Softball Games of Interest Week of 4/29/24 through 5/5/24

Monday 4/29

Stanford @ Seattle
Misissippi State @ Missouri

Tuesday 4/30

Arkansas @ UCA
McNeese @ La Tech
Miami @ Toledo
Georgia State @ Chattanooga

Wednesday 5/1

Virginia Tech @ Liberty
Florida @ Florida State
Nevada @ Cal

Thursday 5/2

Marshall @ Texas State x 3 [Thur-Fri-Sat]
Alabama @ Auburn x 3 [Thur-Fri-Sat]
Fresno St @ New Mexico x 3 [Thur-Fri-Sat]
Boise @ Colorado St x 3 [Thur-Fri-Sat]
Georgia Southern @ App St x 3 [Thur-Fri-Sat]
ULM @ Georgia State x 3 [Thur-Fri-Sat]

Friday 5/3

Florida State @ Syracuse x 3
Georgia @ Mississippi State x 3
Missouri @ S. Carolina x 3
Liberty @ LSU x 3
Texas @ Texas Tech x 3
Ole Miss @ Arkansas x 3
Oklahoma State @ Oklahoma x 3
Oregon @ Stanford x 3
Bellarmine @ UCA x 3
Houston @ Baylor x 3
FIU @ La Tech x 3
Oregon St @ Cal x 3
aTm- CC @ Nicholls x 3
SLU @ McNeese x 3
SFA @ Cal Baptist x 3

Saturday 5/4

Miami @ NIU x 3 [Sat-Sun]

Do McNeese and La Tech play every year?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sandra

Do McNeese and La Tech play every year?

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I am not certain, but I would imagine they do. Easy travel, reasonably good competition, why would they not?

Monday 4/29

Stanford 5 Seattle 3
Mississippi State 3 Missouri 2

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sandra

Do McNeese and La Tech play every year?

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There is absolutely no reason why Louisiana, LaTech, LSU, McNeese, SE, UNO, Southern should not play each other regularly in OC games across all most sports.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CajunVic

There is absolutely no reason why Louisiana, LaTech, LSU, McNeese, SE, UNO, Southern should not play each other regularly in OC games across all most sports.

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Why Southern?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Esqueleto

Why Southern?

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They do compete in the diamond sports and drive attendance in football with the human juke box.

Note I didn’t necessarily say every school in every sport.

Hope that provides clarity.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Esqueleto

Why Southern?

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Indeed, why Southern? Their current RPi in Softball is 276, and in Baseball it is 279.
Certainly there is no incentive for Louisiana, LSU, LaTech, McNeese or SLU to play them in stick and ball sports.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VObserver

Indeed, why Southern? Their current RPi in Softball is 276, and in Baseball it is 279.
Certainly there is no incentive for Louisiana, LSU, LaTech, McNeese or SLU to play them in stick and ball sports.

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aren't we smart when we pick a single point of evaluation for one single year with complete historical data

a down year

didn't they go into alex box and beat the tigers this year

you can beg to differ with my opinion, however I will point out that my opinion is just as valid as yours

Tuesday 4/30

Arkansas 8 UCA 0
McNeese 0 La Tech 4
Miami 8 Toledo 0
Miami 10 Toledo 4
Georgia State 0 Chattanooga 1
ETSU 0 App St 7
ETSU 4 App St 11

Wednesday 5/1

Virginia Tech 4 Liberty 1
Florida 15 Florida State 13
Nevada 1 Cal 5

Good bit of teams we want to win are winning. I know at this point in the season it doesn't move the needle that much, but any bit towards a regional helps.

9-3 heading into Thursday for the teams we want to win this week.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CajunVic

They do compete in the diamond sports and drive attendance in football with the human juke box.

Note I didn’t necessarily say every school in every sport.

Hope that provides clarity.

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Football and the diamond sports are worlds apart.

You do have to admit and accept that playing Southern in the diamond sports is counterproductive, yes? Playing and beating them at home would probably have a negative effect on our RPI (see Houston Christian).

Unless you're willing to only play them over there (and even then, I don't know if a road win against Southern is a good win).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cajun Monkee

Football and the diamond sports are worlds apart.

You do have to admit and accept that playing Southern in the diamond sports is counterproductive, yes? Playing and beating them at home would probably have a negative effect on our RPI (see Houston Christian).

Unless you're willing to only play them over there (and even then, I don't know if a road win against Southern is a good win).

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It is not a good win and it is a horrible loss. This has been true every year for quite some time in both diamond sports.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VObserver

It is not a good win and it is a horrible loss. This has been true every year for quite some time in both diamond sports.

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Southern won the SWAC just a few years ago when a Lafayette native was pitching for them.

They beat LSU at the Box this year.

I don't know where you folks have been but surely it has not been paying attention to Louisiana college baseball.

In fact, Southern won the SWAC in 2019 and 2021 and probably would have won it in 2020 if not for Covid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ball_champions

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CajunVic

In fact, Southern won the SWAC in 2019 and 2021 and probably would have won it in 2020 if not for Covid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ball_champions

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And what was their RPI? Winning the SWAC ain't saying much these days. Ricky Weeks and Roger Cador ain't walking through that door.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Esqueleto

And what was their RPI? Winning the SWAC ain't saying much these days. Ricky Weeks and Roger Cador ain't walking through that door.

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You are not concerned with their RPI. What you are concerned with is win/lose record. Southern's has not been good in the post Covid era.

