What went down in the second week of college softball? The aim each week is to bring you five stories that defined the week in college softball or helped teams navigate the long road to Oklahoma City and the Women's College World Series.
1. Round 1 to Lexie Elkins and Louisiana-Lafayette
Call it Round 1 between No. 8 Louisiana-Lafayette and No. 5 Oregon because this may not be the last time the two teams with World Series aspirations and talent cross paths this season. A three-game series between highly ranked teams, still not the norm out of conference in college softball, lived up to the billing. The Ducks left Lafayette with a 12-11 advantage in total runs, but the Ragin' Cajuns claimed the bigger prize with two wins.
While any game or series comes down to more than a particular one-on-one battle between a pitcher and batter, the encounters between Elkins, Louisiana-Lafayette's senior All-American, and Oregon ace Cheridan Hawkins were representative of the reason the series came out the way it did.
The mid-major program built by Yvette Girouard and honed into a heavyweight by Michael Lotief (along with wife, Stefni) put its best up against Oregon and the nation's best in the circle.
And Elkins got the best of the exchange.
After hitting five home runs in the season's opening weekend, Elkins hit two more off Hawkins in the Oregon series, including one in the first inning of Louisiana-Lafayette's 5-4 win in a finale played in front of 2,315 fans (the previous day's doubleheader drew 2,273). That the Ragin' Cajuns won twice had as much to do with a pair of effective complete-game wins from Alex Stewart in the circle and big hits from Haley Hayden, but take Elkins' hits for what they are -- reminders that Louisiana-Lafayette is a big program in a small setting.
2. James Madison wins the SEC primary
Politicians won't enter their version of the so-called SEC primary until March 1, when a host of Southern states are among those opening the voting booths. But a school named for the fourth president, No. 20 James Madison, showed poll voters a lot with wins against both No. 3 Auburn and No. 14 Tennessee among a five-game sweep at a tournament in Clearwater, Florida.
The same week she was named one of 25 finalists for the Lowe's Senior Class Award, James Madison's Jailyn Ford became the first pitcher this season to slow down, let alone beat, Auburn when she allowed just three hits and two walks in seven innings in a 3-2 win against the Tigers. Ford also shut down Tennessee in the rare run-rule loss for the Lady Vols. And when not catching pitches from both Ford and Megan Good, catcher Erica Field spent the bulk of the weekend tormenting opposing pitchers. She reached base in 14 of 18 plate appearances.
The Dukes earned a rare prize for a mid-major a season ago -- at least by those other than the Ragin' Cajuns -- with an NCAA tournament seed and a home regional. They did so in large part on the resume-building strength of wins against UCF, Minnesota and North Carolina. Two weeks into the new season, they already duplicated the win against UCF and potentially topped the others with wins against SEC powers, particularly Auburn. The schedule is built for a purpose, with games remaining against Arizona, Arizona State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio State and Virginia Tech among others, but James Madison is already setting itself up for the opportunity to play more postseason softball on its home field in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
3. Texas A&M puts on a Show
The week featured offensive numbers across the country. LSU's Kellsi Kloss drove in nine runs in one game, joining a 20-way tie for the third-most RBIs in a game in NCAA history. Michigan's Sierra Romero hit three more home runs and now stands two away from the top 20 all time.
Still, for consistency of production, not to mention potential implications, no team did better at the plate than No. 23 Texas A&M. The Aggies even stuck the landing, rallying for five runs and a walk-off win in the seventh inning of the finale against New Mexico. After a midweek run-rule win against Sam Houston State, Texas A&M won all six of its games in the Mary Nutter Classic and outscored Central Michigan, No. 16 UCF, UCSB, No. 9 Washington, No. 10 Arizona and New Mexico 61-27.
Batting third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in those five games, Tori Vidales, Cali Lanphear and Ashley Walters combined to go 19-for-46 with five home runs and 20 RBIs. But the show stealer, don't pardon the pun, was freshman Samantha Show. In addition to working 27 innings in the circle and going 5-0 for the week as a pitcher, she hit two home runs and drove in four runs in the win against Arizona on Sunday that cemented the team's stellar week.
4. Central Michigan's terrible, horrible, really good, great day
It should be said that there are a lot of days remaining in the softball season. But if anyone wants to wager that all of those days and all of those games still to be played will offer a stranger series of events than that which befell Central Michigan on Saturday, go right ahead.
In the span of a few hours near Palm Springs, California, the Chippewas earned one of the signature wins in program history against No. 10 Arizona and then lost a game 23-0 to No. 9 Washington.
It forgets history to call Saturday's 4-1 win against Arizona the best win in Central Michigan annals. In a very different time and different NCAA tournament, after all, Central Michigan won a game against Florida State in the 1987 Women's College World Series. The program has been to the NCAA tournament 14 times, which necessitates big wins along the way. But beating Arizona in this day and age, a team that entered the game unbeaten and coming off a big win a day earlier against No. 4 LSU, does rank as an early contender for surprise of the season.
Just as it developed a reputation for producing quarterbacks in football, the MAC has turned out more than its share of pitching aces in recent years, from former Kent State and current NPF success Emma Johnson to Ball State's Elizabeth Milian and quite a few more. The rest of the weekend in California didn't go well for the Chippewas, as the Washington score suggests, but that win against Arizona showed that junior Rachael Knapp may be part of the MAC trend. She struck out 12 Wildcats and allowed just four hits in the game, and there is a body of work behind the day of her life, including a 2.00 ERA and 219 strikeouts in 206 2/3 innings a season ago.
5. Oregon's other team starts strong
Well, that headline ought to drive Oregon State fans to distraction. But the truth is that Oregon has been the dominant softball program in the state ever since Mike White took over in Eugene.
A World Series team in 2006, Oregon State has been on the hunt for pitching ever since.
It's fine to wait a few weeks before calling off the search, especially with games looming against Oklahoma, Michigan, Baylor, North Carolina, Northwestern and Fresno State, but Oregon State freshman Meehra Nelson was eye-catchingly impressive in her first two weekends. Nelson, who shut out Kentucky a week earlier, went 4-0 in her second weekend. She pitched 20 innings, allowed 15 hits and six earned runs and struck out 30 batters against just five walks. It's that last combination, the strikeout rate and strikeout-to-walk ratio, that jumps off the page. The Beavers haven't had a pitcher in a long time who could get herself out of jams. Strikeouts aren't everything, but when any contact could send a ball over the fence, missing bats matters.
With a lineup that includes Natalie Hampton, who went 11-for-20 with 14 RBIs in the team's six games this past week, Oregon State will be a fun team if it has an ace.