators only netted one unearned run in the 9-1 loss and had two hits all together. Florida also now sits 11-11 in SEC play this season.
5. Megan Faraimo goes the distance. It was another low scoring affair in the Bruins’ 1-0 victory over visiting Utah. Seneca Curo’s two-out single to right field in the second inning was all UCLA needed to pick up the Friday night win at Easton Stadium. Faraimo pitched a two-hit shutout, notching her 17th win of the season. The Bruins remain tied with ASU atop the Pac-12 standings, as the Sun Devils defeated Cal 9-3 in Tempe. Both teams enter Saturday with 14-2 conference records. Speaking of records, Delanie Wisz’s 33-game reached-base streak ended when she popped up in her third and final at-bat of the day.
6. South Dakota State’s Tori Kniesche makes pitching history. Kniesche struck out 20 batters in a no-hitter against Summit League newcomer St. Thomas. Both accomplishments will find their way into the South Dakota State record book – the strikeouts set a program record and the no-hitter was Kniesche’s first of the seven-inning variety. But cast the net wider than Brookings, South Dakota. The NCAA record book lists just 12 instances of a pitcher striking out 20 batters in a seven-inning game. UMBC’s Courtney Coppersmith added another earlier this season. But of those, only Monica Abbott, Coppersmith, Michele Ganger, Alicia Hollowell and Hope Trautwein did it while throwing a no-hitter or perfect game. That’s good company.
7. Bottom of the order shines for Auburn and Georgia. It was a good night for hitters lower in the lineup at Jane B. Moore Field. Carlee McCondichie ended an early pitching duel with a three-run home run in the fifth inning to help lead No. 19 Auburn to a 6-3 win over No. 16 Georgia. The first five runs of the series opener – and six overall – were produced by the eighth and ninth hitters in each lineup. Ellie Armistead, batting ninth for UGA, hit a home run to give the Dawgs a 1-0 lead in the third inning. It was her third straight game with a homer. Sydney Cox, batting in the eighth spot for Auburn, answered in the bottom half with a deep shot to center field. Those were the only runs surrendered by Auburn’s Maddie Penta and UGA’s Madison Kerpics until McCondichie, who bats ninth in the order, broke open the game for the Tigers in the fifth with her home run. A few minutes before her big blast, emergency alerts went off on everyone’s cell phone in the stadium simultaneously, creating a palpable buzz. Mackenzie Puckett, the No. 8 hitter in the UGA lineup, added a home run in the seventh inning. All three runs allowed by Penta were solo home runs. The sophomore gave up six hits overall while striking out seven, including the last two batters of the game.
8. Rochard pushes Hokies to brink of clinching. Susannah Anderson threw a quality game for Boston College. On most days, her effort should have been enough for the Eagles. But BC was facing Virginia Tech ace Keely Rochard, and she was dealing as usual. With her rise and drop ball fooling batters equally, Rochard finished with 15 strikeouts to push the No. 2 Hokies to the brink of clinching the ACC regular-season title with a 3-0 win in the series opener. Virginia Tech (37-6, 19-2) needs just one more win against the Eagles to secure the crown. Anderson largely kept pace with Rochard by limiting Virginia Tech to just two runs through five innings. BC loaded the bases in the sixth inning after leading off with two bunt singles, but Rochard escaped the jam with a strikeout. Catcher Mackenzie Lawter gave her pitcher more insurance in the seventh inning with a home run. Rochard gave up four hits and only one walk in 97 pitches. Anderson allowed one earned run on seven hits while striking out three and walking five. Rochard’s double-digit strikeout game was her 14th of the season.
9. Minnesota wins the must-win at No. 22 Michigan. Minnesota hadn’t beaten Michigan in Ann Arbor since Sara Moulton and Sara Groenewegen were pitching back in 2014. But Friday’s 3-2 victory came with significant stakes for a team fighting the bubble on two fronts — the Gophers trying to both stay above .500 and boost their resume for at-large consideration. Not surprisingly, Natalie DenHartog delivered the big hit. The program’s all-time home run leader hit a three-run home run in the third inning for all of her team’s runs in the game. Slightly more surprisingly, those were enough runs because Emily Leavitt and Autumn Pease teamed up to three-hit the Wolverines. Minnesota entered the series 13th out of 14 teams in the Big Ten with a 4.98 ERA. With the win, Piper Ritter’s team climbs to two games above .500 and adds its third win this season against an RPI Top-25 opponent.
10. Jordy Bahl is the first freshman to 20 wins this season. The winning streak is over (although a new one stands at five). It’s Addison Barnard and Wichita State putting up video game numbers. For now, Oklahoma is almost quietly rolling along at No. 1. Which may be just fine with them, given the spotlight that awaits in Bedlam and then the postseason. It was more business as usual in Friday’s 7-0 victory at Kansas. But that shouldn’t make us immune to the freshman season Bahl is putting together. She reached 20 wins Friday with a two-hit shutout that lowered her ERA to 0.92. She’s one of only two pitchers in the country, in any class, with 20 wins and an ERA under 1.00, joining USF’s Georgina Corrick.
11. The Sun Belt can’t seem to figure out Jessica Mullins. Texas State didn’t get off to the best start this season, but the Bobcats have now won 10 straight after beating Troy 5-1 on Friday. The streak has a lot to do with their ace Jessica Mullins. After winning the conference’s pitcher of the week the past two weeks, the sophomore clearly wanted it again. Mullins recorded every out, striking out nine and only allowing two hits. She’s now dropped her ERA to 1.87 after it being at 2.83 in early March.
12. Payton Gottshall knew exactly who she was chasing in the record books. Herself. The Bowling Green redshirt sophomore ace broke her own single-season record for strikeouts with her first two on Friday against Ball State. Gottshall finished the game with 11 strikeouts in 9.0 innings as Bowling Green defeated Ball State 2-1. Gottshall has 292 strikeouts and counting this season. She entered the day ranked second in the country in total strikeouts. She’ll have another few seasons to try and break the program’s strikeout record again and again.
Bonus: Weber State swept a doubleheader from Sacramento State in a clash between the top two teams in the Big Sky entering the weekend. Now 11-1 in the league, the team from Ogden, Utah, could potentially clinch the regular season title as early as Saturday. They also host the conference tournament, so you may well be seeing more of them in weeks to come. But while we tip our caps to the impressive Wildcats, we really just want to marvel at this catch by centerfielder Mia Rushton.