Even facing one of the most intimidating lineups in college softball, certainly its most prolific offense so far this season, James Madison wasn't after an upset for the ages as it prepared to face Auburn in the fourth of five games at the past weekend's Michele Smith Invitational.
If David studied Goliath's spray charts in advance of their famous encounter, that part of the preparation got left out of the conventional telling.
James Madison coach Mickey Dean merely had to decide which of two capable co-aces to start. He didn't need a miracle. He just needed data.
The choice was left-handed senior Jailyn Ford.
"Looking at their spray charts, the number of left-handed hitters in the lineup and where they liked to hit the ball, where their hot zones were, we felt like [Ford] matched up against their weaknesses," Dean said of an opponent that had scored 87 runs a week earlier and ranked fifth in the nation in runs per game a season ago. "And then we felt that her strength was a little bit better than their strength, when it came to being a left-handed pitcher facing those left-handed hitters."
Ford went the distance and limited previously unbeaten Auburn to three hits, two walks and two earned runs in a 3-2 win. That came a day after she threw a two-hit shutout against ranked Tennessee.
Add a no-hit relief appearance in the weekend finale against Oklahoma State and Ford emerged from the tournament in Clearwater, Florida, with two wins and a save. She struck out 18 batters in 13 2/3 innings, allowed five hits and only those two earned runs against Auburn.
The team's cleanup hitter, she also hit a home run and produced a .500 on-base percentage.
Add it all up and you have espnW's national player of the week.
There were no easy games in Florida for James Madison, which also beat DePaul, Fordham and Oklahoma State behind strong starts from sophomore Megan Good. But the games against SEC teams, especially third-ranked Auburn, stood out. The Dukes play in the mid-major Colonial Athletic Association, a good softball conference capable at times of earning multiple NCAA tournament bids but one that rarely is rewarded with the seeds that go to the bracket's top 16 teams. James Madison rose above that when it earned a seed a season ago, but it didn't advance from the regional it hosted.
Wins against Auburn and Tennessee, a week after a 2-1 loss against Alabama in which Ford pitched well against another World Series-caliber team, go a long way toward establishing at least the foundation for another seed this season. James Madison is one of the nation's best teams because it has two of the nation's better pitchers at its core.
Ford's ability to stay in control against Auburn was masterful. With the possible exception of Florida, no team extends pitchers as well as Auburn. Almost to a batter, the Tigers wait for their pitch and take the walk if they don't see it. Yet only three batters were ahead in the count when they recorded outs. It takes good pitches to strike out Auburn batters nine times, as Ford did, but it takes even better focus to get through seven innings without faltering.
"We want her to understand that she is who she is," Dean said. "So don't try to be somebody else. You go out there and pitch your game, no matter who the hitter is. But what we do have to understand, for each of their top hitters, we want to know what their strength is because we don't want to make a mistake in that hitter's zone. If we're going to make a mistake, let's make the mistake out of that zone. And she really did a good job of that in both [the Auburn and Tennessee] games."
To underscore the accomplishment, Auburn took out its annoyance on DePaul and Fordham in the form of 36 runs and 43 hits in the two games immediately after Ford slowed its bats.
Big games remain for James Madison, which loaded its schedule with power programs before and even during conference play. Some days it will be Ford, some days it will be Good and many days it will a combination of the two.
"We felt with the pitching staff that we had, this was the year to go out and really challenge this team the entire season," Dean said. "If you look at our schedule, we have ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC opponents throughout our entire schedule. That was by design. We needed to be tested."
Ford aced this one.