Friday in college softball included the continuation of the Mary Nutter Classic, as well as a plethora of upsets and quality weekend tournaments kicking off around the country. This edition of the Terrific Ten also updates two record-chasing endeavors.
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1. Aztec Impressiveness
Let’s begin with San Diego State and the ride they gave two top-level opponents on Friday. First, in a game against Northwestern, the Aztecs held the lead three different times in the game, but the Cats battled back to send the game to extra innings before the Big 10 team ultimately emerged victorious in a 9-inning affair. In the game’s second day, SDSU held onto a lead against Washington and beat the Huskies 7-5 to give the program their 11th win on the young season.
Maggie Balint took the hard-luck loss in the Northwestern game, adding six strikeouts to her ever-climbing season’s total, while Dani Martinez recorded the win over Washington after entering the game in relief.
2. “Shannon Doherty, you are my hero”
For the second time this season, UCF veteran infielder Shannon Doherty was the hero for the Knights on Friday night. Batting in the bottom of the 7th with two runners on in a tie game against Ole Miss, Doherty crushed a pitch to dead center field that saw the Ole Miss outfielder barely make a move toward it before turning around and jogging to the dugout. It was Doherty’s second walk-off home run of the season, following a similar moonshot that she hit against Georgia in the season opener, coincidentally also on her home turf.
Take a listen to the call of Doherty’s Friday walk-off, from the broadcast that featured Eric Lopez and former Florida great Francesca Enea:
SHANNON SENT THAT INTO ORBIT! 🚀 #ChargeOn pic.twitter.com/0pQOPuOPct
— UCF Softball (@UCF_Softball) February 26, 2022
3. Charlotte says BOO against a pair of top opponents
The Charlotte 49ers continued their stellar start to the season with a pair of wins, over Wichita State and Minnesota, on Friday. Reigning CUSA Player of the Year Bailey “Boo” Vannoy showed out in the Wichita State game, finishing 3-4 at the plate with two home runs, a triple, and three RBIs to her credit. The Niners continued to ride big innings to wins, posting a 4-run third inning and a 5-run sixth inning in the game against the Shockers. In the game against Minnesota, a 4-run first inning was all that the Niners needed to beat the Golden Gophers; that win was buoyed on the back of a 3-run home run by Kiyah Garrett and a complete-game performance in the circle by Madelyn Wright.
4. Record Chasin’
Oklahoma’s Jocelyn Alo and Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins entered Friday each needing one thing to set a new all-time record. Alo needed one home run and Hutchins one win to set career records in those respective categories. In Durham, North Carolina, Hutchins earned the 1,675th win of her career in a hard-fought victory over Northern Kentucky, and added #1676 later in the day against Duke. Both wins came against teams coached by Michigan program alumni.
Alo will have to wait at least one more day to see her own record, as she went 2-4 at the plate with four walks in a pair of OU wins on Friday. She recorded two hits, a single and a double, against Long Beach State and earned two walks, then was held hitless with another pair of walks in a game against Cal State Fullerton.
5. Milestones reached at YSU
Both Youngstown State head coach Brian Campbell and ace pitcher Elle Buffenbarger reached new milestones in their respective careers on Friday, with Campbell notching his 300th win at the helm of the YSU program and Buffenbarger registering a new program record for career strikeouts. Campbell now stands just a few wins shy of the 600-win plateau for his career, while Buffenbarger’s 566th strikeout broke a program record that had stood since 2014.
6. An underrated, stellar Day 1 in Columbia
There’s a really impressive tournament taking place in Columbia, South Carolina this weekend, featuring a quintet of teams that could make for some really fun softball over the weekend. Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Troy, and Miami (Ohio) join hosting South Carolina in the field, and day one of the tournament on Friday delivered some quality softball. Virginia Tech and Ohio State engaged in an extra-inning battle that went the Hokies’ way with a single run in the top of the 9th inning, while Troy and Miami also went to extras before the Trojans pulled out the victory. Miami was the only team to play twice on Friday, and the Redhawks rebounded with a shutout victory over South Carolina.
The tournament continues on Saturday and Sunday, and the weekend should deliver more must-see softball.
7. Kassidy Wilbur stymies Purdue
Stephen F. Austin’s unexpectedly-slow start to the season notwithstanding, the Ladyjacks remain a quality ball club and ace Kassidy Wilbur provided good visual evidence as to why on Friday. Facing off against Purdue – a team that led the Big 10 in home runs through the first week of the season – Wilbur shut down the Boilermakers, recording a no-hitter against the Power 5 foe. Wilbur collected a dozen strikeouts in the outing.
8. A hot start for Oakland
Oakland has had to watch other teams play softball for two weeks while they awaited their own season opener, but in Orlando to officially kick off their own season, the Golden Grizzlies didn’t waste any time catching some eyeballs, with wins over James Madison and DePaul to begin the year 2-0. The season-opening win over JMU saw the Golden Grizzlies come from behind early in the game, then break a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning on a Madison Jones RBI single.
A tight 0-0 ball game went to extra innings against DePaul, when the game 1 hero, Jones, started the inning on second base via the international tiebreaker and came around to score the winning run.
9. Two convincing “W”s for Oregon State
It was a battle of the aces for Oregon State and Tennessee on Friday, and it was the Beavers of OSU who emerged victorious from the contest. Mariah Mazon threw seven innings of 5-hit ball, allowing just two runs and striking out eleven batters. The OSU offense scored a pair on an error in the third inning to get the scoring started in the game and saw home runs from Madison Simon and Mazon in later innings to give them all the offense they would need in a 5-2 win.
In the nightcap against Baylor, the Beavers scored 13 runs – including a 9-run sixth inning – en route to a win over the Bears and a sweep of their first day in Cathedral City. The Beavers are 9-3 to start the year and are riding a 6-game winning streak into Saturday’s action.
10. NC State’s hot start
The NC State Wolfpack is off to their best start in program history, a 12-1 beginning to the year that includes a win over a quality UNC Greensboro club. The Wolfpack’s only loss to this point was a tight 1-0 defeat at the hands of Western Carolina on opening weekend. The Wolfpack scored four runs on Bowling Green ace Payton Gottshall on Friday to continue their winning streak.
