Ken Eriksen’s Heartwarming Tribute to Georgina Corrick, An All-Time Great

South Florida isn’t an NCAA tournament team without Georgina Corrick. Objectively one of the all-time greats, Corrick’s entire career was underrated, even as she mowed down hitters and racked up wins.

On Saturday, head coach Ken Eriksen pitched someone else in the winner’s bracket game against Florida State, drawing much bewilderment. Corrick was on the bench for the entire game, an FSU blowout win. Later Saturday night, in an elimination game against Mississippi State, Corrick started the game in the circle but had to be subbed out after warming up in the second inning.

When Eriksen was interviewed by the ESPN broadcast mid-game, the pieces began to fall into place.

“It wasn’t [my decision to make],” Eriksen said of Corrick leaving the ballgame, her final game. “She’s hurting. She’s had some back issues, spasms, for the last three weeks. If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t be here right now… after the first inning, it tightened up so bad.”

After mentioning the reasons for Corrick’s departure, though, it was what the usually-stoic USF coach said next that showed how much Corrick has meant to the Bulls’ program and to the game of softball as a whole:

“She’s a great human being that plays softball,” Eriksen said, almost choking up as he did. “She goes down in the annals as one of the great pitchers in college softball.”

Corrick’s decision to exit the game when the pain became too much also begs the question how much pain she has played under at other times over those same last few weeks. On Friday, she reached the 1,300-strikeout plateau for her career as a Bull.

The veteran hurler, who also plays for the Great Britain National Team, is also a top-3 finalist for the National Player of the Year award.

*****

Regionals in Orlando and Gainesville will have to play elimination games early Sunday morning that carried over from weather-impacted Saturdays.

All four teams are still alive in the Orlando regional – Villanova and South Dakota State will finish a suspended elimination game first, followed by the winner playing Michigan in another elimination game. Whichever team advances out of the loser’s bracket to the regional final will play UCF also on Sunday for a chance at the Super Regionals.

In Gainesville, Wisconsin and Georgia Tech will play an elimination game for the chance to face Florida in the regional final.

*****

Elsewhere on Elimination Saturday, nearly half the field of 64 was sent home. Four seeded teams lost, though the entire quartet rebounded to reach the regional finals in their respective locales. #3 Virginia Tech, #6 Alabama, #13 Washington, and #15 Missouri all lost their winner’s bracket games on Saturday morning, but won elimination games late Saturday night to earn the right to play on Sunday. All four teams will have to win twice on Sunday to advance to the Super Regional rounds – they all face sturdy opponents in Kentucky, Stanford, Texas, and Arizona, respectively.

In Durham, the elimination game between Georgia and Liberty did not end until nearly 2 am local time after rain delayed the contest through much of Saturday. Liberty spent some twelve hours at the ballpark, after playing an early winner’s bracket game and then playing the late-night contest. Georgia did emerge victorious and eliminated Liberty in a revenge match from Friday’s opener.

Six different regional 2-seeds went home empty-handed on Saturday. LSU and Illinois both went 0-2 in the tournament, losing each of their first two games to be eliminated. Nebraska and Auburn were eliminated in nightcap elimination games, while Notre Dame and Ohio State each recorded a win in early elimination games before falling in rematches of their respective opening-round games.

*****

Conference records on Elimination Saturday (multi-bid leagues only):

Big 12 3-0 (0 eliminated)
PAC-12 7-3 (0 eliminated)
SEC 13-6 (2 eliminated)
ACC 5-3 (1 eliminated)
AAC 2-3 (2 eliminated)
Big 10 4-6 (4 eliminated)

*****

The regional final matchups:

Norman: Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M
Tallahassee: Florida State vs. Mississippi State
Blacksburg: Kentucky vs. Virginia Tech
Fayetteville: Arkansas vs. Oregon
Los Angeles: UCLA vs. Ole Miss
Tuscaloosa: Stanford vs. Alabama
Stillwater: Oklahoma State vs. North Texas
Tempe: Arizona State vs. San Diego State
Evanston: Northwestern vs. McNeese
Clemson: Clemson vs. Louisiana
Knoxville: Tennessee vs. Oregon State
Durham: Duke vs. Georgia
Seattle: Texas vs. Washington
Gainesville: Florida vs. Wisconsin/Georgia Tech
Columbia: Arizona vs. Missouri
Orlando: UCF vs. Michigan/South Dakota State/Villanova