Bronco7454

Fresno State has had 4 of their 2023 softball players who have entered the transfer portal but only one of them saw significant playing time in 2023. That being Alesia Denby. MACKENNA STEELE AVERY LAWLEY ALESIA DENBY JUIA DOAN

By way of contrast Boise State has had six of their 2023 softball players enter the transfer portal. The only one of these six who played in more than a six games in 2023 was 2023 Boise State graduate Kelsey Hall - the 2023 Mountain West Conference softball Player of the Year. Half of these six players saw zero playing time in 2023. These six are: DP-OF-2B - Kelsey Hall - 2023 RS Junior - 2023 MWC Player of the Year in softball 1B - Zoe Karam - 2023 True Freshman - Played in 6 games with 1 start at 1B P - Amber Thornton - 2023 True Freshman (from Boise, ID) who pitched in 4 games in 2023 and had an ERA of 14.00 C/3B - Abigail "Abby" Edwards - 2023 True Freshman who was no playing time in 2023 P - Grace Kimball - 2023 Junior pitcher who did not play at all in 2023 MIF - Bobbiann Pratt - 2023 Junior - Her name was removed from the Boise State roster earlier this year.

That being Boise State's Kelsey Hall, the 2023 MWC POY in softball. This is shocking to me because just a couple of weeks ago she was quoted - after graduating - as saying her plans were to return to Boise State's softball team for the 2024 season. This will be her 2nd transfer, if she does, in fact, transfer from Boise State. She transferred from Fresno State to Boise State two years ago. Aren't the rules different now for those who transfer more than once? https://twitter.com/BradyVernon/status/1660774004775608320?t=UhrbXpeDDJ-ild3SJ1iOBg&s=19

San Diego State and Utah have played a whopping TEN common opponents this season. Here is how they fared against these other ten softball teams this season: ARIZONA STATE - SDSU lost 8-2 to ASU and Utah won two of three games vs. ASU by scores of 12-3, 8-6 and lost 8-10 LOYOLA MARYMOUNT - SDSU won 3-0 and lost 2-7 - Utah won 6-3 UCLA - SDSU lost 4-3 to UCLA and Utah lost 3 games to UCLA by scores of 0-3, 1-10 and 3-11 and won vs. UCLA in the PAC 12 tournament 7-4 OREGON - SDSU lost 4-6 to Oregon and Utah swept Oregon in 3 games by scores of 3-1, 8-2 and 2-0 UTAH VALLEY - SDSU beat UVU 6-1 and Utah beat UVU 9-0 BYU - SDSU beat BYU 4-1 and Utah beat BYU 6-4 OHIO STATE - SDSU lost to Ohio State 4-5 and Utah beat Ohio State 9-1 WASHINGTON - SDSU lost 0-5 to Washington and Utah won 1 game 2-1 and lost two games to Washington 5-6 and 3-5 LONG BEACH STATE - SDSU beat Long Beach State twice by scores of 5-0 and 4-3 and Utah beat Long Beach State once 4-0 UC SAN DIEGO - SDSU lost to UC San Diego 4-0 and Utah beat UC San Diego twice by identical scores of 7-0

The first five players listed above accounted for 67 starts for New Mexico's softball team in 2023. And those five players played in a total of 109 games in 2023 for New Mexico. Then there's the case of Brianna Martinez who started 96 games for New Mexico in 2022 and 2021 but, for reasons unknown, did not play at all for New Mexico in 2023.

I don't know if it qualifies as a back story but New Mexico has finished the last two softball seasons in last place in the MWC. And in 2021 they finished 7th out of 9 teams in the MWC and in 8th place (out of 9) in 2020. AND they finished dead last in 2019, 2018 and 2017. The last year that New Mexico finished above .500 in the MWC standings in softball was back in 2015 when they went 13-11 in the MWC that year. This year was also the first season for their new head coach. That being Nicole Dickson. Prior to arriving at New Mexico she was the head softball coach at Stephen F. Austin for six years.

Jenna Trim - 2023 JR - Pitcher / 1st Base - Started 28 games at 1B in 2023 - .222 BA - Pitched 5 innings with 11.20 ERA - 2022 transfer from Pensacola State - Native of Australia Leslie Romero - 2023 SR - Catcher - Started 14 games & played in 25 games in 2023 - .176 BA - .446 OPS Loran Walker - 2023 RS FR - Catcher - Started 11 games & played in 24 games in 2023 - .171 BA - .536 OPS Emmalyn Brinka - 2023 True FR - Pitcher - Started 9 games & pitched in 21 games in 2023 - 8.72 ERA in 47 1/3 innings. Olivia Birkinshaw - 2023 SO - 3B/RF/1B/DP - Started 5 games at 3B, 3 games in RF, 3 games as DP & 2 at 1B in 2023. Played in 29 games in 2023. Batted .286 in 42 AB's. Isabella "Bella" Mitchell - 2023 True Fr - Pitcher - Pitched in 5 games - 0 starts - 18.90 ERA in 3 1/3 innings. Brianna Martinez - 2022 JR - 3B/SS - She started all 53 games for NM in 2022. She started 22 games at 3B and 31 games at SS. But she - apparently - did not play at all for NM in 2023. She also started 43 games for NM during the 2021 season. Aysiah Gonzalez - 2022 SO - Catcher - She apparently was on the 2022 NM team but did not play at all during the 2023 season (not on their roster for 2023). She batted only .056 in 18 at bats in 2022. Started 5 games and played in 12 in 2022. Seleste Compian - 2023 True FR - Outfielder - She did not play at all for NM in 2023

San Diego State will play today once (or maybe twice) for the championship in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. Their opponent in the championship is Liberty. San Diego State beat Liberty 7-0 last Friday. In fact San Diego State - so far - has not given up any runs with their 7-0 win over Liberty on Friday and their 6-0 win over Grand Canyon yesterday. The OVERALL # 2 seed in the N.C.A.A. tournament, i.e., host school U.C.L.A. was the first team eliminated from this regional tournament with back to back losses to Grand Canyon (2-3) and Liberty (1-2). So San Diego State won't even have to play U.C.L.A. If San Diego State wins the first game today, beginning at 3 p.m. PT (4 p.m. MT), the Aztecs will be the champions of the 2023 NCAA Los Angeles Regional. If Liberty wins that first game today there will be a 2nd game today roughly 3 hours after the first game begins today. Liberty would have to win both games in order to advance to the Super Regional round. San Diego State has to win one of those two games to advance. P.S. Liberty is the # 2 seed at the NCAA Los Angeles regional. San Diego State is the # 3 Seed.

As someone who used to be an umpire (many many moons ago) I am all for this. I can only hope it also makes it to softball as well. I'm for it because the fans who "think" they can see a pitched ball better than the home plate umpire will no longer be able to scream at the ump about the call of ball or strike. Well, they CAN, but they'll be screaming at a machine rather than the umpire. Of course I'm assuming that they are still going to need a home plate umpire for all of the other things that they do during a baseball or softball game.

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