ACC Softball Week 11: Upsets, Sweeps, and Offense!

Alex Powers (: 00:01

Hey guys, welcome to Up the Coast with Alex and Britt. We are officially almost done with the 2026 softball season and we are heading into week 11. It has been absolutely insane so far.

Britt McKinney (: 00:15

Look, I feel like as soon as we felt like we had the pulse of a team and what to expect, then this past weekend happened and just flipped everything upside down. I'm looking at you, Virginia Tech. I'm looking at you, UVA and Clemson. Like, what a crazy weekend. think what we thought we knew, maybe not what we thought we knew, but that's why we play the games. And it was an exciting weekend.

Alex Powers (: 00:26

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 00:40

Yeah, we know nothing is how I feel. You know, like the Game of Thrones, like I remember who says it's like I drink and I know things. It's like I drink and I know nothing is what I want to say. We should get shirts made. So yeah, I still know nothing. Yeah, right. So.

Britt McKinney (: 00:50

Yeah, I watched I watched softball and I know nothing, right? But we'll try and figure it out.

Alex Powers (: 01:00

We will, still on our way. But RPI rankings came out and we'll get into why we're gonna talk more about RPI. But Duke, Florida State, and Stanford are all sitting in the top 16 with RPI. As far as ACC standings go, Duke is still in that top spot based on win percentage in conference play. Florida State's in the two spot. Louisville, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Virginia are the top seven if I count that correctly.

Just kind of a shift. I feel like this is a true opportunity where we are walking into a tournament and it's anybody's game, anybody's opportunity.

Britt McKinney (: 01:39

Yeah, and you...

the top four seeds going into the ACC tournament and get that first round by, which is huge because some of these teams, I mean, all of these teams have some resume building to do to lock into host seed, Duke trying to get a, you know, sneak into a top eight seed, Florida State, a good top 16 seed. Like you can build your resume with some good wins if you put yourself in a good place to be successful in that ACC tournament. So, you know, Louisville and Stanford with what they have coming up,

mean, Stanford only has one ACC series coming up and I don't think they should lose another game. They have Cal Louisville's in a good spot with their upcoming schedule as well. those top four may stay there even though each team, I mean, they're just like one game behind each other. Virginia Tech did themselves no favors this weekend. We'll get into more of that. But yeah, postseason is right around the corner, which is nuts. So yeah, that'll be interesting.

to see play out.

Alex Powers (: 02:42

Yeah, so we're excited. Let's talk a little bit about, think, kind of, or actually teams that, did you say the teams that have clinched already? Okay, so the teams that have clinched their spot in the ACC tournament so far, Duke, Florida State, Stanford, Louisville, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Virginia. And that's just kind of based on, go ahead.

Britt McKinney (: 02:53

No, I haven't. I haven't.

Britt McKinney (: 03:06

No, just going to say it's important because in ACC baseball, every team makes it to the ACC tournament. Not in softball, three teams will not be there and their season will be over. And right now, think Syracuse, Cal, and NC State are those three teams that don't look like they're going to be traveling to Charlottesville.

Alex Powers (: 03:23

Yeah.

Yeah, so crazy stuff. mean, I don't, I'd have to look at the standings right in front of me to see like if the math could even math to give them that opportunity headed into this last weekend. But.

Yeah, you never know. some really big stuff, let's talk before we get into like specific players, shout outs, teams, all the things. We listened to one of the podcasts that our good friend Eric Lopez does and with D1 Softball called In the Circle. And he got to speak with the committee chair about the selection process and just kind of like a deeper dive, I guess. Do you want to just talk? The people can go listen to it if they want like the full scope, but just initial thoughts.

from it.

