Daily Dozen: Saturday, April 9
Top Stories1. Hokies series clincher filled with wild, historical scoring sprees. Viewers may have turned to another game once Virginia Tech took an 11-0 lead over Florida State in the 3rd inning. But they would have scrambled back once they checked the score in the 4th. Rather than being run-ruled, the Seminoles mounted a major comeback. FSU scored nine runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by a grand slam from Kalei Harding and a three-run home run from Mack Leonard. But by the end, the Hokies pulled away again to clinch the series in emphatic fashion with a 23-9 win at JoAnne Graf Field. The 23 runs allowed by Florida State were the most in program history, exceeding the 17 allowed against Michigan in 2014. The Hokies set their program for most runs scored, bettering the mark of 22 against Morgan State, which coincidentally also happened in 2014. Virginia Tech cycled through three pitchers in the fourth inning, with Ivy Rosenberry relieving starter Emma Lemley and Keely Rochard replacing Rosenberry after only three batters. After giving up Leonard’s home run, Rochard kept FSU scoreless for the remainder of the game while the Hokies put up a 10-spot in the seventh inning. Virginia Tech had three players with four RBIs (Cameron Fagan, Kelsey Bennett, Meredith Slaw) and finished with 21 hits overall. Rochard pitched all nine innings in the opener and added 4.0 in relief in the clincher. But there is always a chance to see a rematch between Rochard and Kathryn Sandercock as the Hokies go for the sweep on Sunday. Rochard has received more rest than usual this season thanks to a deeper Hokie staff. FSU used four pitchers to try and stop the flood of scoring, but Sandercock was not among them.
2. Stanford ends UCLA’s 25-game winning streak. Much like Friday, the Cardinal and Bruin pitchers put on a show. Holly Azevedo continued to do what she’s done all season, throwing six scoreless innings. But Tatum Boyd, who threw 1.2 hitless frames as an opener, and Regan Krause were better. Despite only having two hits the entire game, UCLA threatened in the third after reaching on an error and earning a walk. Krause responded by striking out Bri Perez and Savi Pola. However, a walk to Delanie Wisz loaded the bases for Maya Brady. Krause won the battle striking her out as well to keep the game scoreless. It remained that way until the bottom of the seventh. Kaitlyn Lim led off with a walk and stole second. Emily Young then found a hole up the middle to bring her home and Stanford a 1-0 win against the Bruins.
3. Arizona State becomes the last unbeaten in Pac-12 play. For 3.2 innings, it sure looked like the Sun Devils were also going to lose their first Pac-12 game this season. Stevie Hansen had held Arizona State’s lineup hitless and poor defense from the Sun Devils put Oregon out in front 4-0. Then Jazmine Hill ended the no-hitter with a solo shot that jolted some life back into her team. Arizona State entered the sixth down three and left up three. Alynah Torres belted a two-run blast to pull within one. The Sun Devils then loaded the bases, where Makenna Harper worked a walk and Jessi Puk followed her by poking a blooper for the go-ahead hit. Allison Royalty made her first appearance since March 13, throwing 2.1 scoreless frames and looking the best she has this season. Marissa Schuld earned the save with 1.1 perfect innings. Hill homered again in the seventh to push it to 9-4 and improve the Sun Devils’ conference record to 8-0.
4. Iowa State hands Oklahoma control of the Big 12 race. The Cyclones and Sooners were about as far apart Saturday as you can get in Big 12 softball — Lubbock, Texas and Ames, Iowa separated by about a thousand miles. But Iowa State’s 3-1 victory against No. 7 Oklahoma State in the opening game of a doubleheader, combined with No. 1 Oklahoma’s 11-0 rout at Texas Tech, leaves the defending conference and national champions alone atop the Big 12. Oklahoma is now 5-0, while Oklahoma State drops to 6-1. In helping their team end a seven-game winning streak and earn its first Big 12 victory, Iowa State pitchers Saya Swain and Ellie Spelhaug were able to scatter seven walks by allowing just one hit against the Cowgirls. The result also saddled Oklahoma State’s Kelly Maxwell with her first loss after a 12-0 start.
The Sooners also made their weekly check-in with history, matching the best start to a season in Division I history at 35-0. Next up is the longest single-season winning streak, which they set with 41 consecutive wins in 2019, and then the longest overall winning streak, which Arizona set with 47 consecutive wins across the 1996 and 1997 season.
5. Mazon amazes again. Mariah Mazon didn’t have the greatest history against Arizona, but the present was the only thing that mattered. The Oregon State ace started the game with three hitless innings. Sharlize Palacios ended that with a solo shot to start the fourth. Mazon looked like the veteran she is. She didn’t allow another hit after that, throwing a complete game one-hitter. Mazon did allow four walks, which got her in trouble in the sixth as Carlie Scupin came to the plate with two on and two out. Laura Berg trusted Mazon and allowed her to go after Scupin despite an open base. Mazon rewarded her coach with one of her 11 strikeouts to end the threat. The Beaver offense came alive in the fifth inning. Madi Elish got two quick outs before the top of the order came back up. Kiki Escobar and Savanah Whatley singled to give Eliana Gottlieb a chance, and she cashed in. Her single tied the game and gave Frankie Hammoude an opportunity. Arizona decided not to walk the Oregon State slugger, which did not work. She found the right-center gap for a two-run, go-ahead double, the eventual difference in the 3-1 win to clinch the series.
