By C. Kent Lowe
LSU Sports Information
TEMPE, Ariz. — Well, softball purists would have loved the first game of the Super Regional Friday night here at Farrington Stadium, won by Arizona State, 1-0, in 10 innings.
Those of you who follow the occasional game may not understand the nuances that led us to the type of game we saw Friday evening.
You had two good pitchers who for the most part were at the top of their game. Katie Burkhart is one of the best lefties in the nation, if not one of the best overall pitchers. She picked LSU apart early on drop pitches and then moved further and further up the ladder as long as LSU would go after it.
NCAA Super Regional Pairings
Cal St. Fullerton (38-21) at (1) Arizona (42-12-1)
(Sat., 7 p.m. ESPN; Sun., 2 p.m./4:30 p.m. ESPNU)
(9) Michigan (46-12) at (8) Baylor (49-13)
Game 1: Baylor, 9-0 (5)
(Fri., 6:30 p.m.; Sat., 1 p.m./3:30 p.m.)
Hawai’i (49-12) at (5) Tennessee (58-5)
Game 1: Tennessee, 9-0 (5)
(Fri., 7 p.m. ESPNU; Sat., 3 p.m./5:30 p.m. ESPNU)
(13) Florida (49-21) at (4) Texas A&M (45-11)
Game 1: Texas A&M, 2-0
(Fri., 6:30 p.m. ESPN; Sat., 1 p.m./3:30 p.m. ESPN)
(14) DePaul (44-11) at (3) Oklahoma (55-6)
(Sat., 11 a.m. ESPN; Sun., noon/2:30 p.m. ESPN)
(11) Alabama (55-9) at (6) Washington (39-17)
Game 1: Washington, 4-3
(Fri., 5:30 p.m.; Sat., 2 p.m./4:30 p.m.)
(10) LSU (55-11) at (7) Arizona St. (53-15)
Game 1: Arizona St., 1-0 (10)
(Fri., 9 p.m.; Sat., 6:30 p.m./9 p.m.)
South Carolina (38-25) at (2) Northwestern (49-11)
Game 1: Northwestern, 6-1
(Fri., 3 p.m.; Sat., 1 p.m./3:30 p.m.)
But the Tigers had a couple of chances, but never could string anything together. On the other hand, until the 10th, the LSU team answered every challenge and there were a few, especially in the first and third…Some of the notes I made on my scoresheet during the game:
How good did Jazz Jackson play? She made two big-time plays. The one in the third when there was a looping fly ball between shortstop and left field and Andrea Smith couldn’t come up with it, she had the presence of mind to pick up the ball and throw a bullet to Tayl’r Hollis to get the lead runner at third. When the next batter singled to load the bases, that could have been your winning run right there seven innings earlier.
Nine times out of 10 when Emily Turner is in a jam, she can get out of it and she did at least twice after putting runs on base with walks. In the 10th, give the credit to State for banging out the hits on the fifth and sometimes sixth time for facing Turner.
Other thoughts
This was a very knowledgeable softball crowd and amazing how the attendance of 1,610 was almost double in one game what the Palo Alto Regional drew for the whole weekend. Looks to me like the NCAA sacrificed some money by not going to some of these national seeds.
The LSU crowd was bigger and noisier than last week but it may have been hard to pick up on radio because we were a long way from them. But they will be just as excited tomorrow and why not take two on Saturday. LSU has done this a lot this season, losing the first game and winning the next two, so why not now.
One would expect Dani Hofer will get the ball in the 6:30 p.m. game Saturday but if your ASU’s Clint Meyers what do you do. Do you go for the kill in straight games? Do you pitch Burkhart until she can’t go no more and if it goes to a third game hope she has something left. I don’t know what that answer is but Hofer is much more ready for this opportunity than she was a year ago so why not take two Saturday.
Finally, here are some of the quotes from after the game on Friday and we’ll have a full report after play is done on Saturday:
Quotes from Game One of Tempe Super Regional
LSU
Head Coach Yvette Girouard:
On the game: “We’ve come back from losses before, and taken series from teams, there’s no reason for us to believe that we can’t do that again. Burkhart had a great game, her pitches were hitting their spots and we just weren’t hitting. ASU managed to string together hits, something we fell short on, which made the difference. Mindy [Cowles] actually came to LSU for a recruiting trip years ago, and it’s obvious why we would be after a player like her.”
LSU Pitcher, Emily Turner:
“The pitch was a change-up, the same one that had been working well all night, so I we decided to use it again, and Mindy saw it and took it for a ride.”
On pitching ten innings: “It was an intense game and I was feeling it, I’ve pitched in that situation before and I felt confident my team was behind me. Mindy did her job though sitting back on the ball.”
ASU
Second Baseman, Mindy Cowles:
On the game-winning RBI: “I knew the change-up was coming, she’d used it a couple times on me throughout the night and I just sat back and waited for it and luckily connected”
Pitcher, Katie Burkhart:
On the ten inning game: “I’m not tired, I knew that I just had to keep going and keep fighting, and eventually my teammates would find a way to win it, which they did. It’s my job to go out there and keep us in it until the offense finds a way.”
Head Coach Clint Myers:
On the game: “Well, I’m happy with the outcome, but it’s only the start. We have to come out tomorrow and execute on offense better. We left too many on base and didn’t hit like we’re capable of. If we expect to make it to Oklahoma City and succeed we need to start putting together the pieces. We were lucky this game to have some clutch hitting from Mindy, but it’s not going to take us all the way. A win is nice, but we’re better than the team we showcased tonight. I expect us to come back and execute and play like we’re capable of tomorrow since we know LSU isn’t going to hand this to us.”