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(4) Florida vs (5) UCLA – Game Time Tomorrow 3:30pm ET ESPN

On paper this is the best matchup of the World Series, the deadly 4 vs 5 game…every coaches nightmare, every fans dream. Nobody and I mean nobody was hitting the ball as hard as UCLA in the Super Regionals, not even Hawaii. In two games they hit six homeruns, scored 20 runs, and finished Louisiana off in five innings in both.

But this ain’t no Ragin’ Cajun that they’re going up against tomorrow, it’s the Gators who are trying to make it to the championship game for the second year in row. And the Gators have gotten this far because of the arm of Stephanie Brombacher who has been the second best pitcher in the tournament behind Washington’s Daneille Lawrie. She’s pitched every inning and only allowed five runs in five games meaning she’s a stud!

I love it when we can say I told you so and this is one of those occasions. For the second straight season Washington Huskies pitcher Danielle Lawrie will be taking home the award for player in year of college softball and here’s a quick list of reasons why.

Her team is 50-7 and was ranked #1 the entire year. She leads the nation in wins with 40. She’s thrown 3 perfect games this season. Has 24 shutouts, which leads the nation and is a school record. Has the second best ERA in the nation at 1.00. Only walks one batter per game, while striking out 12. And she leads her team in homeruns (15) and RBI’s (57).

FUN FACT: Lawrie becomes only the second player to repeat as POY, the other player to do it was Texas pitcher Cat Osterman who won it three times in a row.

As you can probably tell from our coverage softball is our favorite of all the spring sports and now we are into the World Series, the last eight teams. And besides the Hawaii vs Missouri game, the other three are all Pac 10 teams vs SEC teams.

The two softball power conferences. Well actually the SEC isn’t really a softball power conference, with them having never won a national title. The Pac 10 meanwhile have won 22 of the 28 championships. Anyways it’s going to be some good series. All four of the series start up on Thursday and I’ll be previewing one today and three tomorrow.

(16) Hawaii vs (9) Missouri
Hawaii is the most dangerous team in the tournament thanks to their power. Coming into the tournament they were leading the nation in homers (154), hitting over 2 a game and they haven’t shown any sign of slowing up. They come into this matchup with all the confidence in the world after beating #1 seed Alabama in the regionals, which is why I’m taking them to beat the Tigers who have had one of the easiest roads to the WCWS.

What a great weekend of softball that was. You had major upsets: the number one seed Crimson Tide was upset by 16 seeded Hawaii on a walk off homerun, the Michigan Wolverine, the number two seed got swept by Tennessee. You had drama: After losing the first game of the series and with their backs against the wall the third seed Washington Huskies won their final two games to become the highest seed to move onto WCWS.

If you missed any of the action I encourage you to look at our daily recaps from the Super Regionals and you can expect the same kind of coverage for the upcoming College Baseball Tournament. Below of the WCWS matchups, which begins on Thursday.

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UCLA pounds Louisiana Lafayette 10-1
UCLA has found their swing. After beasting Louisiana Lafayette yesterday in five innings 10-2, they came right back and did it again today beating them 10-1 in five this time. The game was still in reach for the Ragin Cajuns all the way up until the top of the fifth inning when UCLA exploded for 7 runs to go up 10-1.

Florida cancels Arizona State 5-2
Never underestimate the power of the home run. Florida only managed to get six hits in this one, but three of those went for home runs and gave the Gators four runs in the process. After losing in the championship series to Washington last year, Florida will now be making their third straight trip to the WCWS and they’ll be looking for revenge.

Missouri downs Oregon 7-2
Missouri who won their 51st game (a school record) will be moving onto the WCWS and facing Hawaii after errors once again lost the game for the Oregon Ducks. In Game 1 two big errors lost them a game where they outplayed the Missouri Tigers and in this one a rash of missed tags and errant throws throughout the game cost them the win.

Hawaii/Alabama Recap Below…

Florida rolls Arizona State 8-0
This one like a few other games today was over in the five innings. Florida poured on 6 runs in the 5th to go up 8 and end the game on the mercy rule. The final hit of the game was 2 run bomb by Corrie Brooks that was so deep it cleared the scoreboard in center. Hats off to Gator pitcher Stephanie Brombacher who has pitched three shutouts in the first four games. Game 2 is tomorrow at 3:30 pm ET.

UCLA vs Louisiana Lafayette
I can already tell ULL is no match for UCLA. They’re a slapper team with no power and UCLA is hitting the ball as good and as hard as anybody in the tournament. This game was basically over in the 2nd when UCLA scored 7 runs. Game 2 is tomorrow at 7:00 pm ET.

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Washington moves past Oklahoma 4-0
After throwing over 100 pitches in a 2 hit shutout to lead Washington to a 3-0 win in Game 2, Danielle Lawrie came right back like an hour later and bested that performance in the third and decisive game. In Game 3 she had 17 stirkeouts. Seventeen strikeouts in another complete game shutout, this time winning by the score of 4-0 and giving up 5 hits.

The Huskie bats even woke up in the game, getting 4 runs on 5 hits. Most of the damage was done by Shawna Wright who hit a 3 run HR in the 1st. Now it’s onto the WCWS for the Huskies and after what I saw in Game 2 & 3 they’re my favorite to win it.

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