Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Softball Notebook: Let’s Go Dancin’
5/18/2023 5:34:00 PM | Softball
Where would we be, if we couldn’t dream?
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Middle Tennessee Softball's NCAA Tournament dreams have become a little bit more of a reality in the past couple of days, at the Blue Raiders' business trip to the home of the Crimson Tide is in full swing on Thursday.
With MTSU on deck first in the Tuscaloosa Regional opener, the Blue Raiders' game against Central Arkansas comes to you on Friday at 3:30 pm. CT on ESPN+, things started early for the team on Thursday to get ready for the weekend ahead. But don't get stressed, it's going to get figured out. Here's what y'all missed in Murfreesboro (or maybe in your drive down to Alabama) as the Blue Raiders get ready for NCAA play.
Practice Odds and Ends
The Blue Raiders were the first team on the field at Rhoads Stadium on Thursday, a product of being the away team for the first game of the day on Friday. That meant that a lot of the extra landscaping done to turn Alabama's home field into an NCAA Tournament site was still getting its final touches done when MTSU arrived. The foul lines, for instance, were still a little wet from the fresh paint, though more due to the overcast conditions in the Yellowhammer State than any other reason.
With four teams needing to practice in one day, things are kept brisk and brief at practice. Infielders take grounders then another one, and another one, and another one. Outfielders work on their drill simultaneously. There's some situational defense work, then the hitters got reps on the field and in the plethora of cages and pitchers get a short bullpen done if they need it.
It's remarkable to see it all happen up close, the organized symphony of movement between drills and segments. And the Blue Raiders' bats looked as lively as ever. Both Laura Mealer and Ansley Blevins were able to take Coach Helen Peña deep in BP, in addition to the team's slappers spraying their reps all over the field.
MTSU still found time to have fun though. I particularly enjoyed watching various position players take a stab at pitching as the on-field BP wrapped up. Julia Garcia and Anyce Harvey both had fun taking pointers from Gretchen Mead. But the true highlight was the fun the Blue Raider bullpen had with the stadium videoboard crew, who were testing camera feeds and left one on the bullpen cam, leading to a concert from Ava Tepe when Taylor Swift's "Mean" rotated through on the stadium PA system.
Don't Give Up on Love, have faith, restart
Speaking of the PA system, by far the weirdest thing that happened at Rhoads Stadium during MTSU's time there was the start of practice, where the music put on by Alabama's operations staff was filled entirely with tracks from the Jonas Brothers for about the first 45 minutes of practice.
Now, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the JoBros, choosing to remember their good qualities even before their cultural renaissance in the past couple of years. They may break my typical rules, but I'm a sucker for the fun pop-rock of my youth, what can I say? But even with that, I'm not sure ballads like "When You Look Me in the Eyes" are the best practice pump up music I've ever heard.
Still, it made for some fun captions to use on social media, as well as in writing this notebook (there's six Jonas Brothers references in this notebook. Let me know if you can find them all after you vote in my twitter poll below!)
Scouting Central Arkansas
The things to know about Central Arkansas, the Blue Raiders' first opponent of the regional tomorrow? Pitching, pitching and pitching. Well, more specifically, two pitchers, Kayla Beaver and Jordan Johnson, who have combined to pitch all but 0.1 innings of the Bears' season this year while posting absurd numbers in the circle. Each averages just under a strikeout an inning, but Beaver gets the slight nod as the ace with a 1.09 ERA and 0.88 WHIP, compared to Johnson's 1.62 ERA and 1.11 WHIP.
The two right-handers make for quite a pairing that keeps the Bears in nearly every game on their schedule. The Bears have fallen just 10 times in 2023, and in those 10 losses have only lost the game by more than two runs twice. They, like MTSU, had to battle back from losing an early game in their conference tournament, dropping their opening game to North Alabama before winning five games in a row to win the ASUN title (North Texas fans will be delighted to know UCA had to defeat North Alabama, the winner's bracket champion at the ASUN Tournament, twice to take the overall crown).
Don't discount the Bears' bats, however, with four different starters batting over .300, UCA is able to score enough runs to support their sterling pitching. But they are vulnerable, as losses to Louisiana Tech, North Alabama and Liberty demonstrate.
NCAA Oddities
Speaking of the team formerly known as the Sugar Bears (much like MTSU and the nickname Lady Raiders, only the women's basketball team uses the nickname once used for all women's sports on campus these days), there was a fun little bit of mind games played at Rhoads Stadium between the two teams thanks to NCAA Tournament festivities.
MTSU was taking part in their interview with the ESPN commentary crew for the weekend in the stands at Rhoads Stadium, so that everyone wouldn't be cramped in the TV booth. That's all fine and good. The catch, however, is that with four teams needing to get in practice, UCA was on the field as MTSU was being interviewed in the stands. And, well, the coaches on the field for the Bears were a little concerned about MTSU being able to see what they were up to.
So the Blue Raiders wrapped up quickly after an NCAA rep intervened to move the interview elsewhere. Now, this writer is pretty sure there was nothing to be gleaned from the stretching and other warmups that would go on in the time MTSU had until their media availability was done, but I've been around college sports enough to just shrug and nod to whatever coaches think will give them an edge (or I suppose in this case, avoid a disadvantage). But this one did have me feeling a bit speechless, over my head and breathless about the whole thing.
With MTSU on deck first in the Tuscaloosa Regional opener, the Blue Raiders' game against Central Arkansas comes to you on Friday at 3:30 pm. CT on ESPN+, things started early for the team on Thursday to get ready for the weekend ahead. But don't get stressed, it's going to get figured out. Here's what y'all missed in Murfreesboro (or maybe in your drive down to Alabama) as the Blue Raiders get ready for NCAA play.
