SB Nation has updated our software on the editor side and if I thought (which I did) that I was out of my element (Donnie) before, I am WAY out of it right now.  I will try to get the hang of this over the coming weeks, but I expect The Boy, rpt and ghtd to have some amazing stuff in the future.

Anyway, not much from a sporting stand point which has NOT be covered already by multiple live threads.  And since I did not get a chance to sit down yesterday and start to put this down, you get the quick version from work instead.    Let's see how this goes...

Softball:

First, the links:

• Mizzou falls to Arizona State
• Mizzou's season ends with loss to Georgia

The Boy was dead on when he said that a mini-run would have been icing on an already amazing cake, but it was not to be.  Some (ESPN really I guess) questioned the use of Thomas again on Saturday against Georgia coming off of her rocky outing against ASU.  I had no issue with it whatsoever.  You go with your ace in that spot, plain and simple.  In Thomas' case, the experience she gained in OKC should hopefully propel her to bigger heights in the THREE years remaining in her career.  The only pitching decision I can even slightly second-guess was that of using Delaney in the second game.  Don't get me wrong, I was glad to see her out there as a senior and getting the chance to close out her very lovely (if not short) Mizzou career.  But I also would have been fine with Kristen Nottelmann taking the mound as well, especially in the name of experience.

Much more to come on Mizzou Softball, though probably not until later in the summer (as I wrap up/preview all the teams in seasonal order).  And by the way, congrats to senior Lindsey Ubrun and sophomore Marla Schweisberger on their 2nd team All-America honors which were given over the weekend.

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The Windy City was lovely this past holiday weekend, but was made all the lovelier by my getting to sit Sunday evening and watch the Mizzou Softball Tigers take apart the #2 seeded and ranked UCLA Bruins in a must-win scenario to go the BIG show.  The diamond sports dominated the weekend for the Tigers, as there are only three sports left in play at this point, just one week after graduation.  As the calendar gets ready to tun to June, let's look back at one of the biggest weekends in one of the program's history, as well as look back and ahead at whatever is left on the Tiger calendar.

Softball:

They went into the weekend at 48-9, having set the program record for wins as they clinced their second straight NCAA Regional.  Last season, the upstart Tigers moved on to the Super Regional before getting their season ended in mighty quick fashion by the #3 ranked 'Bama Crimson Tide.  Mizzou gave up the six  runs in a Game 1 6-1 loss, then gave up the first seven runs in a Game 2 7-1 loss.  Long story short, they never really had a shot last season.

First off, let's go ahead and link all the great Game Threads.  A HUGE thanks to everyone who participated, as these were keeping me perfectly up to date while walking around downtown Chicago all weekend.

• Game 1
• Games 2 and 3 (as shared with Baseball)

Saturday would provide a different story.  The #11 (but un-seeded...yes...I am still on that) Tigers would get out early on the home and favored #2 UCLA Bruins, scoring a run a piece in both the 2nd and 3rd innings.  The seniors came through big in the second innings, with Micaela Minner (her pinch runner) scoring on an Andee Allen double.  In the third, a Rhea Taylor triple meant a 2-0 lead on a Gina Schneider SAC fly.  Freshman Chelsea Thomas was dealing, keeping UCLA at bay, and off the scoreboard until a lead-off HR by the Bruins to start the 7th to halve the lead.  But Thomas would show amazing perseverance, setting the last three hitters down to cap the 2-1 upset win in Game 1.

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That's right folks...with the last pitch of the Mizzou/CS-B game yesterday afternoon, the regular season for Mizzou sports has ended.  Three sports remain with active participants, as Baseball starts it's Big XII Championships, Outdoor Track completed the Big XII Championships and Softball moves along in the NCAA Championships.  Was a pretty solid week and weekend for the Tigers as Men's Golf drew to a close as well with a good performance.  Let's get to the Musings, which will likely be more linking than writing

Softball:

First off, thanks to everyone who spent the weekend checking in and out of the Live Threads.  The NCAA was nice enough to provide some very solid live-video feeds and we were fortunate enough to take advantage of it.  Special thanks to Andy 01 who picked up the slack for me when I was away from the computer.

So, first off, let's get to the Live Thread Links in case you feel the need to relive any of the action from the weekend:

• Day 1 - Bradley upsets Depaul and Mizzou/Illinois only play for 14 minutes
• Day 2 - Mizzou goes back-to-back over Illinois and Bradley before Depaul does the same over the same
• Day 3 - Chelsea Thomas battles for a thrilling 1-0 win on a Rhea Taylor 6th inning solo shot

Where does that leave us?  With #2 UCLA making equally quick work of their regional, the TIgers will be headed to LA for the Super Regional, which is a best two out of three series contested next weekend.  And yes, this is a terrible draw for the Tigers, one they certainly did not deserve based on their final ranking and RPI.  The teams did play earlier in the season out in San Diego, with UCLA taking the game in their final at bat over Thomas.  The pitching depth Mizzou has will certainly play to their benefit in this format of multiple games, and if the bats can wake up some, UCLA did give up more than two runs in each game they played in their own regional.  We will have MUCH more on this matchup later this week in "Know your Opponent" pieces.  But to enjoy the moment, the team is now 48-9, which is a record number of wins for the program, and they have won their last seven games in a row, only giving up two runs in those games with Thomas winning five of those.

