SB at Georgia Tech Buzz Classic - March 6-8

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Softball heads to Atlanta to play 6 games in 3 days at the Buzz Classic hosted by Georgia Tech. ISU is 3-2 on the young season - with five games already canceled/postponed due to weather/field conditions on the season. Forecast is favorable in Atlanta for the weekend. Should be a tough test for our Sycamores.

Friday's Opponents:
The Mercer Bears (1pm ET) are 13-6 on the season and just went to Auburn on Tuesday and swept a DH from the nationally ranked Tigers to drop Auburn to 17-6 on the season. Mercer finished 32-27 a season ago.
The Georgia State Panthers (6pm ET) are 6-6 on the season, including a win over MVC rival Evansville. Georgia State was 37-18 last season.
Saturday's Opponents:
The Howard Bison (11am ET)are 3-8 on the season. Last year, the Bison went 23-17.
The Purdue Boilermakers (1pm ET) are 7-4 so far this year, with wins over nationally ranked UCLA and Auburn on the resume. Purdue was in the NCAA Tourney last season, winning a contest in the UCLA regional in post-season play in 2008.
Sunday's Opponents:
The Jacksonville State Gamecocks (10am ET)come into the weekend with a record of 11-4. Their losses this season are to nationally ranked Alabama (#1), Auburn, and Louisville - along with South Florida. The Gamecocks were 40-16 a season ago, and were a game away from moving onto the SuperRegional Round of NCAA play, after they won two contests in the Tuscaloosa regional in 2008.
The Kennesaw State Owls (12pm ET) are 6-9 on the season. Kennesaw has a win over Mississippi state already this season. In 2008, Kennesaw went 36-17.

All games can be followed on GameTracker from the Buzz Classic Tournament page.

 

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Looks like GameTracker was only being used on Fields 1 and 2 today, so no live coverage for ISU - but we are on Field 2 for the rest of the weekend, so hopefully there will be coverage.

Can't find many details from other team sites, but it looks like we split today - losing the opener to Mercer 8-3 and then bouncing back to beat Georgia State 9-6. Probably a bit rusty after not having played a contest since Feb. 15. Puts us at 4-3 on the season.
Purdue beat the host Yellow Jackets today, but lost their other game to Bowling Green. We play Howard (lost 1-0 to Akron and 12-6 to Austin Peay today) and Purdue tomorrow.

 

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Softball drops two today in Atlanta, falling 6-4 to Howard and 1-0 to Purdue. Looks like we tried to rest some regulars against Howard and it came back to cost us, as we fell behind 6-1 and rallied to make it 6-4 in the 7th. Had a runner on 2nd with no outs in the 7th, but couldn't get any more. Strand 10 runners in the contest. In game 2, we lose a close game to Purdue by a 1-0 score. Wood gives up a solo HR in the 3rd, and that holds up for the Boilers. In the bottom of the 7th, we load the bases with 0 outs, but are unable to get a run across. Wood strikes out 7 in the loss.
Doesn't get easier tomorrow, with two good teams - Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State.

 

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Two more tight losses today for our Sycamores, falling 8-6 to Jax State and then losing a heart-breaker to Kennesaw State 1-0 in 9 innings.
On the plus side, it appears that Sr. Darcy Wood might be back to form after having to sit out last year with a shoulder injury. She had to come in to finish the Jax State game, throwing 1 1/3 inning and striking out 2 while allowing 1 hit and no runs. All 8 of the Jax State runs scored with 2 outs, and ISU held a 6-5 lead going into the 6th, but couldn't hold on. Then Wood pitched a complete game in the 9 inning loss to Kennesaw, allowing only 3 hits and striking out 13. At one point of the contest, she had retired 18 consecutive Owl hitters. Sycamores strand 13 baserunners in the loss, including hitting into a line drive double play to end the bottom of the 8th. Kennesaw also scores with two outs on a double steal play when our SS drops the throw to 2b in the 9th. The tournament used the international tie-breaker rule (place a runner on 2b to begin the 8th inning) - which we won't have to do in conference play. While the record isn't what you'd like to see, it is a promising sign if Wood is back to form.
McCurdy didn't pitch all weekend, as she was injured in Corpus Christi tourney. Not sure when she will be back. We had 5 freshmen in the starting line up vs. Kennesaw State.
Hopefully, the Sycs can bounce back this week with a game Wed. at Eastern Illinois and then a DH Thursday at SEMO before opening conference play next weekend at Wichita.