Britt McKinney (: 04:09

Yeah, I was really excited to hear this because all season long we're talking about, the committee is going to be able to use DSR. They're going to be able to use KPI and not just RPI when they make their selections. And so when you're trying to look and see where teams are going to end up, you know, you're going to use all this information now. And it sounded like to me that they're going to still be heavy RPI. And she said that

Unless there's like a big discrepancy from RPI DSR KPI Then they'll dive into the team sheets more dive into that team more but it just looks like you know looking at RPI again is gonna be a big thing and that kind of I didn't love that too much and another thing I didn't love too much is it was a big deal this year that they're gonna rank 1 through 32 teams like that's huge like we're gonna put that two seed

Alex Powers (: 04:39

Yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 05:04

where they deserve the 32 is going to go to one and 17 is going to go to 16 and we'll be able to see how they ranked them and she explicitly said that no one will know who 17 through 32 are but you can you know if you're intuitive you can kind of see i'm like what no that's not what we're supposed to be doing here like if you're going to rank 17 through 32

Alex Powers (: 05:21

Yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 05:28

I feel like they should be ranked 17 through 32, not just like we've done every year. Cause I hope in the past there was some sort of ranking through 17 through 32, but we just didn't see it. But no, it's seems like it's going to be much of the same as it has before, but they're just saying they're ranking these teams and that geography is still going to come into play with those. And I don't know. I wasn't thrilled. It was a very good conversation to listen to and, and enlightening, but I don't think it was enlightening in the way I.

Alex Powers (: 05:37

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 05:45

Yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 05:58

was expecting it to.

Alex Powers (: 06:00

I agree. I also think it's the reality, like nobody expects something new to be implemented and for it to be fully perfect, right? Like we knew that there were going to be some areas of improvement that of course we can all have opinions, right? But.

Looking at how it's at least again from this scope from this point in time how it's going to be addressed and handled. A little concerning still not my favorite to your point. It's like thought we were maybe legitimately going to get a one through 32 ranking more so. But yeah, 17 through 32 is still up in the air. Like what does that even mean? Because like you said, there are still things in factor of proximity and just all these things like, like, uh,

I don't remember, I should have taken notes as they were talking. It wasn't like the automatic assumption that one of the seeds was gonna be placed at like one of the locations. So if you're ranked one through 16, it wasn't like automatic that 19 would be going to whatever number plays with that. You know what I mean? Which to me it was like, well why not? Isn't that the point? Because again, like one in 16 lineups, so I don't know. It just makes sense, you feel like, right?

Britt McKinney (: 07:06

Right.

Britt McKinney (: 07:12

Yeah, totally. I get the whole, know, you don't want to have two ACC teams. You can't have two ACC teams in the same region, two SEC teams in the same region. That's fine. Like if you have to rank them that way, like we understand, like you can't, if they match up, that can't happen. So you have to make a little bit of an adjustment there, but I don't know. I was really hyped up again at the beginning of the year when they said they were going to rank one through 32, but now I'm not as hype, but.

Alex Powers (: 07:17

Right, right.

Alex Powers (: 07:41

Yeah, I would love to come back to that at some point and not in our episodes, but like you and I maybe personally with that conversation about conferences aligning in regionals. I don't know that I love it either. And I know it's part of like the bylaws and everything of NCAA softball, but like if it's how it plays out, it's almost how it plays out in my opinion. But I need to think more about it before I have an actual opinion. that's just kind of like off the cuff because it's like, well, so you're going to position people just to avoid that again. I know it's the rules.

Britt McKinney (: 08:02

there.

Alex Powers (: 08:11

but interesting. So, all right.

Britt McKinney (: 08:13

Alright, let's get off our boxes.

Alex Powers (: 08:15

Shall we actually? Yeah, we're on our soapbox here. I was like, I want to get this within a certain amount of time. And here I am rambling. So you want to start with UNC at Florida State? All right.

Britt McKinney (: 08:25

Yeah, so kick us off. It was our two schools going against each other. Florida State hosting UNC after the first time being swept last weekend since 2011. Hate to bring that back up, but it happened. So my big thing was how was Florida State going to respond? Like how are they going to come out? Are they going to be tight? Are they going to feel the additional pressure? Like a lot of things have a lot of things happen when your team loses. Like the things start to kind of

Alex Powers (: 08:32

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 08:38

Hello to you.

Alex Powers (: 08:51

Mm-hmm.