6. Arkansas grinds out a series clincher. It isn’t all about power in Fayetteville. Sure, No. 10 Arkansas entered the weekend sixth in the nation in both home runs per game and slugging percentage. And sure, the Razorbacks slugged their way past Shelby Lowe with four home runs in Friday’s opener against No. 18 Auburn. And, all right, Danielle Gibson did Danielle Gibson things by driving a shoulder-high pitch out of the ballpark in Saturday’s game. Wait, what were we talking about? Oh, yes, the non-slugging traits. As important as Gibson’s two-run blast was in the first inning, Arkansas ultimately won on the strength of a three-pitcher effort — with ace Mary Haff not among the trio in the circle — and sixth-inning small ball, when a walk, two bunts and Hedgecock’s sacrifice fly brought home the deciding run in a 4-3 victory to clinch the series.
7. McQueen dazzles in doubleheader. The Illini took two from Wisconsin as Tori McQueen struck out 16 batters in a pair of complete-game victories to clinch the series. McQueen tossed every inning for the Illini giving up five total hits (two in game one, three in game two) and walked just two batters on the day. The southpaw now leads the team in wins (10), ERA (2.32), WHIP (1.00) and innings pitched (81.1). Tyra Perry notched her 200th career victory as head coach of the Fighting Illini after the game one victory and Avery Steiner led the offense going 4-for-5 on the day and extended her hit streak to 12-straight games. Additionally, the Illini struck out just once in 47 at-bats against the Badgers.
8. Lord takes the wheel for Tide. Alabama’s Jenna Lord entered the series against Florida with only six RBIs all season. The freshman had four by the third inning of the opener to spark Alabama to an 8-3 victory in Gainesville. Lord stroked a two-run double in the first inning and another two-run double in the third as Alabama jumped out to a 7-0 lead and knocked starter Elizabeth Hightower from the game. Lord had 32 at-bats this season before facing the Gators, and got the start at DP because of some illness within Alabama’s program. Alabama ace Montana Fouts was cruising early before running into some trouble in the fourth, when she surrendered all of Florida’s three runs. But Fouts (16-2) regained control and closed out the win with 11 strikeouts and six walks in the four-hitter.
9. Western Kentucky remains on top in Conference USA. Western Kentucky and UAB entered their three-game series as the leaders in the Conference USA East and West standings, respectively. But only WKU remains in that position after Saturday’s results. The Toppers (27-7, 11-3) clinched the series with a 10-1 win in six innings. UAB (20-15, 8-3) fell percentage points behind North Texas (22-8, 11-3) in the West standings. UNT evened its series with UTSA with a 6-4 win. After UAB took a 1-0 lead in the first, the Toppers scored five runs in the fourth and five runs in the sixth. Bailey Curry hit the go-ahead three-run home run for WKU. Katie Gardner gave up four hits with three strikeouts and three walks to earn the win. In the opener on Friday, WKU rallied from a five-run deficit to win 7-6 despite UAB tagging WKU ace Shelby Nunn for five earned runs in 2.0 innings. The Toppers entered the series 1-5 all-time at UAB’s Mary Bowers Field.
10. Clemson foils Pitt’s gambit. Pitt’s impressive redshirt freshman Dani Drogemuller was one out from joining Virginia Tech’s Keely Rochard as the only pitchers to beat both Clemson and Florida State this season. But one out is sometimes one out too many. No. 19 Clemson rallied for a 6-5 victory with four runs in the top of the seventh, capped by Alia Logoleo’s two-out, three-run home run. Pitt played its cards well, giving Drogemuller the start in the second game of the series, instead of against Valerie Cagle in the opener a day earlier (although Pitt’s innings leader still came on in relief Friday). But Clemson collected four of its seven hits against Drogemuller after the first out of the seventh.
11. A strikeout marathon in Ohio. Did the tiniest part of Bowling Green pitcher Payton Gottshall hope Saturday’s game against Buffalo stretched to 15 innings, which would have given her a chance to pass Debbie Doom, Danielle Lawrie and Cat Osterman on the list of pitchers with the most strikeouts in one game? After 248 pitches, perhaps not. She was probably the happiest person in the stadium to see her team earn a walk-off 2-1 win in the bottom of the 14th inning. Gottshall’s 14-inning effort fell just shy of cracking the top 15 strikeout performances in Division I history (Northwestern’s Eileen Canney holds the record with 28 strikeouts in an 18-inning game). Gottshall struck out 10 different batters, including five batters who struck out at least three times each.
12. Shelbi Denman and Dawn Bodrug probably struck out another batter while you’re reading this. Stony Brook swept a doubleheader against Providence thanks to a pair of shutouts from Denman and Bodrug. Denman allowed four hits and struck out 12 batters en route to a 4-0 win. After striking out a combined 31 batters in her last two starts and no-hitting both Maine and St. John’s, Bodrug nearly did it again on Saturday. The Canadian struck out 18 batters with a lone single being the only baserunner Providence had in the second game. In the end, the two struck out 63 percent of the batters they faced.
Bonus: The pitcher who had the second-longest day will have to wait until tomorrow for a result. Drexel’s Brooklyn Daly threw 200 pitches across nearly 14 innings Saturday — and didn’t even get the satisfaction of a final score. Daly started Saturday’s CAA series opener against Delaware and was still in the circle with the game tied 1-1 and two outs in the bottom of the 14th. That’s when a weather delay stopped the game for nearly an hour and ultimately forced its postponement. At least she managed to lower her ERA more than half a run to 3.35. The teams will resume the game Sunday before playing an additional doubleheader. If Daly thought Saturday was long ..