Long time travel ball parent here with my daughter going off to play in college next year. I think softball is about the best sport out there. Anyhow...

I HATE slappers and speedy players (unless they are on my team). You can be pitching great and still give up hits just due to speed. And how many times have I seen fielders panic on routine balls because they know the girl has speed? Too many to count. And pitchers pitch differently when speedy girls, or just girls in general, are on base. I am positive we saw that last night with UCLA.

I was surprised UCLA was so caught off-guard by Keely's rise ball. I know she is a great pitcher, but they only lost 4 games all year and certainly have seen some (lesser) rise ball pitchers. Makes me wonder how seriously they took us. Of course pure speculation on my part.

I think tonight's game will be a whole lot closer. And that second pitcher for UCLA gave us fits. Hopefully seeing her pitch last night will help the coach's game plan. I expect a very low scoring game tonight.

A few years ago I watched JMU beat LSU in game 1 of the Super Regional then lose the next two. I am hoping for better results for us, but UCLA has to be better than what we saw last night.

That was by far the longest mound visit I have ever seen. Maybe even twice as long as second place. I can't believe the umpire let that go on. -- On an aside, their coach was very well spoken.

I can't believe they did not give us a single replay of the "swings" that that did not look like swings. Normally that is the third base umpires call because it was not a clear swing by any stretch.