Britt McKinney (: 08:54

be magnified like little things that bother you don't really bother you when you're winning. But when you have consecutive losses in the middle or towards the end of conference play people kind of get unhappy and you know things start to come to a head. But I thought they came out and played as free and as comfortable as they had been prior to that sweep.

Alex Powers (: 09:02

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 09:15

Yeah, I agree. I think that in a lot of ways picked up where maybe they were lacking, at least offensively scored a good amount of runs, just like put the pressure on. And I think that one of the questions all season has been UNC pitching. How deep are they? How far can they go? mean, you had Kendall Frost come and get the start in game one on Friday and it's hard. went six batters and only recorded one out, but that's also a testament to the Florida State offense and the adjustments they make.

hitter to hitter one time through the lineup, whatever it is, some of the big swings were Bella Regiro, Issa Torres, Kennedy Harp, Jazzy Francik I thought looked better. So those were the hitters, Francik better in the circle and then Reagan Jennings for UNC did swing a good bat. But yeah, to me the question for UNC right now is pitching also for a lot of teams it's pitching so nothing new I think there. But yeah, they scored a lot so.

Britt McKinney (: 10:09

Yeah, I did score a lot.

. That record was set back in: 1994

Alex Powers (: 10:29

I've been in it. Yep.

Britt McKinney (: 10:44

average dropped. So she has to go two for three or three for four every game. But UNC stopped pitching to her pretty much. But she still found a way to raise her batting average and she's sitting right there. For UNC, Emily Leggett hit another bomb, tied the single season career record for UNC. Also that swing also tied their team's single season home run record. So North Carolina's swinging the bats well. just know sometimes it's hard.

Alex Powers (: 10:45

Mm-hmm.

Britt McKinney (: 11:14

to score 910 runs every game. I thought Florida State looked good. You mentioned Jazzy. I thought it was interesting on Sunday because we saw the problems that Jazzy had with left-handed batters. When she was brought into the game, Megan Smith from UNC brought in another lefty hitter in that lineup and that hitter had four at bats all year long, bright and burns. And she hadn't started a game, but she got a walk. All three of the hits that Jazzy gave upward to lefties all

her walks were to lefty so I think some work needs to be done there but I thought besides that she looked pretty good.

Alex Powers (: 11:48

Yeah, completely agree. Smart on coach Smith's end or Smith line. But I think one of the unsung heroes for Florida State right now is Ashley Danley. Games two and three, she had multiple hits. In game two, she was three for four, had a three run home run. In game three, she had another three run home run. She had five RBI in the game.

And I think what she's doing on both sides of the ball right now are

She's coming in in big moments and shutting it down in the circle and keeping Florida State in games or you getting saves or even getting wins depending on when she is coming in But she's also swinging a really good bat I know that's something that she's worked really hard on in the offseason is to be that legitimate two-way player and It's good to see her success another note offensively for Florida State was six nolls recorded multi-hit games in game three So I feel like the offense is trying to kick it back

up. And then also Sydney Horton for UNC looked good. But you mentioned the get what she's doing with the bat is insane.

Britt McKinney (: 13:00

Yeah, I do want last.

Last thing I want to go back to Ashley Danley. pitched in every single game this weekend. You mentioned her. Her offense was awesome and she's been like this all year long. I think she is that she played left field. She plays right field. She'll get moved in the DP spot when she needs to go get warmed up to come in the game like she's moving all over the field. But she is that one player that Lonnie can look to in a tight situation in a messy situation to close out a game to finish something off. She happened. She looks to Ashley Danley and Ashley.

Danley comes in and gets the job done just about every time. to me, she's a cornerstone of this team. You see Issa Torres, what she's doing, undeniably impressive. But I just really look to Ashton Danley as that steadfast cornerstone of this team and what she's doing. So keep it up, Ashton.

Alex Powers (: 13:51

Couldn't agree with you more. not agree with you more. Also, quick note on consistency. Jason E. Beecham has reached base in 34 consecutive games for Florida State and then Lexi Roberts for UNC had a 27 on base streak. Sorry, game on base streak. Good stuff. Love to see the consistency there. All right, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech. Crazy.