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I will say it never really does get old saying Big XII Champions...in any sport.  This one feels real good and a bit of vindication, as everyone (team included) recognized the opportunity lost a couple of weeks ago at the hands of OU and that which was regained against them this weekend.  Baseball also took another decent step forwards towards extending their season in a couple of weeks.  Between that and women's golf....well...that's about it.  So let's get to it I suppose.

Softball:

First off, I suppose we should get the links out of the way.  Big thanks to Andy 01, leg and rpt for spelling me when needed on the "live" blogging of the action:

• Game 1 vs. Okie State, some other stuff then Game 2 vs. Baylor
• Championship Game vs. OU
• Asian Kid Redux in honor of Softball

Before we start to look ahead to the fun stuff, let me take a second to look back a bit as to this season came to be.

The season started out promising enough, with Chelsea Thomas really surprising right out of the gate.  Mizzou picked up tourney sweeps in Georgia (against a Va Tech team 10-0 who had been to the NCAA's a year before), in Florida (against an Arkansas team 8-0 who made the NCAA's) and had run their win streak to start the season to 12.  Shana White was helping for an injured Rhea Taylor and Thomas was huge in taking the burden off of Delaney.

They would then head west and find their first losses of the season. First to San Diego State in extras and then a TOUGH loss to current #2 seed UCLA the next day.  They returned home and were surprised in gaining a split against SIU-E, putting their record at a still solid, but a little less shiny 15-3.  They would finish the rest of the non-con season in style, crushing all the other Missouri teams down in Springfield before heading south to South Carolina, where they really opened some eyes.  They would beat Coastal Carolina and Michigan State before sweeping current #17 North Carolina in a romp.  Conference season was just around the corner and the team appeared to be back normal at 25-3 with 10 straight wins.

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Pretty light on the sports docket this past week, and the weeks are only going to get lighter as we turn the calendar to May.  Softball ended its regular season, and men's golf is very likely to have ended its entire season.  Diamond sports were taking on the Huskers on both diamonds, and Julie Potter of the women's golf team got some good news this week.  Let's get to the good stuff.

Softball:

The #13 Tigers finished out the conference season coming off of their disappointing home sweep at the hands of OU last weekend.  With the Big XII regular season championship all but out of reach, the team headed out on Saturday and had that door officially closed, taking a 6-1 loss.  Senior Stacey Delaney was not very sharp at all, giving up all 6 runs in 6 innings of action, including 2 Husker HR's.  The offense was still down, plating only one run when they were already down 3-0.  The team was in need of a big effort on Sunday, and they got exactly that from freshman Chelsea Thomas, who spun a 2-hitter.  The Tiger's offense was still a bit down, collecting only 3 hits, but the biggest of the day came after Megan Christopher had driven in the first run of the game on a bases loaded walk.  Senior Lindsey Ubrun gave Mizzou all the runs they would need on a grand slam, her 14th HR of the season.  She now has 45 RBI's on 46 HITS this season...amazing.  Mizzou would win 5-0, locking up 2nd place in the coming Big XII tourney with a final record of 42-9 and 12-6 in conference.

The festivities down in OKC will start on Friday with the play-in games.  The game Mizzou will be paying attention to will be the 7/10 matchup of #10 Texas Tech and #7 Okie State.  Okie State just swept Tech this past weekend 2-1 and 8-0 (5).  Mizzou will take on the winner of that game first on Saturday morning at 11am.  During the regular season, Mizzou swept both teams on the road.  A win would mean the semifinal game against the winner of the 3/6 game of Baylor and aTm at 5pm, also on Saturday, before a potential championship game Sunday at 11:30 on FSN.  During the season, Mizzou swept Baylor on the road and run-ruled aTm at home.  #6 aTm actually swept #3 Baylor, though in two one-run games.

This is a tournament Mizzou can certainly win.  They have the most pitching of anyone and are right there with anyone for offense.  Delaney must rebound from a couple of shaky outings.  It will be interesting to see if the coaches decide to try to go with 3 starting pitchers (in which case I would go Nottlemann, Thomas then Delaney) or if they just go with Thomas and Delaney on Saturday and roll the dice with one of them for Sunday's game.  But if the offense can get back into the swing of things (it was great to see Shana White back in the lineup), we can expect to see this team on Sunday with a chance to win it all.

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So the Beer Draft on Saturday and home improvement projects on Sunday basically took me away from the computer all weekend, so Monday morning does not actually leave me much time to opine.  Lucky for me, some great wrap-ups are out there and I will just link away.  Thanks to Uribe for his stout coverage of the solid baseball weekend and to The Boy for the Diamond Sports wrap-up.  Off we go.

