Good morning from the Hoover Met. It's raining! I know you are all very shocked by this development.

Good news is it's much more of a mist than a rain, and they're pulling the tarp off as we speak. Will have live updates on the first game of the double-elimination bracket starting, hopefully, in about 45 minutes.

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I say it's about time - though full implementation of a robot umpire in MLB will take some time. You still need the home plate umpire to call out the balls and strikes, to judge plays in the vicinity of home plate, be the final arbiter in disputes, etc. However, none of these guys really know if a ball catches the edge of the plate. Let the professionals take that on with 100% accuracy - the robots!

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35434317/sources-all-aaa-parks-use-electronic-strike-zone-23

Mark Kingston announced this morning that James Hicks will start for the Gamecocks tomorrow in Hoover against Georgia, with Cade Austin likely to be the first man to follow him.

Hicks threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings against Georgia in the regular season, while Austin didn't pitch that weekend. Hicks has never pitched in the SEC Tournament, Austin allowed one run in 2 2/3 IP in that Tuesday game in Hoover against Florida last season.

Meanwhile Georgia has big news, as its ace Jaden Woods is back from injury after five weekends out. Woods allowed three runs in seven innings against South Carolina back on the first day of SEC play, striking out a career-high 11 batters in that game. Cole Messina and Ethan Petry hit home runs off of him in that start, though. Woods also has a career 0.00 ERA in Hoover, throwing 7 2/3 scoreless innings in two outings (one in 2021 against LSU, the other last year against Alabama).

First pitch is currently set for 10:30 a.m. on SEC Network although -- and this will come as a surprise to absolutely nobody -- there is rain in the forecast.

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Big lift for the 2023-24 Bball team.

The Women's Golf team became the second spring sports team to reach the Elite 8 yesterday. In the Women's Golf tourney, the top eight teams advance to matchup play rounds.

South Carolina finished fourth at +1 and play that other USC on the west coast that finished fifth +2.

Both teams low round of the four day tournament is 276. South Carolina had an awful day three and finished 302, that is the high round for any team that advanced to the round of eight. Carolina finished better than So Cal two rounds, tied their score on another, and then were 12 worse on day three.

Gamer from game one in Hoover with quotes from James Hicks, Will Tippett and Mark Kingston. If you're subscribed, I'll have another story on the game coming out in a bit. As always thanks for reading!

Hello from Hoover. It's raining, because that's how it works here.

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That's this man's opinion.

GO GAMECOCKS!!!

Friends of P (Petry)

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Like I said it the other WGolf thread, Carolina had an awful day yesterday but so did most ties. The are now in 6th and easily made the Top 15 cut. Today the goal is stay in the top 8 for the match play round. Cocks are currently 6 shots ahead of the 9th place schools (UGA and Pepperdine).

Mathilde Claisse is the low Gamecock at -3 but she is 7 shots off the leader. The individual National Champion will be crowned today.

They stopped giving Carolina a pass due to injuries.

The Cubs wannabe last two games has only surrendered one run in 13th innings. One bright spot for South Carolina right now.

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Not sure how hard Carolina pushed but S.C. was in her final eight. At this point, at least she didn’t go to LSU or UConn. She was ranked 13th overall by HoopGurlz. She’s also Canadien so didn’t hear much about her recruitment until she committed this morning.

Wrapping up the Tennesee series, with some big picture thoughts on things heading into the postseason

Do we have a midweek pitcher just like our Friday, Saturday, and Sunday pitchers? Im no expert just curious because Im tired of losing midweek games??

I wasnt able to tune in for the press conference... but whats been released so far sounds so vague that even they arent sure what they are going to do. Just sounded like a bunch of BS buzz words.

I was hoping they were going to work on the football stadium some more and improve the general admission fan experience. Maybe redo bathrooms, add concessions, or replace the benches with individual seats so the fatasses around you dont spill over into your seat when you stand up.

I guess we get to get fired up about more parking lots.