Britt McKinney (: 14:09

Awesome. Love it.

Britt McKinney (: 14:15

What in the world? Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 14:17

Yeah, crazy stuff. So they split the first two games. Virginia Tech came out in game one in Blacksburg and run rolled them. So Foster and Lynch had multi-hit games for Virginia Tech. Hunter recorded a couple of hits for Georgia Tech. So the offense was sort of doing its thing, at least for the Hokies. And then Emma Mazuron and the circle went a complete game for the win. Again, nothing surprising there. On paper, that's what they do.

Game two, whole different story. 6 to 2, Georgia Tech wins. Thoughts initially on like the even just the split.

Britt McKinney (: 14:56

Yeah, after that game two loss, I was like, uh-oh.

I remember this happening last year, this exact same weekend, and I'm thinking back to Virginia Tech playing at Pitt. Virginia Tech, this year, right now, is a top 10 team. They're hosting, they're in for postseason. Same situation it was last year when they went to Pitt and they lost that series, and it cost them their host spot because they would go on to lose another series after that. So the last two of their three ACC series they lost last year, and I was like, uh-oh, no way they're going to let this happen again.

Alex Powers (: 15:09

Yeah

Britt McKinney (: 15:32

way because last year you know it was they were riding Emma Lindley hard like maybe there was some fatigue but now we have Brie Kerrico and Emma Mazuron kind of tag teaming this thing that shouldn't be an issue no way this is going to happen again and not to take anything away from Georgia Tech but Virginia Tech in the circle

Alex Powers (: 15:51

Mm-hmm.

Britt McKinney (: 15:54

Game three, Mazuron started, gets pulled, brings in Kericho, gets pulled. And these are two pitchers that go complete games. They don't get pulled. I was just like, whew, what is happening in Blacksburg?

Alex Powers (: 16:01

Mm-hmm.

Alex Powers (: 16:07

Yeah, well the hitters were hitting, that's why it was a nine to seven score, which was, I feel like just really high, right? You had for Georgia Tech, Willard, Tucker, Wall all recorded multiple hits. So you talked about just the lack of.

pitchers coming out that day. mean, everybody can have an off day, but I think to have it collectively is what's hardest to swallow. then Willer and Hunter both hit home runs off Maserone. And then for Virginia Tech, it's the usual suspects. It's Lynch, it's Michelle Chatfield, it's Mizell, and more home runs. But you can't always out slug a team. I think that's the hard part too, right? And Virginia Tech typically does do that. So it happens, but

I don't know really affects a lot I think for them right now

Britt McKinney (: 16:56

But I loved what I saw from Georgia Tech. They were playing like their season was on the line because it is. mean, they.

Alex Powers (: 17:03

Because it is, yes, yes. Yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 17:04

They're on the bubble on the wrong side of the bubble. Like the games they lost last week to South Dakota State and Iowa, not good. Not good to happen. Like that put them on the out of the postseason. And then to come into Virginia Tech, get run ruled in game one and then come out with your hair on fire games two and three. The way they were swinging the bats were confident, aggressive, like.

Alex Powers (: 17:14

Yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 17:31

All out, like everything on the line here and it was and they have put themselves in a better situation with their resume for postseason because this team has been so close all year long and we've talked about all the one run games they've lost and the games where they blew leads late. But they could have been so close, but they needed this series and they played like it and good for Georgia Tech, not so good for Virginia Tech.

Alex Powers (: 17:35

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 17:52

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And for Georgia Tech, they had not won a series against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg since 2011, and this was their highest ranked series win in program history. So pretty insane. And you know who has Georgia Tech this next weekend? Florida State.

Britt McKinney (: 18:07

That's incredible.

Britt McKinney (: 18:12

Yeah, that's huge. That'll be fun.

Alex Powers (: 18:14

It's big. It's really big because this is a Georgia tech team that is rolling and Florida state needs, Florida state needs a sweep in my opinion. because of their, you know, hosting, guess, being in question.

Britt McKinney (: 18:22

Yes.

