CSNbbs

Helluva time for a Sunday afternoon nap, great to wake up to a win. Yuge sweep, great job Dukes!

Duuuukes!

Will be interesting to see when the RPI is released by the NCAA tomorrow whether this bumps the Dukes up into the top 25. We'll see...

Well done, Dukes!!

(really good crowd there today...kudos to those fans who showed up...they were treated to a great game)

What a weekend worth of games by the Dukes!!

Brian

Gotta tip the cap to CC Alexander for the effort today in the circle. I know giving up 8 runs (7 earned), 11 hits, 7 walks, and 1 HPB is far from the standard she sets for herself. But, she went the full 10 innings. Got the win thanks to the comeback. She only got 1 official AB and that was the line shot off the P to lead off the successful 10th that saw her leg out an infield single to get things going. (she also walked earlier)

The W now puts her at 21-5 on the season.

Also, tip of the cap to Coach LaPorte who now has the team at 37-10. If the team can sweep at Drexel next weekend to get to 40 wins prior to the CAAT (especially after losing Good) is remarkable.

(04-29-2018 04:10 PM)ParentofJMUMRDs Wrote: [ -> ]What a weekend worth of games by the Dukes!!

Brian

Was thinking the same thing. Weather seemed great and very entertaining games. Crowd looked very solid today too. Good weekend visit!

(04-29-2018 03:21 PM)Wear Purple Wrote: [ -> ]

(04-25-2018 07:20 AM)JMUNation Wrote: [ -> ]I am worried. There wins are impressive.

Dukes are the ones who...

Man, I did not expect a sweep. I honestly did not think JMU would win the series. Win the regular season CAA title and the Dukes are a lock to make the NCAA tournament.

Was at a baby shower Saturday (since when did this become a couples thing?), so I could only watch yesterday. Go back and look at Hofstra's scores this year, and our offensive outburst is even more impressive. They only gave up these kind of run totals in one game, against surging SEC opponent South Carolina. 1-0 shutout of FSU on their resume, I'm sure they didn't expect to roll into Harrisonburg and get thumped like this. They are a very good team, but this JMU team is never out of a game at home because of our offensive firepower (which seemed to be lacking early in the season). No question it would be to our benefit to roll into the playoffs in a stadium with friendlier confines, though. The much deeper fences at Baylor last year really hurt us, we don't play a small ball game and team speed is not our forte. At least after this weekend you have to feel like we're a lock to make the Regionals, our RPI should solidly put us in.

No baby shower for me, I would scare the baby.

So, no excuses, I went to the three games. There seem to be some kind of mystic destiny in the atmosphere over the stadium. Some kind of Purple Haze perhaps, just when things looked the bleakest, (after the Hofstra Grand Slam on Saturday and their 3 run HR yesterday) we found another hero. Two out in the bottom of the 7th, our last chance, BOOM game tying HR. Down 2 in the bottom of the 10th, Game tied then Roadcap's 3 run blast. 13 HRs in one weekend, 20% of our season's Homeruns. 177 pitch marathon pitching from Alexander. My goodness when does the movie version come out.

Hoping we pack the stadium in 2 weeks! Go Dukes!

we swept the #24 ranked team.

we should be ranked this week.

I went to all three games this weekend. It's been a while since I have had that much fun. Super atmosphere...love watching the senior Dads get so excited and fired up...and more home runs in one weekend than many teams hit in a month. I agree with the warrior that there is a magic in our stadium. No idea what it is but I am glad the tournament is in our house!!! I think Coach LaPorte's comments on WHSV last night said it best - this is truly a team effort and they are all so supportive of each other that they lift each other up.

Now it's time for them all to buckle down and do well in their final exams and get ready to wrap up the season. Hopefully they take their brooms for another sweep and come home CAA regular season champs!!

Now if the tournament was only NOT a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday affair with most games during the day....makes it hard for us working folks to get to the field. Lots of Live Stats streaming being planned here....

A quick look at the CAAT brackets...

1 - Dukes: Good Gals (16-2) need to win 2 of 3 at Drexel this upcoming weekend to clinch it. 1 win and a loss by Hofstra at Towson would do it as well, but I think the Dukes will look to settle this on their own. Plus, Drexel is sitting at the bottom of the CAA at 3-15 so winning 2 of 3 over JMU would be a huge surprise. Dukes will be coming off exams as they trek to Philly.

2 - Hofstra: the Pride (15-3) have a 3-game lead over Towson (12-6). All they need is 1 win this upcoming weekend at Towson to clinch the 2-seed. It really won't matter much in the grand scheme of things other than HU is still battling for an at-large NCAAT bid in case they don't win the auto bid at the CAAT. That is, the 2 & 3 seeds will face one another in the first round of the CAAT and that appears very likely to be HU and Towson.

