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College Softball Weekly Recap: Sweep City In SEC And Pac-12

College Softball Weekly Recap: Sweep City In SEC And Pac-12

South Carolina destroys No. 2 Tennessee in a three-game sweep and Washington shocks Arizona in another Pac-12 sweep.

Mar 26, 2018 by Chez Sievers
College Softball Weekly Recap: Sweep City In SEC And Pac-12

Top-ranked squads battled all across the country in the SEC and Pac-12 this past weekend and there were plenty of highlights. Did you miss any? Keep reading to find out.

#16 South Carolina sweeps #2 Tennessee

What a weekend it was for the host Gamecocks against their second-ranked SEC rival.

Before dominating the series finale 15-5 on Sunday, South Carolina earned walk-off wins over Tennessee on both Friday and Saturday, using huge comebacks each time to turn the series in its favor.

Game one saw the Gamecocks down 7-3 entering the bottom of the fifth, which was cut in half that frame with solo home runs by Tiara Duffy and Mackenzie Boesel. Then the biggest hit of the game came in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, freshman third baseman Jana Johns blasted a two-out, two-run homer to dramatically tie up the game and set up the epic walk-off finish. Kenzi Maguire scored the 8-7 winner on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh and hysteria ensued:

Game two nearly lived up to the hype of the first matchup. With two outs and down by two runs, Kennedy Clark shot a liner off the left-field wall to drive in two. Game and series, Gamecocks. South Carolina won 5-4 after entering the final inning trailing by three runs. Watch how it went down:


#1 Washington walks off #9 Arizona on two consecutive days, sweeps series behind Alvelo’s arm

While South Carolina was dramatically beating Tennessee in Columbia, SC, over the weekend, Washington had its own walk-offs in defeating Arizona three times in Seattle.

The Huskies didn’t win in a blowout like South Carolina did on Sunday, but their two runs were more than enough with ace Taran Alvelo in the circle. She allowed just one hit in the series finale and was the winning pitcher in each game of the series. That’s ridiculous in itself, but check out the stats on Alvelo’s three days in the circle: 17 innings pitched, 26 strikeouts, three hits, one run.  

Her three wins on the weekend moved Alvelo to 16-1 on the season and lowered her ERA to a preposterous 0.73. She’s essentially unhittable.


Oklahoma has won 19 straight

After absolutely dismantling Texas Tech this weekend in Norman, OK, by a combined three-game score of 35-1, the Sooners have stretched their winning streak to 19 games. Here’s a fun stat: During its win streak, OU has outscored its opponents by a ridiculous 154-14 margin. That’s probably why some are making this claim about the two-time defending champs:

After run-ruling Tech in each game this weekend, the Sooners have now won by early surrender in 10 of their 19 games during the streak. Oklahoma will play a huge series starting this Thursday in Waco, Texas, against Baylor. That’ll be one to keep an eye on this upcoming weekend.


#6 Florida takes series win over #8 Texas A&M in dominant fashion

These two SEC powers will finish out their series on Monday evening in Gainesville, FL, but if the finale goes anything like the first two contests, we should expect the Gators to polish off a sweep.

After winning 6-1 on Friday behind Kelly Barnhill’s two-hit complete game, the Gators were even better in game two as Aleshia Ocasio allowed only one hit while the UF offense pounded out 10 runs in a quick five-inning affair.

Overall, this is an excellent bounce-back series win for Florida after losing 2 of 3 to Georgia last week.


#11 Auburn rides the momentum of ‘Bama series to sweep #19 Kentucky

Auburn hasn't slowed down since taking 2 of 3 in last week’s Iron Bowl series against Alabama. The Tigers swept 19th-ranked Kentucky this weekend for their first sweep of a ranked SEC foe at home in nearly two years.

Auburn controlled the series with excellent pitching and defense, but senior outfielder Victoria Draper still managed to set herself apart by making history on offense. Draper stole her 34th bag of the season on Friday evening, amazingly a school record for a single season for the Tigers. Reminder: it’s still March.

The record, previously held by Shannon Anderson, had stood since 2004.

Oh, and in case you missed this nifty glove work:


Indiana stuns #20 Ohio State in a three-game sweep

I bet you didn’t predict that the Hoosiers would be sitting in first place in the Big Ten. The last time Indiana beat a ranked team three times in a season was 14 years ago. 

In game one, IU shut out Ohio State 6-0 and then beat the Buckeyes by seven runs in game two. To seal the sweep, junior pitcher Tara Trainer scattered four hits and Rachel O’Malley blew open the game in the sixth with a double to clear the bases.


Northwestern topples Minnesota in opening Big Ten series

Down by two runs, the Wildcats completed a thrilling 3-2 comeback win over the Gophers with a walk-off single by Marissa Panko in the bottom of the seventh.

An absolute slugfest unfurled for both teams during game two as they combined for 26 hits. Headed into the bottom of the eighth, the game was tied 10-10 with two outs and Lily Novak at third and Morgan Newport up to bat. She singled to the left side to score Novak, ending the game with a walk-off single.

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