AuburnFamilyNews.com: Super Regional Preview: Auburn vs Arizona

Friday, May 27, 2016

Super Regional Preview: Auburn vs Arizona

11055079

After struggling with Jacksonville State in the first game of the Auburn NCAA Regional, the Tigers run-ruled Jacksonville State in the championship game14–2, thanks to three hits apiece by Emily Carosone and Kasey Cooper. Clint Myers used four different pitchers in the deciding game. The win improved Auburn to 52–9 and set the Tigers up to host an NCAA Super Regional against the Arizona Wildcats starting Saturday at 5:30 p.m. CT.

The three-game series renews an old rivalry between Clint Myers and the Wildcats. Coach Myers coached at Arizona State for seven years, and he and Arizona coach Mike Candrea held a heated rivalry.

Since taking the job in 1986, Coach Candrea has won more than 1,400 games in Tempe, including an astounding eight national championships. He took breaks in 2004 and 2008 to coach the Olympic teams.

When Myers left for the Plains, he held a 10–11 record against Candrea, which he evened up at 11–11 when Auburn defeated Arizona 20–1 last year in the regular season. However, the two have never met in the post-season. 

Think it’s just a game? Think again. “They didn’t like me when I was at Arizona State, I don’t think that’s changed,” Myers said. “I think that’s the nature of the beast. It’s just like us and Alabama with Arizona—Arizona State. It doesn’t matter, I don’t listen to them. I don’t hear them.”

However, unlike rivals in other Auburn sports, Myers and Candrea have done more off the field than just play the occasional charity golf event. Their kids played sports together while their fathers coached together. Mike Candrea, Jr. and Corey and Casey Myers all played baseball growing up.

“Michael, Jr. and I and my brother grew up spending basically every day of the summer together,” Corey Myers said. “Whether it was at our house or at his house, both of us had a pool, spent a lot of time in the pool and playing baseball. Mike, Sr. was our first-base coach. and Coach (Clint Myers) was our third-base coach. That’s how it was growing up. When we got off the Little League field and got into the big baseball-size field, that was our coaching staff all the way up to the time my brother graduated.”

What can fans expect from the series? Let’s take a look. 

The Tigers are hitting a combined .329 with an on base percentage of .450. That’s slightly under last year’s cumulative statistics, including the total number of home runs, walks, and hit by pitch. Without a miraculous flurry of home runs, Auburn will not match last year’s program record of 99. The Tigers currently stand at 79 long balls.

Much of that can be attributed to the number of walks given to SEC Player of the Year, Kasey Cooper, who walked 66 times in 2016. Leading into the rematch with Jacksonville State, Cooper was walked five times in the previous two games. She added five walks during the SEC Tournament, four of those against in-state rival Alabama. The handcuffs were taken off in the final game, and Cooper responded with three hits, including a double and an RBI. 

Auburn is 13–3 against left-handed hurlers. That could be a problem for the Tigers because Arizona will almost certainly start lefty Danielle O’Toole. She is coming off a busy regional series where she threw 19.1 of Arizona’s 22 innings. O’Toole posted a 1.09 ERA and a .109 opponent batting average. O’Toole leads the Pac-12 with 25 victories in 40 appearances—13 more than the next Wildcat pitcher.

Whereas Arizona and coach Candrea are decidedly “old school,” having just one ace to carry the workload inside the circle, coach Myers has multiple options. No Auburn pitcher has more than 17 starts, much less that many victories. Who will start? Will it be Rachael Walters, Makayla Martin, or Kaylee Carlson? 

The key to an Auburn victory?  Simple. Score early.

Auburn is 30–4 when scoring in the first inning and 42–6 when scoring first. Auburn’s success starts up front as the Tigers have one of the top five hitters in college softball. That doesn’t diminish the rest of the order as Auburn has just two regulars under .300, three of whom have averages over .400. In addition, part-time starter Courtney Shea adds serious power with eight homers.

With the chances of walking Cooper remaining high, it is imperative for Emily Carosone and Tiffany Howard to reach base and force Arizona to pitch to Carlee Wallace, even though she has cooled down lately. Don’t be surprised to see another Tiger slip into the cleanup role.

On the flip side, Arizona has only four players hitting over .300 and none over .400. After Katiyana Mauga, Arizona’s best threat, the batting averages plummet significantly, ending with Joelle Krist at under .200. 

That shouldn’t diminish the threat of the Wildcat’s offensive ability, especially with Mauga. She has hit 21 long balls in 2016, over a third of the 67 bombs hit by the team. Many teams elect to pitch around her, but the chance of Myers electing to up her 43 walks is probably slim. Instead, he will try and force outs ahead of Mauga.

That’s a tall task as the three hitters in front of Mauga all have on-base percentages over .400. Still, limiting base runners ahead of Mauga is probably the game plan, especially for a team that fields at a .969 efficiency mark and made most of its errors late in the season. 

Outside of Mauga, Auburn must be careful pitching to Mandie Perez. The three-hole hitter has 11 home runs and adds an impressive number of doubles (11). She easily scored the most runs for the Wildcats (59) and has the second most hits (64), trailing only lead-off hitter Mo Mercado. Arizona fields at a .964 mark. 

Arizona hasn’t been to Oklahoma City since 2010. The Wildcats struggled on the road this year, posting a 9–8 record. And, this Super Regional marks the first time since 1991 that Arizona has been the underdog. 

Another positive for Auburn in the matchup with Arizona is that the Tigers are currently 36–2 in out-of-conference games, with the losses being to James Madison and Florida State, Auburn’s only ranked out-of-conference opponents. Auburn is 33–5 at home with one of the five defeats being the loss to FSU. The Tigers are 3–1 all time against Arizona. Let’s hope that record improves to 5–1 this weekend.

Make sure to watch the game on ESPN2 and follow me on Twitter @Best5Zach as I live tweet! 

The post Super Regional Preview: Auburn vs Arizona appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.



from Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog http://bit.ly/1XWRQH7
via IFTTT

No comments:

Post a Comment