Cornell defeats Long Beach State 2-1 to advance to play the winner of the Central Michigan-Alabama game tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET. That game will be shown on ESPN (the main ESPN) LIVE tomorrow afternoon. First NCAA tourney win for the Red. Cornell is three wins away from the 8-team World Series and still has one loss in their back pocket if necessary. Very impressive against a team with an ERA not much higher than 1.
LBSU was a top 20 team in the latest polls. The LBSU starting pitcher had an ERA of 1.16 and was named the Big West conference pitcher of the year (with her teammate, who sported an ERA of 0.98 - can you say Underhill/LeNeveu?).
What a great win.
Alabama is ranked #13 in the country. While I would like to see Cornell keep racking up impressive wins, I'd also rather play CMU tomorrow.
Remember, this is (fast pitch) softball. There generally aren't a lot of runs allowed by top teams. Through 5/16, there were 26 pitchers with ERAs below 1.00 in Division I. No that 1.16 isn't impressive, but it was only good for 41st in the country. Heck, six teams have ERAs under 1.00.
The top scoring team in the country (Jacksonville St.) did average 6.89 runs per game. #30 Jacksonville (yes, a different team) had 4.58 per game.
Don't know if this was mentioned, but Cornell had the 11th best Win Pct. in the country through last week. Long Beach was #7.
See http://www.ncaa.org/stats/softball/softballMenu.html for stats
Congratulations to the Big Red softball team. Way to go.
[Q]Tom wrote:
Cornell is three wins away from the 8-team World Series and still has one loss in their back pocket if necessary.[/Q]
The "three wins away" is only true if we win the next two. If we lose the next game, we'd need five more wins to win the regional, and if we win, then lose, we'd then need three more in a row, for a total of four more wins to go.
[Q]jkahn Wrote:
Congratulations to the Big Red softball team. Way to go.
[Q2]Tom wrote:
Cornell is three wins away from the 8-team World Series and still has one loss in their back pocket if necessary.[/Q]
The "three wins away" is only true if we win the next two. If we lose the next game, we'd need five more wins to win the regional, and if we win, then lose, we'd then need three more in a row, for a total of four more wins to go.[/q]
It also glosses over the fact that defending champ UCLA is likely to be one of the "three teams" - but I still like the sound of it.
Thanks for the correction on the additional wins needed to climb back from the loser's bracket. Also note that according to Cornell, the team has 42 wins and the NCAA says 40 wins, presumably because of the pair of wins over Ithaca.
Edit - I can't count. Never mind.
Follow the stats of the Bama-CMU game here:
http://uclabruins.collegesports.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/ucla-2004-regional.html
If it's accurate, Alabame leads 4-2 in the 6th
Bring on the laundry detergent, Cornell is playing the 'Tide.
Yep, game just went final, 4-2 Bama.
And in an even odder scenario, Cornell's win over Long Beach State wasn't even the biggest upset of the day so far, nor the biggest upset in California or even the biggest upset by a team from New York playing in California. For all you Long Islanders:
Hofstra 1, #12 Auburn 0 (9 innings) at Stanford
[Q]Tom Pasniewski 98 Wrote:
And in an even odder scenario, Cornell's win over Long Beach State wasn't even the biggest upset of the day so far, nor the biggest upset in California or even the biggest upset by a team from New York playing in California. For all you Long Islanders:
Hofstra 1, #12 Auburn 0 (9 innings) at Stanford[/q]Things got even hairier in that bracket. #16 Fresno State lost its opening game against Southern Illinois but rebounded to beat Auburn, eliminating Auburn on day 1 of the regional.
Coverage now on....announcers seem to know their stuff. Game about to get under way.
Damn, I'm still at work. How long does a college softball game last? Someone want to keep me updated in the chat?
John,
There is a play-by-play tracker online at http://uclabruins.collegesports.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/ucla-2004-regional.html
Alabama's cleanup batter hit a 2-run homer with 2 out in the top of the 1st.