Baseball:

3-1 on the week was, one again, just what this team needed.  The loss to kU in KC is tough, but they came back well against a decent TTech team. 

• A comeback win in Game 1
• Scooter Hicks pitches well
• Good Tepesch makes an appearance

This coming week is the most important of the season, as the team goes on the road for the entire time.  Eastern Illinois and Missouri State are in the middle of the week, and three at NU on the weekend.  NU is only 5-16 in the league, but Lincoln is a tough place to play.  3-2 on the week is probably a must, and 4-1 puts you in really great shape for the final home stand.

Softball:

In a word, disappointing for the week.  1-3 in 4 home games.  Now we need help to win the conference in the regular season.  No need to rehash what has already been...um...hashed, so check out the Diamond Sports Update for all the knowledge you need on the previous softball week.  For this coming week, Mizzou is home against a 8-8 NU squad.  With a sweep and OU loss, they will "tie" for the title.  UT and Baylor are bringing up the rear right now at 11-6 to Mizzou's 11-5, so a sweep would at least guarantee the #2 tournament spot next weekend.

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40-5.  FORTY AND FIVE! (I almost wish there was a way to capitalize numbers).  The softball squad completed another perfect week, but other Mizzou athletes and teams had a solid week as well.  More and more sports are starting to wind down, as the last winter sport has final completed with gymnastics being done.  Just spring sports from here on out, as the calendar says there is only a month left of school.  Let's see how the week turned out.

Football:

Yep...I did not make it to the Spring Game.  Thinking back, this is either the first or the second one I have ever missed.  In the end, what sounds like a dreary weather day without perhaps some of the offensive fireworks which people were hoping/expecting to see.  In the end, I will wait and defer to rpt and The Boy to more succintly opine about what they saw and where the team is.  My one thought is that I am really pretty OK with the defense being ahead of the offense at this point given all of the injuries and new people to the offense.  I think for the offense, the summer time is the most important, even over the spring in some occassions, as Gabbert is just going to throw pass after pass after pass to a healthy D. Alexander, Jared Perry and others.  Getting that timing down will help the offense a tremendous amount, and there will be plenty of time for that to happen. On the other hand, to see this defense with a new coach at the helm making this sort of statement is encouraging to me.

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I have been doing my best to temper and otherwise ignore my expectations about the Mizzou Softball team, but I do not think I can fight off those feelings anymore.  Aside from that, it's been a crazy week for me so I dont know that there will be much mused on the other sports since I just never got around to following them this week.  But, softball has my undivided attention and it is probably time they have the same from more people as well.

Softball:

The team is now sitting at 36-5 overall and 8-2 in conference after a perfect 3-0 week.  They made quick and pretty easy work of a SIU team which was ranked as high as 24th in one of the national polls earlier in the week, with another run-rule win on Wednesday.  The pitching was solid and the offense got it done, as freshman Ashley Fleming hit the third Tiger HR of the afternoon as a walk-off effort in the bottom of the 5th to close out the 9-1 win.  On to the weekend, the Tigers took both road games in what should be considered their last real road test of the season against a decent Okie State team.  They were not quite as sharp on Friday, winning 5-3, but only on 5 hits and giving up more runs than they have been of late.  However, freshman Kristen Nottlemann came in after Delaney was a little off and shut down the Cowgirl attack with three great innings.  She came back on Saturday and threw seven more solid innings for the 6-1 win, her 10th on the season against only one loss.  She has done a marvelous job in terms of stepping in during the conference season after the injury to Chelsea Thomas, who was lights-out for most of the out of conference season and who is expected (or at least assumed I guess) to be coming back at some point.  If and when she does, this team will be really tough.

Looking ahead, the Tigers return home for an out of conference pair midweek against the Artists Formally Known as UM-Rolla.  Rolla is 14-21 on the season.  Then on to the weekend and the last regular season road trip down to Lubbock against Texas Tech.  The Raiders are 2nd to last in conference with a 2-9 record (only 14-31 overall).  Right now, the Tigers are one half game clear of Baylor (8-3 in conference), but the Tigers have a sweep against the Bears.  Next down would be Oklahoma at 8-4, who Mizzou has yet to play.  The Sooners have three conference games this week, with one against Okie State and two against aTm, all at home.  A 2-1 result would be a solid effort for them, but SHOULD help out the Tigers nicely. 

Somehow, the Sooners do not play on the last weekend of the conference season, so the regular season champion may certainly be wrapped up by the end of NEXT weekend when the Tigers get the Sooners at home for two after getting a mid-week double-header agains cellar-dweller ISU on 4/22.  Mizzou will finish their season at home the first weekend in May against a middle of the road NU squad (5-5/29-10).  I know I will be bombarded with the RMN jinx and what-not, but this team has all signs of being absolutely for real and built amazingly well for the post season.

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