Write-up below is from USC:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – For the 23rd time in program history, the South Carolina softball team will play in the NCAA Tournament, which kicks off Friday night against UCF at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. The Gamecocks head to the Tallahassee Regional for the fifth time since 2014, where Florida State and Marist will face off in the first game of the day at 4 p.m.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION – NCAA Tournament
When: May 19-21
Where: Tallahassee, Fla.
Venue: JoAnne Graf Field (1,000)

Series History vs UCF: UCF leads 7-3
Last Meeting: UCF 5, South Carolina 4 | March 5, 2022 | Orlando, Fla.

Series History vs Florida State: Florida State leads 27-20
Last Meeting: Florida State 7, South Carolina 6 | May 19, 2019 | Tallahassee, Fla.

Series History vs Marist: First Meeting

South Carolina Gamecocks 37-20, 9-15 SEC
Coach: Beverly Smith | 13th Season
AVG Leader: .313 | Brooke Blankenship
RBI Leader: 41 | Riley Blampied
Home Run Leader: 10 | Jordan Fabian
ERA Leader: 2.15 | Donnie Gobourne
Strikeout Leader: 189 | Donnie Gobourne
Wins Leader: 13 | Donnie Gobourne

South Carolina Totals in NCAA Tournaments
Regional Appearances: 23 (1982, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023)
Super Regional Appearances: 2 (2007, 2018)
WCWS Appearances: 3 (1983, 1989, 1997)
All-Time Record: 45-48
WCWS Record: 2-6

LEADING OFF

• The 2023 season will be the 50th season of Carolina Softball.
• The Gamecocks were 30th in the most recent RPI ahead of the tournament.
• Carolina received votes in the ESPN/USA Softball poll for the fourth straight week. They also received the most votes outside the top-25 in the NFCA coaches poll. They were ranked 20th in Softball America’s poll.
• Carolina is making its 23rd NCAA Tournament appearance, the first since 2019.
• The 27 games again top-25 RPI teams are the most by ANY team in the country. The next closest is 23 (Arkansas, Missouri, and Ole Miss).
• The Gamecocks have 12 wins over teams currently in the RPI top-25 (all but one of which were ranked in the top-25 at the time), LSU, Florida (twice), Alabama, Texas A&M (four), Auburn (twice), Georgia, and Tennessee.
• The 12 wins are the fifth most in the nation, trailing Oklahoma (21), UCLA (18), Tennessee (16), and Florida State (15), all of which are top-4 seeds.
• South Carolina made history during the SEC Tournament, becoming the lowest seed to ever reach the finals and becoming the first double-digit seed to play in the championship game.
  • Played four straight days, holding its four opponents to a combined six runs.
  • The previous lowest seed to make it was No. 8 seed Ole Miss in 2017.
  • The Gamecocks won back-to-back extra innings games over Texas A&M and Georgia for the first time since 2007, defeating Ole Miss 1-0 in nine (5/5) and eight innings (5/6), respectively.
• Carolina leads the SEC in doubles (75) stolen bases per game (1.95) and total stolen bases (111).
• The Gamecocks rank 16th in the country in stolen bases, 19th in fielding (.977), and 2nd in stolen bases per game.
  • The 111 stolen bases shatters the program record of 87 from 1995. The 133 attempts also shattered the old record of 99 from 2011.
• Head coach Bev Smith earned her 400th career win against UNC on March 1.
  • She became the 29th active head coach in Division I to amass 400 career victories while only coaching at one school.