:-/
The cleanup batter is also the Alabama pitcher. 2-0 going to bottom of the 1st.
[Q]Tom Pasniewski 98 Wrote:
The cleanup batter is also the Alabama pitcher. 2-0 going to bottom of the 1st.[/q]
And the bottom of the first shows she can pitch as well as hit. ::worry::
A solo HR in the top of the 2nd. Even a plug by ESPN for the lax game on Sunday.
Cornell surrenders their third home run of the game in the bottom of the third after having the bases loaded with one out in the top of the third and failing to score.
The new Cornell pitcher has an ERA of over 4. This doesn't sound good. Alabama's pitcher has control issues but the Red bats aren't fast enough to catch up to her (she is throwing the equivalent of a 95 mph fastball).
Still a lot of fun to watch the Red on TV.
Can someone explain why "Funkytown" is the music ESPN is using to send the game to commercial?
Alabama ties the NCAA regional record with their 4th HR of the game. Mercy rule is if you're down 8 or more after 5, game ends.
Four more runs in the fourth. Cornell making every fielding mistake imaginable including runners advancing on fielders not paying attention - cost them at least two runs in that inning. Mercy rule in effect. Cornell must score at least two runs in the bottom of the 5th.
Cornell falls to the Loser's Bracket and will play Mississippi Valley State tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET. The game is not televised but live stats should be available.
Anyone looking for a happier ending than today's softball game can watch the men's and women's Outdoor Heps Saturday from 1:30 to 2:30 pm EDT on CSTV.B-]
Three different sports on tv in three different days - could we space it out a little bit? ::nut::
Bottom of the 2nd, MVSU 2, Cornell 0. Cornell had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the 2nd but lined into a double play.
In 6th, Miss Valley 5 Cornell 0. SS Lauren May has 2 of Cornell's 4 hits.
Melissa Heintz hits a three run homerun in the seventh but Cornell loses 6-3.
Ironic that their best offensive inning was their last inning of the tournament. A great season, a memorable upset, a five-day trip to Hollywood, an appearance on national television and for the seniors, back in time to enjoy the time leading up to their graduation. Despite the score, the announcers had a ton of great things to say about Cornell, their season and their upset win during the broadcast, whether it was fed to them or ESPN did some research. They must have mentioned the rigorous academics of Cornell at least five times, found a family with split loyalties to both Alabama and Cornell and the best line - the Athletics department is shut down in Ithaca as AD Andy Noel has given everybody the afternoon off and the entire staff is down at ? (an establishment that I didn't recognize the name of) watching the game. Cornell returns the Ivy League POTY, Lauren May, a junior, for next season. I'd say that Cornell's move to build a good softball facility in Niemand-Robison Field has paid off with three trips to the NCAA tournament since it opened around '97 or so. Cornell will always be disadvantaged by the fact that it can not start playing or practicing outdoors as early as the southern and western schools who start play three weeks or more before Cornell and by the fact that Cornell's main non-Ivy competition has to come from a small geographic area when it travels for Spring Break or other tournaments where a large number of teams gather for many games in a few days.
Long Beach State defeated Louisville in the Loser's Bracket so the next best thing would be for them to keep winning.
[Q]Tom Pasniewski 98 Wrote:
They must have mentioned the rigorous academics of Cornell at least five times, found a family with split loyalties to both Alabama and Cornell and the best line - the Athletics department is shut down in Ithaca as AD Andy Noel has given everybody the afternoon off and the entire staff is down at ? (an establishment that I didn't recognize the name of) watching the game.[/q]Benchwarmers.
[Q]Tom Pasniewski 98 Wrote:and the best line - the Athletics department is shut down in Ithaca as AD Andy Noel has given everybody the afternoon off and the entire staff is down at ? (an establishment that I didn't recognize the name of) watching the game. [/q]Benchwarmers. I've never heard of it either.
I agree with everything else in your post, Tom.
Good luck in '05, Red.
Benchwarmers is downtown on the Commons. Never been inside there myself, though I've walked by it more than a few times.