Cal at LSU Softball Regional

24,277 Views | 181 Replies | Last: 2 mo ago by BearinOC
SFCALBear72
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Games start tomorrow!

This is from ESPN.com:

Which regional host has the toughest road to OKC?

Amanda Scarborough: LSU. The Tigers have a challenging regional with a strong Pac-12 team in Cal and a Southern Illinois team that has one of the best freshman pitchers in the country in Maddia Groff. If they win at home and get out of their regional, they will likely have to face the best pitcher in the country, Stanford's NiJaree Canady, on the road in California. Facing Canady and trying to beat her in two of three in a super regional is a tall task for any opponent.
CalFanatic
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GEAUX BEARS! Okay, that felt wrong.

Groff has an incredible stat line for SIU. However, she hasn't faced tough competition. Cal's last opponent was Canady and we put 9 on base against her... I expect to win if our defense doesn't let the pitching down.
CalFanatic
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59bear
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CalFanatic said:


Really nasty looking forecast!
CalFanatic
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59bear said:

CalFanatic said:


Really nasty looking forecast!

3 inches of rain and a tornado watch today/this evening. We really don't have the best of luck when it comes to Louisiana...to say the very least!
Shocky1
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suitcases: https://bearinsider.com/forums/2/topics/110786/replies/2335177
Schroeder71
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Storms all over Texas & Louisiana with flooding, tornados, etc. I don't see how several regionals are going to be played today including Baton Rouge (LSU). Btw-I cannot access calbears.com website. Anyone else have difficulty or did I get hacked specifically on the official athletics website? Everything else works fine. I'll visit Southern Illinois' website to get the ESPN+ link at 9am. GO BEARS!
SFCALBear72
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I can't access Calbears.com either.
wvitbear
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I got the web site but it changed. Hard to interpret it.
OBear073akaSMFan
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Think the website is back to normal now.
CalFanatic
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The Slugging Bears against the masterful Groff in the circle. Let's get this thing started!
OBear073akaSMFan
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Lineup with Haylei on the mound

CalFanatic
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Interesting strategy. SIU is rarely swinging the bat. They are taking 90 percent of pitches.
CalFanatic
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Darn, we were about half an inch from that being a 1-0 Cal lead. Incredible leaping catch by the SIU first baseman.

Loving these BIG aggressive swings early on. Rattle Groff.
Schroeder71
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Archer cannot handle the humidity and is walking or hitting 1-2 per inning. The Salukis seem to be able to hit her w/ no problem. Ryann Orange needs to come in...

The one good thing is that all three Cal hitters got good wood on their ace freshman southpaw's pitches. I don't believe that there was a swinging strike. I was worried that she would be almost unhittable (29-3). She is not.

SIU got six batters on base the initial time through the batting order: five walks, one hit batter and an infield hit. Ryann Orange walked the first two batters that she faces and it's 2-0 with bases loaded and no out. Cal pitching is an enigma. The team cannot win with pitchers that can't throw the ball over the plate. Bears will have to score a bundle to win this opener.

After T2nd, Salukis lead 5-0 with only a single infield hit and seven free passes (1 HBP + 6 BBs). Only Cal can do something like that in the NCAA Tournament. SIU's defense is incredible early and got Mika Lee on a popped-up bunt. I hate these bunts because they take away from the power of our offense.

Hope Alley gets a HUGE hit with a two-run HR to CF. It's 5-3 now. Bears got robbed in the 1st but rally back in the 2nd. Cal has five hits already (only one infield) and should feel confident going forward.

I'm a bit worried about Randi Roelling because SIU hit three consecutive fly balls off of her.

SIU has made three terrific defensive plays while Cal has made none. Why is Kaylee Pond not playing LF like she has all season. She is great on those diving catches that Hope Alley just missed. Bears will not win if they don't raise their level of play. T4th, two Salukis on base w/ no outs. One out now with a pop up to 1B.

Acacia Anders pops out to the catcher and Elon Butler swings at a pitch a foot outside to become the first strikeout victim of the day. Kaylee Pond follows with another k. Their lefty ace is taking back control on the game.

Both pitchers had great 3rd innings & 4th innings. Bears have gone hitless over the last two frames. Top of the order is coming up in the B5th. Quiroga, Butler & Lee have yet to contribute to Cal's offense. RR is rolling with three straight shutout innings. The offense needs to come alive now!

Maddia Groff has taken over the game and has retired 9 Bear batters in a row. She is throwing a rise ball that Cal hitters can't seem to layoff of. Most often they pop it up. Another great play by SIU defense-their SS made a diving backhanded catch in the hole to rob Tatum Anzaldo. Their exceptional defense and Cal's 9 free passes are the differences in this game. All the runs in this game were scored in the second inning.

