[Softball] NCAA Regional: Cornell vs. Alabama LIVE on ESPN 3 p.m. ET Friday

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

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.

[ugarte]

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.

[KeithK]

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

[jkahn]

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.

[ugarte]

[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.

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

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.

[KenP]

Edit - I can't count.  Never mind.

[Greenberg \'97]

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

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

Bring on the laundry detergent, Cornell is playing the 'Tide.

[Greenberg \'97]

Yep, game just went final, 4-2 Bama.

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

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

[ugarte]

[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.

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

Coverage now on....announcers seem to know their stuff.  Game about to get under way.

[jtwcornell91]

Damn, I'm still at work.  How long does a college softball game last?  Someone want to keep me updated in the chat?

[KenP]

John,

There is a play-by-play tracker online at http://uclabruins.collegesports.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/ucla-2004-regional.html