Practice Odds and Ends
The Blue Raiders were the first team on the field at Rhoads Stadium on Thursday, a product of being the away team for the first game of the day on Friday. That meant that a lot of the extra landscaping done to turn Alabama's home field into an NCAA Tournament site was still getting its final touches done when MTSU arrived. The foul lines, for instance, were still a little wet from the fresh paint, though more due to the overcast conditions in the Yellowhammer State than any other reason.
With four teams needing to practice in one day, things are kept brisk and brief at practice. Infielders take grounders then another one, and another one, and another one. Outfielders work on their drill simultaneously. There's some situational defense work, then the hitters got reps on the field and in the plethora of cages and pitchers get a short bullpen done if they need it.
It's remarkable to see it all happen up close, the organized symphony of movement between drills and segments. And the Blue Raiders' bats looked as lively as ever. Both Laura Mealer and Ansley Blevins were able to take Coach Helen Peña deep in BP, in addition to the team's slappers spraying their reps all over the field.
MTSU still found time to have fun though. I particularly enjoyed watching various position players take a stab at pitching as the on-field BP wrapped up. Julia Garcia and Anyce Harvey both had fun taking pointers from Gretchen Mead. But the true highlight was the fun the Blue Raider bullpen had with the stadium videoboard crew, who were testing camera feeds and left one on the bullpen cam, leading to a concert from Ava Tepe when Taylor Swift's "Mean" rotated through on the stadium PA system.
Ready to roll! 🤘#BlueRaiders | ⚡️⬆️ pic.twitter.com/3Xr9N7sLHC
— MT Softball (@MT_Softball) May 18, 2023
Don't Give Up on Love, have faith, restart
Speaking of the PA system, by far the weirdest thing that happened at Rhoads Stadium during MTSU's time there was the start of practice, where the music put on by Alabama's operations staff was filled entirely with tracks from the Jonas Brothers for about the first 45 minutes of practice.
Now, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the JoBros, choosing to remember their good qualities even before their cultural renaissance in the past couple of years. They may break my typical rules, but I'm a sucker for the fun pop-rock of my youth, what can I say? But even with that, I'm not sure ballads like "When You Look Me in the Eyes" are the best practice pump up music I've ever heard.
Still, it made for some fun captions to use on social media, as well as in writing this notebook (there's six Jonas Brothers references in this notebook. Let me know if you can find them all after you vote in my twitter poll below!)
🎶 You've got moves, I've got shoes, let's go dancin'! 🎶#BLUEnited | ⚡️⬆️ pic.twitter.com/3G8Ppy5SLu
— MT Softball (@MT_Softball) May 18, 2023
In honor of Alabama's press box playing 45 minutes of Jonas Brothers to start practice for @MT_Softball (not that I'm complaining!), a quick poll:
— Sam Doughton (@sjdoughton) May 18, 2023
Best Jonas Brothers song?
Scouting Central Arkansas
The things to know about Central Arkansas, the Blue Raiders' first opponent of the regional tomorrow? Pitching, pitching and pitching. Well, more specifically, two pitchers, Kayla Beaver and Jordan Johnson, who have combined to pitch all but 0.1 innings of the Bears' season this year while posting absurd numbers in the circle. Each averages just under a strikeout an inning, but Beaver gets the slight nod as the ace with a 1.09 ERA and 0.88 WHIP, compared to Johnson's 1.62 ERA and 1.11 WHIP.
The two right-handers make for quite a pairing that keeps the Bears in nearly every game on their schedule. The Bears have fallen just 10 times in 2023, and in those 10 losses have only lost the game by more than two runs twice. They, like MTSU, had to battle back from losing an early game in their conference tournament, dropping their opening game to North Alabama before winning five games in a row to win the ASUN title (North Texas fans will be delighted to know UCA had to defeat North Alabama, the winner's bracket champion at the ASUN Tournament, twice to take the overall crown).
Don't discount the Bears' bats, however, with four different starters batting over .300, UCA is able to score enough runs to support their sterling pitching. But they are vulnerable, as losses to Louisiana Tech, North Alabama and Liberty demonstrate.
NCAA Oddities
Speaking of the team formerly known as the Sugar Bears (much like MTSU and the nickname Lady Raiders, only the women's basketball team uses the nickname once used for all women's sports on campus these days), there was a fun little bit of mind games played at Rhoads Stadium between the two teams thanks to NCAA Tournament festivities.
MTSU was taking part in their interview with the ESPN commentary crew for the weekend in the stands at Rhoads Stadium, so that everyone wouldn't be cramped in the TV booth. That's all fine and good. The catch, however, is that with four teams needing to get in practice, UCA was on the field as MTSU was being interviewed in the stands. And, well, the coaches on the field for the Bears were a little concerned about MTSU being able to see what they were up to.
So the Blue Raiders wrapped up quickly after an NCAA rep intervened to move the interview elsewhere. Now, this writer is pretty sure there was nothing to be gleaned from the stretching and other warmups that would go on in the time MTSU had until their media availability was done, but I've been around college sports enough to just shrug and nod to whatever coaches think will give them an edge (or I suppose in this case, avoid a disadvantage). But this one did have me feeling a bit speechless, over my head and breathless about the whole thing.
Players Mentioned
C/1B
/ Softball
C/3B
/ Softball
OF/UTL
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
SS/2B
/ Softball
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