#FearTheLashes

• Donnie Gobourne, referred to as “Dugout Donnie” by Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley for sending opponents back to the dugout.
• Was named to the SEC All-Tournament team as she earned all three South Carolina wins. Over 16 2-3 innings in four games, she did not allow a run. She struck out 24 batters, while opponents hit .145, allowing eight hits.
• She picked up the win over #4 Tennessee to close out the regular season. In three innings of relief, she allowed one hit and struck out four.
• In a loss to #4 Tennessee on Saturday, she allowed three hits, the third fewest by the Lady Vols in an SEC game this season.
• Gobourne threw her first career no-hitter against #17 Auburn on Saturday.
  • It was the first no-hitter for Carolina since Jessica Elliot vs Winthrop (2/28/2017) and the 53rd overall in recorded program history.
  • It’s the first no-hitter for Carolina in SEC play since Megan Matthews against Florida on April 21, 2002, and the fifth in SEC play all-time.
• She was selected 17th overall (5th round, 1st pick), in the Women’s Professional Fastpitch Draft Monday night by the Oklahoma City Spark.
  • Became the first Gamecock drafted professionally since Samie Garcia in 2013 by the NY/NJ Comets of the former National Pro Fastpitch league.

THIS IS CAROLINA – TRADITION LIVES HERE

• South Carolina has made 23 trips to the NCAA postseason, a number that started in 1982. The Gamecocks have reached two super regionals and three WCWS. In conference play, Carolina owns two SEC Championships.
• Carolina rolls into the 2023 season with a 45-48 record all-time in postseason games and a 14-15 mark under Beverly Smith.
• Fans and opponents have become accustomed to seeing the Gamecocks play on Sundays in the postseason. Carolina had reached the regional final four-straight years (2016-19). The Gamecocks are 2-3 in those past five Sunday games.
• Since 1982, the Gamecocks are just 2-11 against host schools and 0-7 under Smith. On the flip side, South Carolina is 4-2 at home in the postseason under Smith having advanced to just the program’s second super regional in 2018 with two win-or-go-home games against Liberty.

OUCH…THAT HURT!

• The Gamecocks have three players listed among the current active NCAA leaders in hit by pitches entering the week.
• Jordan Fabian ranks 15th in DI and 32nd among all Divisions with 39.
• Natalie Morgan ranks 22nd in DI with 34.
• Jen Cummings ranks 22nd in DI with 34.

JUST WALK ON BY…

• Jordan Fabian ranks 40th among active career leaders in Division I for walks with 93.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS IS NOTHING NEW FOR SC

• South Carolina is 241-63 (.792) over the past eight years in games outside the SEC. Notable wins include Texas, Penn State, Houston, Arizona State, North Carolina, Florida State, California, Virginia Tech, USF, Long Beach State, Hofstra, Liberty, and UCF.
• Carolina had won 26-straight non-conference games (regular season) before a loss to Texas Tech in the second weekend of the 2020 season.

It's a beautiful spring day to be alive. A Perfect day to be exact.

Have a few conference and NCAA tournaments coming up or, already underway, to look forward to enjoying. And HEY! a big Memorial Day, 3 day weekend coming up. Today, would be a great day for you expert Pit Masters to shake off a little rust and do a little pre-holiday practising.

Stop a second. Look around at what you have. It's a Great Day to Be ALIVE!!!

Thanks!

Greetings from an overcast, soggy Founders Park where the final series of the regular season will start tonight. About as big as they come in the regular season, with South Carolina basically needing to take two of three games to keep its chance of hosting a regional live. Game one wonight will feature Eli Jones on the mound against Andrew Lindsey.

Running a free edition of the thread tonight, so come hang out.

Some light rain is still falling here, but both teams are still going through warm-ups and I am hoping (pleading, begging, etc.) we can get this thing started on time at 7. Whenever it does start, it'll be on SEC Network Plus. Here is the lineup for the Gamecocks.

Dylan Brewer - LF
Braylen Wimmer - DH
Cole Messina - C
Ethan Petry - RF
Gavin Casas - 1B
Talmadge LeCroy - 3B
Michael Braswell - SS
Will Tippett - 2B
Evan Stone - CF

Eli Jones - P

Absolutely pathetic.

While channel surfing late last night I tuned in just as Zia nailed a 3 in the second qtr of the game. Although the entire game was all about BG’s return to the WNBA after the Russia ordeal, the announcing crew was impressed with Zia’s 11-point second qtr off the bench. I love how she brings defensive prowess to an otherwise defense void professional league.