Britt McKinney (: 18:29

Yeah, and Georgia Tech still is, if they play like they play with their, like their seasons on the line, that's going to be tough. I guess my question for you, big picture thought, do you take more away from this series that Virginia Tech blew it or that Georgia Tech took it away?

Alex Powers (: 18:51

Oof.

I think that Georgia Tech has been good all season. don't know that their numbers really show that or I guess they're like record because like you said, there was a, at one point, I don't remember, it was way earlier, but it was like five of their six losses were like one run games. So they were right there. So I don't think it's been a matter of like Georgia Tech having the potential. I think they've always just had the potential. think they didn't have the clutchness when people were on base. So I think this is more of a Virginia Tech

Britt McKinney (: 19:13

Mm-hmm.

Alex Powers (: 19:26

Tech possibly blowing a big opportunity, but against a good Georgia Tech team. You know what I mean? I'm not surprised that Georgia Tech played as well as they did. I think I'm disappointed because I wanted to see Virginia Tech get that top spot and be a host. So I think I'm more disappointed in that.

Britt McKinney (: 19:42

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that's yeah, we knew Georgia Tech's a good team. They just haven't showed up every weekend and then when they put it together, that's what they can do. I agree. Alright, UVA went down to Clemson. UVA coming off of that loss two out of three games to Virginia Tech last weekend and Clemson.

Alex Powers (: 19:50

Yeah.

Right.

Alex Powers (: 20:01

Thank

Britt McKinney (: 20:08

coming off of a loss at Pitt but ended up taking the series. What did you like from this? Because Clemson swept UVA and neither one of us thought that would happen.

Alex Powers (: 20:17

Yeah, I think I stay confused on Clemson. I'm still confused. I've been confused, still confused, will be confused. Yeah, I don't even know that I have much. I'm just in displays. like, are you guys good and going to show us a run? I know you're good.

Britt McKinney (: 20:20

you

Alex Powers (: 20:36

But can you put it together, right? And they haven't against teams that they should have, and then they have against teams that they shouldn't have, the way that they did, right? Like, again, on paper, I feel like these teams are pretty comparable. I just feel like UVA has been playing so well this season, so I don't think either of us would have, or well, I know we didn't predict a sweep. But I think I would have been genuinely surprised if I had been a future teller in knowing that this was how it was going to play out.

Britt McKinney (: 21:01

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 21:05

I think I put on the notes, like this is huge, but also like WTF. So.

Britt McKinney (: 21:09

Right.

I guess for me, I look back after they lost that game to Pitt. They shook up the lineup a little bit. Julia Noller got benched. She hasn't come back, but we've seen a lot more of Macy's centron.

Alex Powers (: 21:20

Mm-hmm.

She's been a key, yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 21:24

Yeah, in the circle she's been able to help out, especially game two. Abby Dunning got the start, then they brought in Centron and they both did really well. Abby Dunning was asked to try and go seven innings. I feel like if you tell her I need three solid innings from you, she can do that. And that's where she performs her best. And that's what she did. And I also think being in the circle is helping Macy in the box too, because she's starting to swing the bat well. And I think two way players sometimes need to be in both

Alex Powers (: 21:36

Mm-hmm.

Britt McKinney (: 21:53

to feel their best, confidence. I think the confidence she's gaining from the circle is showing up in the box and she's been swinging the bat a lot better. And I think up and down the lineup, mean, Pipkin's coming in, she's swinging a good bat now. But I think we haven't seen consistency from Clemson. That's why we've been so confused. They would beat Mississippi State, or lose to Mississippi State, then beat them. And it's just been back and forth. They beat South Carolina earlier this year, then just dropped one midweek to-

Alex Powers (: 22:19

Mm-hmm.

Britt McKinney (: 22:23

them like what teams going to show up and they put a good team together for three games which was to me the first time I've seen that this season it gets a really good Virginia team and I was impressed at how they went through their bullpen like Virginia's pitchers are good and whoever they threw out there it seemed like Clemson was hitting the ball hard.

