* Pull out the brooms and check out some teams who swept through their weekend; that’s featured on our partner site, Extra Inning Softball. Click here.*
The Big Ten and Big 12 kicked off conference play this week, the last Power Five conferences to do so. Across the nation, conference series’ in the Big South, ASun, and Conference USA, among others, continued to set a trend of early conference matchups with big postseason implications. Here are our picks for the weekend’s players, teams, and performances that you don’t want to miss.
Alyssa Denham, Arizona
When celebrating their 21st birthday, some people have a party; others choose to celebrate a personal “first” of some kind. For Arizona pitcher Alyssa Denham, she decided to throw her first career no-hitter. In her first pitching performance of her team’s series against Oregon State in Corvallis, Denham held the Beavers’ bats in check. The junior hurler collected eight strikeouts en route to the first no-hitter of her career, moving to 7-2 on the year. Oh, and instead of cake, her teammates decided that a refreshing shower was a proper gift.
Miranda Elish, Texas
Elish’s name may not come up often when discussing the great dual-threat players in softball. She wasn’t a frequent batter at Oregon, but has picked up the stick quite often since reaching Austin, even playing the field or filling the designated player role when not pitching. On Friday, Elish took the circle to open Big 12 play for her team against Iowa State. She proceeded to dominate the Cyclones in the circle, en route to the second no-hitter of her career and the first in burnt orange. She struck eight along the way, finishing just a walk shy of a perfect game. Not content to impress in the circle, Elish also made an impact with her bat. The junior went 2-4 at the plate, collecting five RBIs that included a walk-off grand slam in the fifth inning to invoke the run-rule. The grand slam was the first of Elish’s career.
Longwood Lancers
Coming into the weekend series against USC-Upstate, the Lancers had some question marks. They looked spotty against Winthrop to open Big South play, and lost big in a midweek doubleheader against James Madison. The series’ importance was underscored by the fact that it was the two postseason stalwarts’ first meeting since USC-Upstate joined the Big South, and would likely play a heavy factor in determining postseason seeding. Even with the high stakes, the Lancers swept through the three-game set, winning by scores of 6-5, 9-5, and 2-1. The series finale, dubbed by some as an “instant classic” went to fifteen innings, with no scoring after the 4th until a Kaylynn Batten solo home run walked it off in the 15th.
Ashley Westbrooks, Winthrop
The Eagles’ junior third baseman hit .600 during a weekend non-conference series against Binghamton, gathering multiple hits in each of her team’s three games against the Bearcats. Westbrooks hit four home runs in the series, adding an RBI double in the series finale, and came just a solo shot shy of hitting for the ‘Home Run Cycle’ in the series. Westbrooks also collected twelve RBIs.
Maddi Hackbarth, Arizona State
Arizona State’s impressive and dynamic offense put forty-five runs on the board in the three-game series against Utah, and of the many offensive stars on the Sun Devil roster, none shone bright than Maddi Hackbarth, the junior backstop. Hackbarth recorded five hits on the weekend… and every one of them went over the fence for a home run. She hit a pair of longballs in the series opener, then hit a trio of roundtrippers in the final game of the series, including a solo home run that got the scoring started in the Sun Devils’ last-inning comeback in the 18-17 finale thriller.
Missouri Tigers
It isn’t possible to appropriately underscore the job that Larissa Anderson has done since arriving at Missouri. Taking over a team that endured a particularly tumultuous 2018, and saw most of the biggest names on the roster elect to transfer out before Anderson even got to Columbia, the Tigers were later unexpectedly slapped with a plethora of NCAA sanctions that is currently under appeal for overzealousness. While it would be easy to get caught up in the off-field happenings, Anderson’s club now boasts a streak of five consecutive wins in SEC play after the sweep over Kentucky and now sit four games above .500 on the year, and are above the .500 mark for the first time in conference play.
Hanna Rebar, North Texas
Leading her team in one of the afore-mentioned conference series’ taking place early, but with big postseason implications, Rebar put on an incredible offensive show in the Mean Green’s opener against Louisiana Tech. The junior outfielder went 3-4 on the day with three home runs, finishing a grand slam short of the home run cycle. Rebar hit a solo shot in the fourth inning, then followed that up with a 2-run shot in the sixth and a three-run home run in the 7th that gave her team the lead for the first time in the game, and would ultimately prove to be the game-deciding runs.
