BAMA vs Arkansas, GAME 1

[Krymsonman]

Thru 7 complete innings BAMA and Arkansas are knotted at........0. Beaver is throwing a masterpiece and Arkansas has not threatened at all. Going to the top of the 8th.

 

[Krymsonman]

BAMA gets a lead off single in the top of the 8th, and we executed a nice bunt to get her to second. But two ground outs leave her there. It's still a mystery to me why we so often watch a good pitch go by, then swing at a bad pitch. Going to bottom of 8th.

 

[Krymsonman]

Arkansas gets a lead off single in the bottom of the 8th, followed by an out. They then get runners on 1st and 2nd thanks to their third, (yes, third), swinging bunt hit of the game. Full swings with balls dribbling off exactly where no one can get to it quick enough. But Beaver then got a ground out and pop out to get out of it. Going to the 9th.

 

[Krymsonman]

BAMA goes 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th. Heivilin hit it hard but right at the short stop. So far, both sides are 0-31 with runners on base. Going to bottom of 9.

 

[Krymsonman]

Arkansas gets a lead off walk to start the bottom of the 9th. (only Beaver's second walk of the game). They bunt her to second. That was followed by a line drive up the middle that was bobbled in center field and the run scores. BAMA falls 1-0 to the Hogs. Beaver pitched about as good as you can pitch, but once again got absolutely no help from her offense. Beaver pitched great, we had no errors, but we couldn't string more than 1 hit together at a time.

 

[Krymsonman]

BAMA takes game 2 vs Arkansas by a 5-1 score. We had 7 hits, with the crucial ones in the 5th inning. Got some people on and were able to move them around. BAMA scored 2, then Jenna Johnson had 3 run dinger to centerfield. Briski threw a great game. Gave up 1 run in the first inning on a wild pitch, but then settled in and shut them down the rest of the way. Rubber game tomorrow.

 

[catsbane]

Glad to see that Briski is capable of shutting down one of the better teams in the conference.

 

[Krymsonman]

Game 3 vs the Hogs starting out really UGLY. It all started with a swinging bunt that should have been out #2, but no one covered first. That was followed by a 2 run dinger. Beaver was not sharp. Had 4 walks, plus gave up a few hits. It's already 5-0 Hogs, 2 down, bases loaded, and bringing Torrence in.
Pop up just behind shortstop is lost in the sun, and 2 more runs score. We finally get the 3rd out, but it's 7-0 Arkansas after one inning. If we can't score some runs, this one will be a short game.

 

[Krymsonman]

After three complete, it's still 7-0 Arkansas. Torrence has pitched two good innings in relief of Beaver. At the plate, we're not so good. Three up - three down in both the second and third innings, with 4 K's and two pop ups. As I've noticed all year, we look at a lot of good pitches, and strike out on bad pitches. Let's see if we can bounce back and make this interesting.

 

[Krymsonman]

It's over in Fayetteville. Arkansas adds another run in the bottom of the 4th to make it 8-0. They missed a 2 run dinger by about 6 inches with a ball of the top of the wall. BAMA got a lead off walk in the top of the 5th but could do nothing with it. For the first time ever, Arkansas run rules Alabama. Our bats today were almost as quiet as game 1. I still don't know how we scored 5 runs in game 2. It's almost like the "blind squirrel" syndrome where every once in a while we string together a few hits. Jenna Johnson had the 3 run dinger in that one, and I'll say she looks like the most consistent hitter we have. She had a double in the first inning and a single later today, but she was about it. We did watch a lot of good pitches go by today. I guess whoever picked BAMA 7th in the SEC this year was just about right. Tennessee up next weekend in T-Town.

 

[TideATL70]

As Always, spot on recaps and analysis from Krymson. I was feeling pretty good Saturday night, but yesterday seemed to sum up all that is wrong with the program. While Beaver was amazing Friday night, I wonder if the "use your ace Friday and Sunday" model is simply outdated?? Unless you have a legendary pitcher who's going to go onto play for Team USA/Olympics, etc, it seems like that is simply too much work against SEC teams. Just grasping for excuses again. Barring a miracle, just don't see us winning a single game against the Viles and Murph might REALLY need a sweep on the Plains and a couple of wins in the SEC tourney.

 

[Krymsonman]

As Always, spot on recaps and analysis from Krymson. I was feeling pretty good Saturday night, but yesterday seemed to sum up all that is wrong with the program. While Beaver was amazing Friday night, I wonder if the "use your ace Friday and Sunday" model is simply outdated?? Unless you have a legendary pitcher who's going to go onto play for Team USA/Olympics, etc, it seems like that is simply too much work against SEC teams. Just grasping for excuses again. Barring a miracle, just don't see us winning a single game against the Viles and Murph might REALLY need a sweep on the Plains and a couple of wins in the SEC tourney.

Beaver was magic Friday night, but on Sunday it looked like Arkansas adjusted to how she threw Friday and laid off the pitches on the edges that they were missing Friday. She wasn't quite as sharp either and was missing the corners that she was hitting Friday night which put her behind in the counts. Then she had to throw strikes and the Razorbacks jumped on them. Looks to me like a good hitting coach looked at Friday's game and coached them on what to do at the plate on Sunday. As a result the game was over before it even got started good. I love BAMA softball, but this has been a painful year.