UB Softball falls twice to Kennesaw State and Mercer Saturday

Two more losses today for UB Softball, against the same two opponents, but it was a stronger day than yesterday, especially on the offensive end.

This Saturday it was a late-inflated 16-7 loss to Kennesaw State, and a crushing, walk-off 9-8 loss to Mercer.

Let's just hit on the same talking points, since they're not really changing it seems

• Susceptibility to the big inning: 12 of Kennesaw State's 17 runs came in two innings: the third and the seventh. UB actually limited the damage against Mercer, but still gave up nine.
• Defensive issues: Add another FOURTEEN errors today. Seven in each game. Six of Mercer's nine runs against Bobbi Langlois were unearned.
• Inexperienced pitching: UB's two opponents combined for 22 hits, 11 walks, and 3 HBPs. It does seem like Langlois is establishing herself in front of Barrow and Miller. Bobbi only walked one Mercer Bear and at least two of her surrendered hits came after errors extended the inning.
• Inconsistent offense: Keyword: inconsistent. The offense showed up today, but couldn't push enough runs across to account for FOURTEEN errors. Alexiss Curtiss of course was a machine, but today was supported in the lineup by Hayley Barrow, Makayla Kowaliuk, and in the Mercer game Savanna Norcio.

In each game, the seventh inning was the difference maker. Against Kennesaw State, UB had clawed back within one and sat just two down heading into the final inning before giving up a second big inning, and against Mercer had actually pulled ahead, 8-6, in the top of the sixth before quickly surrendering that lead, stranding a leadoff double on second in the top of the seventh, and surrendering the winning run in the bottom of the frame.

I feel badly because the way I do the daily roundups of softball means that I'm often going to be hitting them at the end of the day when I'm all blogged out, but I don't have much more than this. Today was different from yesterday because the offense is showing up, and I don't know if the errors are a product of youth or limited outdoor practice time, or what, but my goodness the errors.

I shouldn't publish this without a continued public mention of Director of Softball Managerial Staff Matt Meyer, who's now doing live streams (with commentary!) of games. I'm hopeful they continue beyond this tournament, and even if they don't, Matt's worth a follow at @mmeyer411 on Twitter.

Tomorrow UB wraps up the weekend with a game against Evansville. That's at 11:30 AM. Probably won't have much live coverage of it because Sunday, but you can expect an evening-time recap, as always.

Go Bulls!