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:
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.
Baseball:
Again, let's start with the links:
- Game 1 vs. Western Kentucky - Nick Tepesch is roughed up
- Game 2 vs. Monmouth - Kyle Gibson is dominant in his (likely) last MU game
- Game 3 vs. Western Kentucky - Tough start by Berger dooms the Tigers
Once again, a pitching decision was brought into question during the series. Coach Jamieson made the comments on Thursday that the Tigers were heading to Oxford not trying to win just one game, but the entire series. I for one applauded the comments and the move to start Sunday starter Nick Tepesch against Western Kentucky on Friday in the attempt of keeping ace Kyle Gibson for a potential winner's bracket game against Ole Miss (assumed). However, "Bad" Nick showed up and we lost rather quickly. At that point, the strategy of saving Gibson HAS TO (and did) get tossed out. And anyone who said, "Well, TJ only threw Gibson against Monmouth because he did not want to be the manager stupid enough to not throw his ace in a CWS regional game." was absolutely right despite their attempt at the chide. Any manager who would be that stupid (as many of our fans were hoping) as to throw a #3 starter at best in an elimination game while keeping your #1 on the bench would not deserve a D-1 job. Once we lost that first game, we need go into survival mode and that is exactly what we did against Monmouth. Unfortunately, Ian Berger could not regain his command from a very solid outing in the Big XII Championships and our season came to a quick end.
Like softball, much more to come down the road on baseball, including a look at how much turnover to expect next season with the Tigers (could be quite a bit).
Outdoor Track:
There are but six athletes left competing in the 2008-2009 sports calendar for Mizzou, and they are moving on to the NCAA Championships in two weeks down at the University of Arkansas. On the men's side, Lars Rise and Nick Adcock will participate in the decathlon where both were All-Americans last season. Brian Hancock will compete in the pole vault and try to add another All-American honors while Chris Rohr will be in search of a national title (and his fifth AA honor) in the hammer throw. For the ladies, Kaela Rorvig will join Rise and Adcock in the multi-sport competition (heptathlon), looking for her first All-American spot, while Krishna Lee will join Rohr in the hammer throw. Lee is an All-American from the indoor season, but has not finished in the top-8 in the outdoor season yet.
Coming Up This Week:
Not a damn thing. though starting next week I will start recapping/previewing each of the Mizzou sports (with the exception of football and men's basketball).
Random Thoughts:
- AMAZING stories and efforts from around the CWS this weekend. James Quinn from Big XII Hardball with a remarkable post about a MORE remarkable game between BC and UT. Then see what UT did for an encore against Army (who upset and eliminated BC in the game before). Check out what FSU did to Ohio State. In Oxford, WKU just keeps hitting and forced a final game against Ole Miss by the way.
- I was hoping the Stanley Cup would be more of a series, but Detroit just looks too good at this point. Pittsburgh may in fact be a little closer than they were last year, but they still seem to be pretty far away.
- How it became June I have no idea
- So if Rachel Alexandra cannot run in the Belmont, will her jockey race a third horse and win all three races on three different horses? That would be something....
- One of my favorite beers is back. The Schlafly Export IPA is quite lovely.
- Not sure why I am waiting around to hit "publish" on this bad boy...may as well get to it