Softball

Andrew Linnehan

 

Sam Marder and the Bucks are just chillin' at #1.

1. OHIO STATE (15-3, No Movement) -  Had the week off. Remain winners of five straight and the Bucks’ pitching staff is on a 21-scoreless-inning streak binge. You don’t lose your job due to injury, and you don’t lose the #1 spot due to a bye week.

2. NORTHWESTERN (13-7, UP 3 spots) - Are they back? NU takes 3 out of 4, all against ranked opponents, to win the prestigious Preview Tournament at ASA Stadium in Oklahoma City, site of the College World Series. Haven’t quite assured themselves a return trip to OKC in late May just yet, but a sweep of #8 Tennessee and a split of #6 Oklahoma has got to help the Cats’ confidence.

3. MICHIGAN (16-6, DOWN 1 spot) - What’s better than one of your pitchers (Jordan Taylor) throwing a no-hitter? The other part of your 1-1A pitching combo (Nikki Nemitz) besting her for Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors. UM was 3-1 on the weekend, but that one loss, a 3-2 affair to Louisville, was most troubling. The Wolverines are now 1-3 against ranked opponents this season, not where Head Coach Carol Hutchins wants to be. 

4. IOWA (16-4, DOWN 1 spot) - Hawkeyes took 4 of 5 from talented California competition IN California, with their only loss being an extra-frame affair to UCLA. Steady as always.

5. PURDUE (11-5, UP 5 spots) - Welcome to the big stage, Suzie Rzegocki. Life was peachy for the sophomore ace this weekend, as she reeled in Big Ten Pitcher of the Week laurels after a 4-0 weekend in Georgia.

6. MINNESOTA (13-13, No Movement) - I know it’s still very early, but Briana Hassett is very close to already locking in my vote for Big Ten Pitcher of the Year. We’re gonna forget about the eight runs she surrendered to #11 Arizona over the weekend, and were gonna focus on the 22 consecutive shutout innings she answered with. Back-to-back shutouts against St. Joseph’s in a doubleheader (do you realize how hard it is to shut out a team when its batters have seen you seven and eight times in the same day?) and then an extra-inning shutout against a pretty respectable Creighton lineup. This girl continues to take this Gopher program on her back. If Minny gets snubbed from the tournament again this year, I’m paying for Hassett’s airfare to wherever it resides so the Gopher ace can throw a rise ball up their asses.

7. ILLINOIS (13-7, UP 1 spot) - How about the Illini diamond dwellers so far? First, the baseball team snatches a 3-game set with #1 LSU, and now softball is making some noise with a win in its lone game of the week over a ranked Southern Illinois squad. This lineup is showing no ill-effects of the firepower it lost last year, and pitching continues to surprise/shut up the naysayers. 

8. WISCONSIN (7-14, UP 3 spots) - U-Dub takes two of three on its Carbondale swing, losing only to a ranked Southern Illinois team on its home turf.

9. PENN STATE (7-8, DOWN 5 spots) - A week after bringin’ sexy back with a win over Depaul, the Nits mix in some ugly again. 2-3 on the weekend with no real quality wins (I’ll allow an argument for the 4-1 UC Davis triumph, but you probably won’t win). 

10. MICHIGAN STATE (8-10, DOWN 3 spots) - The one rule if you’re going to take a cushier schedule and play out east like the Spartans have chosen to do? You gotta win some games and bulk up your non-conference record. MSU is failing this test like its football players fail SAT tests: with flying colors. Losses to UNC (forgivable), Elon (absolutely not forgivable), and NC State twice is not a good way to enter the final non-conference weekend of the season.

11. INDIANA (1-13, DOWN 2 spots) - Hoosiers hibernated this weekend, which unfortunately didn’t give them an opportunity to get that good ol’ 8-game losing streak out of their systems. Fortunately, however, there was no opportunity to extend the streak, either. 

 

 

1. OHIO STATE - They’re not just heating up, they’re on fire. Winners of five straight, including a 3-game sweep of this past weekend’s slate. The highlight game was a 7-0 waxing of 25th-ranked Mississippi State. But when you don’t give up ONE run in your ENTIRE weekend schedule, it becomes a highlight weekend… and a spot atop our Power Rankings.

2. MICHIGAN - Bad, bad weekend for the maize and blue. First, Nikki Nemitz only lasts 1 and a 1/3 against 2nd-ranked Florida in what was supposed to be THE game nationally so far this season. But alas, Stacy Nelson out-duels Nemitz and UofM loses, 4-0. To make matters worse, three chances for redemption against nationally ranked opponents were cancelled due to rain, and then the Wolverines got upset by a Houston team that will probably nip a few big guns this year. Would’ve liked to see sophomore P Jordan Taylor start the Florida game, I think she’s more of a big-game pitcher than Nemitz.

3. IOWA - The Hawkeyes had a bye week to save some money in the budget. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to hypothesize that they’re saving money because Head Coach Gayle Blevins has visions of a big credit card bill in Oklahoma City this May. I’ll keep the Hawks at #3 for now to reward them for their early season success.

4. PENN STATE - Penn State is showing some real signs of life this season. Three games rained out this weekend, one loss to Nebraska, but one VERY impressive win over a nationally ranked DePaul team. If it weren’t for a shoddy relief effort against Nebraska, sophomore P Jackie Hill would’ve been your Big Ten Pitcher of the Week after one-hitting the 13th-ranked Blue Demons.

5. NORTHWESTERN - Well the train isn’t moving yet, but at least the crane has lifted it back onto the tracks. Three games were rained out, but the other two were both wins (the first time this year NU has swept a weekend). First, an 11-0 run-rule victory over Long Island was sweet redemption from the Cats’ loss to the Blackbirds a week prior. The purple followed that with a 3-1 win over a scrappy Houston team. 

6. MINNESOTA - Last weekend was a true test of where Minnesota was as a program. A top notch tournament out west featured a cornucopia of west coast and Pac-10 softball programs, and the Golden Gophers held their own. Would’ve been nice to nip #5 Stanford or Oregon State and Nevada teams that were receiving votes for the Top 25. They did none of these, but won their other two contests against UC Riverside and Cal St. Fullerton. Respectable, just not upper echelon yet. They’re close. 

7. MICHIGAN STATE - Two strong wins, two rain delays… The Spartans couldn’t have done anything more this weekend as they begin to climb the rankings. MSU will play seven games in five days this weekend. Now THAT’s what I’m talking about.

8. ILLINOIS - The Illini were supposed to cruise into March, until last weekend happened and they were rudely awakened by a Florida team (twice) and Hofstra. On all three occasions, the Orange were run-ruled. Pluses? Still got a couple of wins over a Big 12 team (Texas Tech) and a real solid South Florida squad. They also manufactured a run off of Florida ace Stacey Nelson. Oh… wait… It was unearned? Nevermind.

9. INDIANA - I’m kind of impressed by Indiana softball lately. Sure, it’s lost eight straight. But look closer. IU is playing really tough competition, and hanging in most of them. In the Hoosiers’ last three games, they’ve lost to Auburn, Oregon State, and Cal Poly by a combined four runs. Don’t be surprised to see them win some Big Ten games this year.

10. PURDUE - Didn’t play… What’s with all these teams taking weekends off? Don’t they know that an extra five games would really help at the end of the season because Pac-10 teams always impress the NCAA Tournament committee with their ever-deceiving 65 wins that come over scrub teams in February and March. 

11. WISCONSIN - What do BYU, Long Beach State, and Fresno State have in common? They all beat the Badgers last weekend. Why is Cal St. Northridge different? It beat the Badgers twice. Burrow! Burrow!