College: Recapping Day 1 of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic

Mother Nature made a rare appearance in Cathedral City during the annual Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, cancelling the Thursday evening portion of the 2019 edition of the MNCC.

To see the latest schedule for Friday’s games… click HERE

Changes to Friday’s schedule are being updated continually and you can find more following the event’s website: Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.

The games that were able to be played on Thursday delivered as promised.

Oklahoma State, Bethune Cookman, and BYU all had some positives on the day, while teams like Arizona State and Oregon were left with more questions than answers.

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Here’s our recap from an abbreviated Day 1 of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic:

Bethune Cookman beats Oregon 5-3
After losing two-time MEAC Player of the Year Ryan Jackson in the offseason, Laura Watten and BCU seemingly didn’t miss a stride coming into the year. The Wildcats scored five runs in the first two innings and never let the Ducks come back. Oregon couldn’t finish off a late surge that included the tying run on base, and took a bad loss, the first – and heartiest – blemish on Melyssa Lombardi’s tenure as head coach. The loss also raised some questions about the depth in the Ducks’ pitching department, after Texas A&M transfer Maddie MacGrandle gave up all five runs on five hits and three walks in 2.1 innings before exiting the ball game. Oregon has one proven pitcher in Jordan Dail, who has looked excellent, but has logged quite a few innings in the season’s early going.

Oklahoma State wins two
The Mary Nutter was the first tournament this season that started with something other than an “L” for the Cowgirls, and that was undoubtedly a welcome sight for Kenny Gajewski’s team. Though it came against an Arizona State squad that benefits greatly from a high preseason ranking and the season’s youth, a 2-0 shutout win over the Sun Devils got the team’s stint in Cathedral City off on the right foot. A 7-5 back-and-forth win over North Carolina saw seven runs scored in the final two innings between the teams, a jockeying of scoring that saw the Cowgirls pull out the squeaker. A pair of home runs from former Texas A&M Aggie Samantha Show helped the Cowgirls to the win; Show also earned the win in the pitching circle against ASU, going seven innings with three strikeouts and allowing five hits.

BYU’s enigma of a day
The Cougars should have had a pair of high-profile wins to begin their stint at the MNCC, holding a 4-1 lead over Nebraska before losing in extra innings to the Huskers, then later beating Missouri 7-3. The games put BYU at .500 on the year, while the loss to Nebraska left head coach Gordon Eakin with a simple statement postgame; “At this high level of competition, we need to figure out how to close games out,” Eakin said in a team press release. The Cougars held the multi-run advantage through five and a half innings of play, before Nebraska stormed back with a 3-run sixth inning to tie the game and force extras, ultimately winning in the eighth inning thanks to the international tiebreaker. The win over Missouri saw the Cougars put up a 4-run inning of their own against the Tigers, while Kerisa Viramontes held Mizzou to six hits and three runs in a complete game victory.

Texas Tech stays perfect
Originally scheduled to play a pair of games on the tournament’s opening day, the Red Raiders instead got to play just one, and showed out in that single game, a run-rule victory over Arizona State. TTU is off to their best start since 2011, and with the ASU win, has a +50 run differential this season. Adrian Gregory’s squad is clicking on all cylinders and already are turning heads. The team’s offense and pitching staff are both performing well; if the weekend schedule remains unchanged, matchups against Oregon and Washington also await.

Arizona State’s struggles continue
No team has benefitted more from preseason rankings than the Sun Devils – ranked as a preseason top team coming off of a surprise Women’s College World Series berth last season, the squad is a deceiving 8-4, with their biggest wins on the year coming over Kansas and Illinois State. The Sun Devils have been embarrassed on multiple occasions already this season, in shutout, run-rule losses to Missouri on opening weekend and now Texas Tech to open the Mary Nutter. The Sun Devils were outscored 10-0 by their opponents in Thursday’s action, also including a 2-0 loss to Oklahoma State. While ASU remains above .500 and lofted to inflated heights, look beneath the surface and you’ll see a lot of questions to be answered in Tempe.

— Justin McLeod, Extra Inning Softball College Correspondent