Alex Powers (: 22:26

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 22:44

Could not agree with you more. think in summary, Macy Sinchon is the difference right now for Clemson. She did end up recording, you're right about obviously the innings that she pitched. She did come in at games two and three and she actually got the win in both of those games. So picked up two wins, able to eat innings for Sierra Maness. That's big. It's just a big team effort right now and

collectively playing very well together. Again, like they've got the pieces. I just feel like everything was kind of so segmented in the past. It was like if they were hitting, they weren't doing other things well. If they weren't hitting, they were doing other things well. So was just a tough break. I do think it's been the usual suspects though for Clemson, like Jameson Brockenborough, Kylie Chanel, obviously now Macy's Cintron, Marion Collins, like Sarah Bro, like all these people that we've talked about throughout their career so far. And it's like, okay, here you are again, you know?

Britt McKinney (: 23:16

Mm-hmm.

Britt McKinney (: 23:33

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 23:40

Taylor Pipkins did well and just all the people, all the things that we've been missing.

Britt McKinney (: 23:46

it.

I'm glad you mentioned Sarah, bro, because I think coming into the past two weeks, she had like one home run on the season and she's hit like six in the past couple of weeks. Like she has some major power freshmen, great third baseman, really like her that left side of the infield with bro and Chanel really good for Clemson. But on the other side for UVA, a couple of good things. They got Bella Cabral back and she had a good weekend. She was, you know, swinging the bat well, coming back from injury, still missing one of their starters to injury, Cassidy Hudson.

Alex Powers (: 23:52

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 24:03

And say, yeah.

Alex Powers (: 24:09

Mm-hmm.

Britt McKinney (: 24:17

I believe, hopeful to get her back next week. But Virginia's still a postseason team. Clemson's still a postseason team. Just more about seeding and where they're going to line up in the ACC tournament. Because again, having a good resume and quality wins there will help.

Alex Powers (: 24:32

I do think not having a full Eden Bigum is hard.

Britt McKinney (: 24:38

Yeah, for sure. For sure. But I love what I see from their other pictures too.

Alex Powers (: 24:40

I think it's tough.

Alex Powers (: 24:44

I agree, I agree, I just would like her to. I just want my cake and to eat it too, you know, some.

Britt McKinney (: 24:48

Fair, fair, we'll do that. There we go. All right, how about what Duke did midweek against Tennessee? I mean, five runs, three runs, five pitches into the game against Carlin Pickens. I didn't see that coming.

Alex Powers (: 24:57

Insane.

Alex Powers (: 25:06

Yeah, Jess Oakland, I think it was the first pitch of her bat, what's it called? Vega and Jennings both were 0-1, then had a pitch, two pitches, and they both got on base. And then the first pitch that Oakland sees, I think her exact words were something, well actually don't go exacts, but I'm pretty sure she talked about blacking out and just like.

She stuck to her plan. She's like, we worked so hard for this all week to prep for what we were going to see out of the circle. Like you just got to trust the training and like a little bit, you know, blackout on occasion. So I'm with her. I think that happens. And then Cassidy Curd went five innings of work. Obviously it was a complete game. Duke won six to three was the final, but Curd eating up the bulk of the innings, but it was a total team effort.

KK Mathis came in, Ava Bradshaw came in, like it was all hands on deck. And how about that? How about Mathis coming in? I think she was first off the bench, right? And I was like, God, what are we doing? You know, like I just get nervous and not because of her ability, just because of the experience that she has not had in the circle. And I'm like, Holy shit, this is against, this is a big moment. This is a good team. are we sure about this coach Young? You know,

Britt McKinney (: 26:05

But yeah.

I know.

Britt McKinney (: 26:17

This is a big moment.

Britt McKinney (: 26:23

I'm

Alex Powers (: 26:23

I'm just like I'm like in Bristol like pacing like what's going on? What are we thinking and then she? Does a great job and then Eva Bradshaw comes in and closes it out like holy shit so Yeah

Britt McKinney (: 26:34

Yeah, that was incredible effort from everyone. That was great. That was a big win for Duke. Top 10 in RPI now, their strength of schedule is top 10. The cards are starting to align with this team that started 9-9 on the season. But then they go up to BC this weekend, and it is so easy for teams that are on paper much better than the team they're playing to kind of coast through the weekend.

