Oklahoma is killing me in the 4th inning

[darken]

And here I was thinking how sad it was that rain decided the National Championship.

Puh-lease. The players in the rain decided the National Championship. One team let the weather get to them, one did not. And it wasn't just Rickett's WPs. The SS threw an easy out into the ground and the LF made a poor throw home. Not one error during the rain by Alabama, in fact two nice plays by 2B who had committed a errors earlier in the series.

The Sooner's fate was sealed the minute their coach stormed out of the dugout to complain about her pitcher's grip on the ball. Sent a clear message to her team that she thought they were not in control of the game and they had a perfect excuse to lose focus.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide, down by 2 runs, cheered and danced with their fans.

-D

 

[Amy in AZ.]

The rain decided this game. But, in the long run it was the money train. When my BIL worked for the CO. Rockies, a few years ago, it cost a million dollars to re-schedule a televised game. I don't know what it cost to stop one that had started and play the next day. There was just no reason, to start that game. But, I don't know what the weather was like for today. Denver got hit with severe weather last night, so maybe some more bad weather would have moved through today.

I kept wondering if no one in charge, had ever heard of lightening? You certainly don't have to have any in the area, for the first strike to hit. And why on earth did the LA. team go stand out in the rain? One bolt of lightning would have been devastating.

I am in AZ., so I knew little of either team. I certainly wasn't pulling for either of them. I just like to see softball played rain free.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I'm not a big Bama fan, but I don't hate them either. They played the whole series well, you can't take that away from anyone. I'm starting to wonder what this shows about the Tide, isn't it their 4th National title this school year?

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

I am guessing that nobody would be complaining about the rain if OU (or a Pac 12) team would have won the championship.

 

[Dtwn92]

The players in the rain decided the National Championship. One team let the weather get to them, one did not.

Not really! There was a difference in the severity in the rain. I guess I'd say thier fate was sealed when 'Bama had more runs than them at the end of the game. Oh, and the hip check down the 1st base line that would have tied the game up.

In any case, the rain played a huge part in the game and should have never been played. well, not never but that night.

 

[Dtwn92]

I am guessing that nobody would be complaining about the rain if OU (or a Pac 12) team would have won the championship.

I don't think that is it at all. The way the game was handled was the complaint. Not who won!

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

I don't think that is it at all. The way the game was handled was the complaint. Not who won!

But , both teams had to deal with the same set of circumstances. One team handled it well , the other lost their composure.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Hi Cyclone. I was thinking that the more it rained, the wetter and heavier the ball was getting, thus the throwing errors. You just cannot get a grip on a rain soaked softball. I wondered why they didn't bring out 100 softballs and start trying to dry some off?

 

[TNTCoach]

Two Sooner mistakes seemed to be the difference in my opinion. One was the routine out by the SS that was thrown into the dirt and the other was the base running error/out in the 7th. It appeared that the Sooner runner would have reached safely had she not got left of the line running to 1st and ran into the Bama fielder. The next shot was a bomb that would have been a 2 run homer instead of a solo shot. But the bottom line is that you can debate this all you want but it is in the books forever.

 

[Sweet Lou]

I didn't have a horse in the race. I was pulling for Cal and made no secrect of it and both OU & Bama outplayed them on the field. It wasn't crazy bounces, bad umpiring or rain.

Last night was ridiculous. How anyone could claim the weather didn't change the outcome didn't wacth the game or read the stat line.

In 5 non-rain innings - Ricketts - 5H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 Ks - no WPs - no erros but one PB that I thought should have been a WP.
In one wet slooppy rain soaked inning - Ricketts - 2 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 4 WPs and one big OU error.

This is softball, not soccer. Just because Bama survived their rainy 1/2 inning doesn't mean it was right to play through that weather. And Amy is right, the longer the rain comes the worse the field and ball gets.