How can the 2nd base umpire call Cal's base runner, Mika Lee, out for leaving early with the game on the line in the final out of sixth inning? She is the potential tying run so the ump just decided the outcome of the game. Let the players decide the winner of this game. I will say that Mika Lee has been called for doing that violation earlier this season and the team has committed a bunch of base running miscues all season long.

Randi Roelling was the Cal MVP today pitching six innings of shutout relief. Great job! The Bear's big three homerun hitters [Lagi Quiroga, Elon Butler & Tianna Bell] were all held hitless by frosh LHP Maddia Groff.
CalFanatic
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Uh oh! SIU takes 1-0 lead in the 2nd after multiple Archer wild pitches. 0 outs and 2 runners on...

Archer seems to be slightly struggling with the humidity and gripping the ball.
SFCALBear72
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Walkathon!

Come on, Bears!!!
CalFanatic
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CalFanatic said:

Interesting strategy. SIU is rarely swinging the bat. They are taking 90 percent of pitches.
The strategy is working. 3 straight walks.
SFCALBear72
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With their ace on the mound and down 3-0, we could be in serious trouble.
CalFanatic
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Happy that Randi came in got 3 outs but jesus, down 5-0. Ready to battle!
CalFanatic
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Cal immediately fights back with 2 singles by Anders and Pond. 5-1. GO BEARS
CalFanatic
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Hope Alley bomb! 5-3
SFCALBear72
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Keep fighting, Bears!!
CalFanatic
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We are having no issue hitting Groff. We need to put up a 0 here in the 3rd and continue to chip away.
CalFanatic
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3 k's for Randi in the 3rd! Way to go, Freshman.
CalFanatic
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As the announcers just said... Roelling is rolling!

Alright Bears, 1-2-3 up in the 5th. Let's get some more runs on the board.

Welp, 9 straight retired by Goff. I don't think a winning strategy involves swinging at pitches so far out of the zone that you'd think they were back in Berkeley
CalFanatic
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Cal falls 5-4. Great job today in relief, Randi.
BearinOC
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This pitching is so problematic. I am so disappointed. Sigh.

We dug ourselves into a pit. It will take a lot to get out of it.
SFCALBear72
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Jackson State is being no-hit by LSU but only trails 2-0 in the 4th inning.
CalFanatic
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BearinOC said:

This pitching is so problematic. I am so disappointed. Sigh.

We dug ourselves into a pit. It will take a lot to get out of it.
Give Archer the ball tomorrow against JS.

Ride Orange as long as you can in game 2 and have Randi in the wings.

...and hopefully Randi will have enough in the tank Sunday.


These last two losses have killed me. We outplay a team for 6 of the 7 innings but one severely problematic inning does us in. I still have faith.
CalFanatic
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LSU is such a weak #9 seed…they've not looked even the least bit impressive in this game. You almost wonder if SIU could knock them off…
calbearsfan
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CalFanatic said:

BearinOC said:

This pitching is so problematic. I am so disappointed. Sigh.

We dug ourselves into a pit. It will take a lot to get out of it.
Give Archer the ball tomorrow against JS.


Ride Orange as long as you can in game 2 and have Randi in the wings.




...and hopefully Randi will have enough in the tank Sunday.


These last two losses have killed me. We outplay a team for 6 of the 7 innings but one severely problematic inning does us in. I still have faith.


Don't forget if we win vs Jackson State we'll have to immediately play the looser of LSU/SIU and then win that and also 2 games on Sunday
Schroeder71
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Jackson State is a dangerous team for Cal to face for two specific reasons. They steal successfully 91% of the time so if Cal pitchers walk hitters tomorrow-they will often get in scoring position. LSU shutout JSU, 5-0, on two hits. The Tigers did not even use their #1 pitcher, either. The second fact that I picked up is their pitching staff has only allowed 11 HRs for the entire season and did not allow LSU any extra base hits. Jackson State is a worse fielding team than Cal and their pitching staff yields 4.41 earned runs per game. Remember that their defense likely allows another like the 5-0 score that they lost by on Friday. JSU has only nine HRs but has 163 stolen bases in 51 games. The key is to keep them off of the bases. If Cal duplicates their behavior of nine free passes to this team, they'll have a shot at an upset on Saturday (IMO). It wouldn't hurt if the Bears also tallied at least five runs (like LSU did) to relieve the pressure on the pitchers & the infield defense.

2024 Jackson State University Softball (PDF) - Jackson State University (gojsutigers.com)

GO BEARS!
Ccajon2
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Furds best St. Marys 8-6. Canady was pitching a five inning Perfecto but the coach put in Krausse to save her for later, and it almost back fired with Krausse giving up 6 runs and hits in the 6th.
Ccajon2
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Furds best St. Marys 8-6. Canady was pitching a five inning Perfecto but the coach put in Krausse to save her for later, and it almost back fired with Krausse giving up 6 runs and hits in the 6th.
 
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