Alex Powers (: 26:49

Yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 27:02

Duke did not coast, man. You text me and you're like, they don't give up. And you weren't right. They're they're going out to murder people. They are just swinging the bats to just.

Alex Powers (: 27:06

Yeah, they don't care. They don't care. Yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 27:16

hit the ball as hard as they can, as far as they can, and it's one through nine doing it. And it is, it is scary. It is scary if your other team's seeing those. I mean, a couple of years ago, what were they? Free swaggy dogs? Like that seems like kind of fun and gentle. This team is just dogs. They're just dogs. Like, wow, I'm impressed.

Alex Powers (: 27:25

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 27:30

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 27:34

Yeah.

Yeah, me too. and to put it into perspective about like the offense, right? Like they run ruled two out of the three games and then the one like this weekend and then the other one that they didn't get the run rule, they still won 12 to two. was just, they were up seven going into the last inning and then they scored a few more. So insane numbers. What they're doing collectively is insane. It's almost like, like again, I, I, I'm a huge Jada Baker fan.

She's not even like playing and it's hard. Like that's just a sign of the depth that this team has. Cause I think Jada Baker is amazing as a person, as a player, she's been rock solid defensively. And it's like, damn, like, you know, they're really good when somebody that quality all around isn't a starter every day anymore.

For the big bats, it's Laila Lamar, Tyrena Jones, Gabriella Shattuck, KK Mathis, Jess Oakland, Amina Vega, Deanna Jennings. Who isn't it, I think, at this point? And that is the question.

Britt McKinney (: 28:36

Yeah, I agree. It's just fun. And Yavi Shattuck, I mean, you mentioned Jada Baker not being in the lineup. Kyrie Rodriguez behind the plate. know, Shattuck is a freshman coming in late in the season and really submitting herself with her bat to get herself behind the plate. So they have depth, man. Let me tell you, they have some depth and, you know, the three transfers, Layla, Jess and Tyrena, who middle of that lineup is is really tough.

Alex Powers (: 28:45

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 29:01

Insane. Insane.

Britt McKinney (: 29:03

Good on Duke. Great job taking care of business and not just going into Boston College and having a close game. They just went in there and just put it to them.

Alex Powers (: 29:14

And I know in that win against Tennessee, know we talked Cassidy Curd going five innings. talked KK Mathis, Ava Bradshaw, but also Lottie Hawkins got tied in this weekend. Mallory Wheeler got time in the circle this weekend. So again, even though they may not be throwing as frequently, their ability to come in and provide support, do a good job, like that is really, I think, going to help them through postseason.

Britt McKinney (: 29:38

For sure. Hey, tell me about the Home Runs the Champagne.

Alex Powers (: 29:44

Yeah, okay. So they're okay. I had so much fun with this I'm not a video game girly but like I know enough because my boyfriend plays video games and They all are like on this fortnight kick and also I'll have to look at like what it is But coach young even like chimed in on Instagram like basically saying that Duke for the last few years has been about fortnight But these girls are just now getting like on the kick, but like the veterans had done it prior So it's fun. But part of fortnight is there's like a champagne celebration

And that's what their home run celebration is. They decorated this water bottle and bejeweled it. And they're doing the Fortnite celly when they're popping the champagne and letting it explode into something. It's amazing. And I asked if they won an ACC tournament if they were going to have a champagne celebration.

Britt McKinney (: 30:28

And I have to say they want a CC tournament if they want a champagne celebration. Yep. Well, who wouldn't want to hit a home run if you come around and you get a champagne celly? It's so funny. Right. They're having fun. They're having fun. And they want a champagne shower after they have done so. So they're swinging for the fences. I love it. All right.

Alex Powers (: 30:40

Are you kidding me? It's so funny.

Alex Powers (: 30:48

Right, I want a champagne shower. Right?

Britt McKinney (: 30:54

Louisville took care of Pitt in a big way. Just like Duke handled business like they're supposed to. Louisville is just quietly the third best team in the ACC. mean, two games back from Florida State, they...

