Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms ripped through the Oklahoma City area Friday, postponing the Women’s College World Series at the ASA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.
The two games that were supposed to take place on the second day of competition featured matchups between Washington-Tennessee and Oklahoma-Texas in the winner’s bracket. Now, the winner’s bracket will hold its games at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. PT, respectively on June 1.
ASU resides in the loser’s bracket, where the Sun Devils must win four consecutive games to advance to the championship series.
Their elimination game with eighth-seeded Michigan will now take place at 6:30 p.m. PT on ESPN. The ASU-Michigan game was supposed to tip off at 11:30 a.m. PT that day, but the storms pushed back the schedule.
All WCWS teams reported through social media they were safe throughout the storm as they took shelter beneath their hotel.
Losing home run bounces off Caporuscio’s glove aided by gusting winds
With wind gusts blowing out at speeds of 23 miles per hour in ASU’s 6-3 loss to Texas, junior pitcher Dallas Escobedo had to be particularly careful when on the mound.
Escobedo came in to the Women’s College World Series allowing 37 home runs, and even ordinary fly balls could end up turning into round-trippers.
In the second inning, Texas senior designated player Kim Bruins stepped up to the plate, and did just that, hitting a fly ball to left.
The ball carried into deep left field, and sophomore outfielder Elizabeth Caporuscio reached over the wall, taking a home run away from Bruins.
“I hit it and I thought it was going to be a flyout, but the wind kept pushing it and pushing it,” Bruins said.
In the fifth inning, Bruins stepped up to the plate again, and this time, the game was on the line. The previous batter for Texas tied the game at two, and the Longhorns possessed all the momentum.
She hit another fly ball – at almost the identical location on the field – but this time the ball bounced off Caporuscio’s glove and over the left field fence.
“I thought it (she) was going to catch it all the way,” Escobedo said. “To see it go all the way (out of the park) kind of shook me. I mean it’s a home run, so shake it off. The wind, you can’t control some things, so being able to control the controllables is what I was trying to do. They just got us tonight. That’s all I can say.”
The play gave Texas the lead, one they wouldn’t relinquish. The play was difficult to Caporuscio to take, considering the stakes.
“I said (to Caporuscio), ‘You’re okay. You’re okay,’” Johnson said. “She was obviously a little upset because it hit right off her glove. That type of stuff happens. The wind was blowing pretty hard. It was a tough play to make, and I just said, shake it off. You’ve got the next one.”
With Escobedo being a rise ball pitcher, naturally, she’s going to give up fly balls. It would have been difficult for her to drastically change her pitching repertoire and expect good results.
“I thought they were just pop-ups, but knowing the wind was blowing out, I should have looked at it a little more,” Escobedo said. “But I still stuck with what I was going to throw with my plan. I could have done better throwing between the wind. … Sometimes it blows over the fence, and that’s what happened.”
Johnson utilizes short game to get back on track
Johnson’s hitting results fluctuate more frequently than any of her ASU softball teammates.
As the Sun Devils' leadoff hitter, consistency would be ideal, but her batting average see-saws through peaks and valleys.
To start the season, Johnson battled a 3-for-30 slump, but quickly got hot again, hitting 36-for-83 (.434) in the next 28 games before being suspended for violating team rules.
Following her six-game suspension, Johnson went 10-for-50 at the plate entering the Super Regional against Kentucky.
The 2012 First-Team All-American recently made some adjustments in her approach, leading to improved results deep in the postseason.
“As a matter of fact, the big guy over there (ASU coach Clint Myers) was telling me what to do; stay short and direct to the ball,” Johnson said Sunday. “Sometimes I have a tendency to tighten up at the plate and swing a lot bigger and harder. I’m just trying to keep it as short as possible and stay direct to the ball.”
Johnson utilizes a unique skillset, having home run capabilities, while also possessing the ability to steal bases.
Johnson has six hits in eight at-bats against in her last three games. Two of the three games were multi-hit games, and in the other, she drove in two of ASU’s three runs.
Amber Freeman named NFCA First Team All-American
Add NFCA First Team All-America to sophomore catcher Amber Freeman's growing list of honors.
Freeman, the 2013 Pac-12 Player of the Year, who also blogs for ESPNW, has elevated her game to an elite level.
She entered the Women’s College World Series second among ASU starters with a .369 average, 18 homers, and 61 RBI.
Last year, Freeman made the Women’s College World Series All-Tournament team with a .500 batting average.
Wigness, Parlich named Academic All-Americans
Junior outfielder Bailey Wigness was honored with the Elite 89 Award at the Women’s College World Series banquet on Tuesday.
The award is given to the player with the highest cumulative grade-point average from the eight remaining schools in the postseason.
Wigness, a double major in political science and communication, sports a 4.0 cumulative GPA.
She, along with senior second baseman Sam Parlich, was also named to the Capital One First Team Academic All-America team.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @jjanssen11
