It is officially survive and advance time as the Huskies will take on South Florida in the Fayetteville regional on Friday evening. But, how we got here is also worth discussing. I wrote in the Friday Dots that my optimism wavers and there are reasons for that. Those reasons showed themselves in the Big Ten tournament last week, and if the Huskies are to make a run, they’ll have to correct those fast!
Wednesday’s game was against the Golden Gophers of Minnesota and was delayed an hour because of rain
in College Park, Maryland. When the rain cleared up, Minnesota got on the board first thanks to an untimely error by Marley Teasley on a double. From there, the Huskies locked in and delivered a team gem of a performance, with Teasley singling up the middle to bring in Melody Acevado to open the Huskies’ scoring. Afterwards, outside of a homer from Cassie Johnson of Minnesota, pitcher Morgan Reimer had herself a game, striking out 6 on 120 pitches.
Offensively, the Dawgs were led by Marley Teasley (2-2, BB, 1 RBI), Giselle Alvarez (2-3, 2B, SB, BB) and Ava Carroll (RBI Double, SB). A late game wild pitch gave the Dawgs some breathing room, and Reimer shut the door, putting the cap on a 4-2 Husky win.
The next day, the Dawgs took on the 4 seeded Indiana Hoosiers. This was seen as a battle of great pitching (Washington) vs great hitting (Indiana). Ultimately, the great hitting won out, as the Huskies couldn’t capitalize on their chances on offense, save for a 2 run single by Alexis Deboer, who brought in Mila Reddy and Marley Teasley in the 5th. The Hoosiers, meanwhile, scratched across 9 runs off 4 extra base hits (2 doubles, 2 home runs). The Huskies ultimately ran out of gas in the conference tournament, losing 9-2 and being eliminated in the quarterfinals.
It wasn’t all bad news, however, as on Sunday evening, the Huskies found out that they’ll be traveling to the home of the Razorbacks, Fayetteville, Arkansas, to take on the South Florida Bulls as a 7 seed, with the winner most likely facing Arkansas. This is their 32nd consecutive NCAA regional appearance.
Some of the Huskies also earned all conference honors, with Giselle Alvarez and Alexis Deboer earning first team All Big Ten.
Deboer was also named to the conference’s all Defensive team:
Pitcher Morgan Reimer made the All Big Ten Second team after going 23-7 with a 2.75 ERA. Two Freshmen (Melody Acevado and Kaycie Burdick) made the Big Ten All Freshman team. Acevado posted a .353 average, with 41 hits, 3 homers and 23 driven in, while Burdick put up a .375 average, 57 hits, 2 home runs and 30 driven in. A big congratulations to our Huskies for a great season!
South Florida is next up, in what will be the kickoff of double elimination play on Friday evening. The Huskies will then face either Arkansas or Fordham on Saturday. Here’s hoping that the Huskies make a run to get to Oklahoma City, but the competition will be fierce, especially if they face Arkansas.