3 - Towson: the Kitty Cats are 4 games ahead of CoC so they will be in the 2-3 game.

Then, there are 4 teams battling to qualify for the last 2 spots in the CAAT...

4 - CoC (8-10)
5 - Elon (7-11)
6 - UNCW (6-12)
7 - Delaware (5-11)

CoC travels to UNCW this weekend. They need 1 win to clinch their ticket to the 4-5 game at the CAAT. Elon travels to Delaware. Elon has the tie breaker over UNCW as well as CoC so Elon really needs to just get 1 win at Delaware and they are likely in.

(04-29-2018 11:09 PM)JMUNation Wrote: [ -> ]

(04-29-2018 03:21 PM)Wear Purple Wrote: [ -> ]

(04-25-2018 07:20 AM)JMUNation Wrote: [ -> ]I am worried. There wins are impressive.

Dukes are the ones who...

Man, I did not expect a sweep. I honestly did not think JMU would win the series. Win the regular season CAA title and the Dukes are a lock to make the NCAA tournament.

First off, shame on you for not believing. Secondly, the only way JMU would lose the regular season title now would be to drop 2 of 3 to last place Drexel (which has won a grand total of 3 conference games this year). What JMU is playing for now is a CAAT win and to host first round games.

I may have misheard on the madizone broadcast, but doesn't clinching the regular season title ensure that we host the tournament the following year as well?

(04-30-2018 08:09 AM)tribe_transfer Wrote: [ -> ]I may have misheard on the madizone broadcast, but doesn't clinching the regular season title ensure that we host the tournament the following year as well?

Yes. JMU has nailed down the 2019 host site for next year's CAAT. With a healthy Megan Good returning next year the run of hosting is likely to continue for at least another year after that.

Some observations about the sweep.....
1-We swept a very good Hofstra team. I'm glad most of their team starters will be graduating.
2-Awesome hitting. Most impressive was how our girls were adjusting to their pitching. One of their pitchers had a decent drop ball. We would miss the first drop ball each at bat, but you could then see our girls either check swing drop ball number 2 or take it for a ball.
Ashley Samuels massive HR over the left field stands was impressive.
We have some sticks in this lineup and they are producing.
3-Team defense. Talking with some fans who live in the area. A lot of our players are not playing their true positions. I think this accounts for many of our errors this season. I'll cut our SS some slack because she's a freshman.
4-Umpiring was very inconsistent. Game 2 umpires strike zone was confusing. Umpires also have a hard time with slapper hitting outside the box. New rule change implemented this season should have made it easier to call.
5-Kudos to Mrs. Alger for staying for both games Saturday. Her husband left after game 1.
6-Great fan support. Felt like playoff atmosphere. Just wish the CAA tourney could be played on a weekend.

Dukes move up into the Top 25 in this week's RPI... https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d...ftball-rpi

Good Gals sitting at #24 (up from #31 last week).

Hofstra actually moved up a spot to #26 this week. Each team's SOS in the RPI formula had to get a nice bump playing one another.

(04-30-2018 11:29 AM)JMU83 Wrote: [ -> ]3-Team defense. Talking with some fans who live in the area. A lot of our players are not playing their true positions. I think this accounts for many of our errors this season. I'll cut our SS some slack because she's a freshman.

One of the best plays all weekend has gone a bit unmentioned because of the situation at the moment. I'm talking about in the top of the 10th in Sunday's comeback win. The Hofstra batter hit a line shot and Morgan Tolle at 3B made an incredible catch - first, to get a glove on it to keep it from heading into the LF corner and an easy double (maybe triple) and second, to keep her concentration to catch the ball after it deflected off her glove. She had not even a split second to react to that screaming liner.

Not much said about it because the team was down at the moment having given up the go-ahead runs in the 10th. Could've been worse if not for Tolle's play.

Classy move by the coaches on Sunday.....they not only honored the JMU seniors but also presented flowers to the Hofstra seniors. The Hofstra players all looked very surprised so I don't think they knew that was going to happen. Nice gesture.

I agree totally with 83 on the umpiring. Horrible all three games - inconsistent strike zones all games, missed several calls on put-outs, especially at third base...and seemed to not be paying attention when they were in the field. Hopefully we never see any of those three umps again.

Hofstra is good but I think we are quite a bit better. I don't think they were prepared for the firepower and our pitchers kept their composure better than theirs did.

From the Sports Center top 10 worthy catch by Tolle in the 10th, Odicci gutting it out 10 on the mound, the team hitting, sliding into first (wtf?) and a strike zone that changed with every pitch....These young ladies just "Refuse to Lose".

I don't get to see a lot of games in person but every time I do, I say to myself... "self, this is so much fun, you need to get out to more games"

" With a healthy Megan Good returning next year the run of hosting is likely to continue for at least another year after that." and Odicci and Payton. What's not to like about that?