Keep in mind that every team, no matter the league, is strapped with travel constraints. These are student athletes and as such you have to take into account time away from the classroom, money, and logistics. Many midweek games are there because they are a day trip. When you are looking at scheduling some of these weaker teams that are within driving distance the thing to concentrate on is whether or not they have historically had a good win/lose record.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cajun90

You are not concerned with their RPI. What you are concerned with is win/lose record. Southern's has not been good in the post Covid era.

Keep in mind that every team, no matter the league, is strapped with travel constraints. These are student athletes and as such you have to take into account time away from the classroom, money, and logistics. Many midweek games are there because they are a day trip. When you are looking at scheduling some of these weaker teams that are within driving distance the thing to concentrate on is whether or not they have historically had a good win/lose record.

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Southern is 15-23 this year, 16-23 if you count there non D1 win over Dillard. The SWAC is always a crap shoot when you schedule them, the west side of the SWAC does not have 1 team with a winning record, and that is traditionally the teams we would think about scheduling. The East is much better with FAMU, Bethune Cookman, Alabama State and JSU are all over .500.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CajunVic

Southern won the SWAC just a few years ago when a Lafayette native was pitching for them.

They beat LSU at the Box this year.

I don't know where you folks have been but surely it has not been paying attention to Louisiana college baseball.

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Small snapshots.

Yes, Southern won the 2021 SWAC conference tournament, but with a 13-11 conference record and a 20-30 overall record.

They were 263rd out of 294 places in the RPI. This year, they are 279th out 304 teams.

The SWAC was 28th out of 32 conferences in the RPI and traditionally is in the bottom 3 or 4 conferences (out of 32).

Yes, Southern beat LSU at the Box, but it does absolutely nothing for them (other than lift their RPI from the 290s to the 270s).

Whereas the loss for LSU is crippling.

The FACTS and the REALITIES are that playing Southern is not good, win or lose.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cajun Monkee

Small snapshots.

Yes, Southern won the 2021 SWAC conference tournament, but with a 13-11 conference record and a 20-30 overall record.

They were 263rd out of 294 places in the RPI. This year, they are 279th out 304 teams.

The SWAC was 28th out of 32 conferences in the RPI and traditionally is in the bottom 3 or 4 conferences (out of 32).

Yes, Southern beat LSU at the Box, but it does absolutely nothing for them (other than lift their RPI from the 290s to the 270s).

Whereas the loss for LSU is crippling.

The FACTS and the REALITIES are that playing Southern is not good, win or lose.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cajun90

You are not concerned with their RPI. What you are concerned with is win/lose record. Southern's has not been good in the post Covid era.

Keep in mind that every team, no matter the league, is strapped with travel constraints. These are student athletes and as such you have to take into account time away from the classroom, money, and logistics. Many midweek games are there because they are a day trip. When you are looking at scheduling some of these weaker teams that are within driving distance the thing to concentrate on is whether or not they have historically had a good win/lose record.

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Many factors go into scheduling.

It’s easy for anyone to pick apart any team with an agenda and looking at limited facts and factors.

Some asked why Southern and I gave some reasons why. I don’t expect anyone to like or accept them but they are what they are.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CajunVic

Many factors go into scheduling.

It’s easy for anyone to pick apart any team with an agenda and looking at limited facts and factors.

Some asked why Southern and I gave some reasons why. I don’t expect anyone to like or accept them but they are what they are.

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Actually, you have literally provided three reasons why:
1. They beat LSU at the Box this year;
2. They won the SWAC conference tournament in 2019;
3. They won the SWAC conference tournament in 2021.

Their RPI is consistently in the bottom 10% of NCAA teams.
The SWAC conference RPI is consistently in the bottom 10% of NCAA teams.

They're not even the tallest guy at the midget convention.

Actually, everybody else is looking at the big picture and has access to all of the information. We're not cherry picking a few events and saying "see? I'm right."

That's you.

And just curious...What "agenda" might I have?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cajun Monkee

Actually, you have literally provided three reasons why:
1. They beat LSU at the Box this year;
2. They won the SWAC conference tournament in 2019;
3. They won the SWAC conference tournament in 2021.

Their RPI is consistently in the bottom 10% of NCAA teams.
The SWAC conference RPI is consistently in the bottom 10% of NCAA teams.

They're not even the tallest guy at the midget convention.

Actually, everybody else is looking at the big picture and has access to all of the information. We're not cherry picking a few events and saying "see? I'm right."

That's you.

And just curious...What "agenda" might I have?

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You don’t want to play Southern. That is an agenda. It’s may neither be a bad or a good one, but it is an agenda.

I say there may be reasons other than RPI to play Southern. While you mentioned the three above, the reasons set out by Cajun90 might be even more compelling. But you skipped those.

There are really few teams realistically available to fill our mid week schedules ALL things considered. Southern is one of them.

Gerry hasn't scheduled SWAC teams in a while. Take your baseball talk to it's appropriate thread.

A new HS softball rule: 6-1-2c, 2-47: The pitcher may now have both feet off the ground at the same time as long as both feet remain within the 24-inch width of the pitching plate and the pitcher does not replant the pivot foot. A definition for a replant was added.
Rationale: The rule change permits both feet to disengage from the playing surface while delivering a pitch. The addition of Rule 2-47 defines that a replant of the pivot foot occurs when the pitcher pushes off the playing surface from anywhere other than the pitcher’s plate prior to the act of delivering the pitch.