Alex Powers (: 30:59

Yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 31:11

They're just doing great things and they're playing a different style ball than anybody else is in the ACC or really in the top teams in the country. They're playing small ball. They're singling teams to death. They're stealing bases. lead the nation in stolen base. Chelsea Mack leads the nation in stolen bases. Like that girl is legit. She is fast. She can hit it right to you and she's going to be standing on first base. Like you, if you have to even move at inch, you don't, you're not going to get her and then

Alex Powers (: 31:32

again.

Britt McKinney (: 31:41

Breed Destiny's went off, I think, five for five in game three. This is a Louisville team that didn't make the ACC tournament two years ago. This is a team that was out in the first round last year in the ACC tournament. Now they're going in and it looks like they're going to have a buy in the first round. Great job with Holly April and this team to really buy into who they are. When everybody else is hitting 100 home runs, they're stealing 100 bases. I love it.

Alex Powers (: 32:10

Yeah.

Yeah, me too. Just sticking to the small ball and situational hitting like you talked about is big and just having that be like what you celebrate, like doing what you do best and that's how you're going to win games. So like don't try to be something you're not, think is big. You mentioned all the hitters doing well. I want to go back to the huge long game that they had against Indiana because I was in Bristol and we were waiting to come on air until after the damn game finished. And of course it goes extras.

it went 10 innings and of course they were also an hour behind us. So it was like, Holy moly, like let's go. And then Eastern Lotus came through with the game winning RBI. just funny, so much fun, big win though, because that is a very good Indiana offense. They're always known for being able to hit the ball well.

And for Louisville to take that one was really big. And then as far as their pit series, the hitters were hitting, we talked about, they outscored pit 33 to three this weekend. So that says a lot. And then last piece, you mentioned Chelsea Mack, you mentioned the stolen bases. I started like going through the box scores and I was like weirdly like

Why are there so many triples? Like, I'm like, who hits this many triples in general? Like, it was like one, two, I think one game they might have had three. It was, yeah, they did. I was like, what the hell? Like, a triple to me is the hardest thing in softball to do. And then I go looking it up, because now I'm like, you know, bought in. And Louisville leads the country in triples. Like,

Britt McKinney (: 33:31

you

Alex Powers (: 33:43

It's that's pretty good. That's legit. Yeah, so they have 25 triples a triple is again the hardest thing in my opinion to get in the game of softball But then I found out we actually have three teams in the ACC in the top 10 in the country in triples Florida State is seventh with 20 and Stanford is tied for 10th with 18 so like we can freakin run

Britt McKinney (: 33:44

about

Britt McKinney (: 34:06

Yeah, put pressure on defense like it. It'll be interesting to see the style of play that these teams play against these teams that just rely on the long ball like the defense. Are they going to be surprised when they're getting singled to death when they're dropping bunts and so I love it. I love the style ball they're playing and they're winning games and it's like a complete turnaround for this team. I love it for him.

Alex Powers (: 34:09

I had no idea.

Alex Powers (: 34:17

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 34:26

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 34:30

Yeah, I do. All right.

Britt McKinney (: 34:33

All right. Lastly, Stanford took care of business against NC State. There was no real letdown after that sweep of Florida State. They didn't come off that high and crash and burn. They're still healthy. I think a couple of the games a little bit closer than I expected, but it's still a win in the books and they only have one ACC series left. In the circle, Zoe and Alyssa still throwing the ball well. At the plate, Taryn Kern and between her and Issa Torres leading

Alex Powers (: 34:51

Mm-hmm.

Britt McKinney (: 35:03

games with bombs like it's so much fun to see as a tone setting moment like they're just not little speedy girls I mean they're fast but top of the lineup they can just take the game from the first pitch and that's fun.

Alex Powers (: 35:07

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 35:15

Yep, yep. Pack a punch. They're a funny team to watch right now. Just continuing to like figure themselves out, but not in a way that's like discovery, like we're going to lose games in the process. Like they're still figuring out what it is that they do really well and they're winning. So.

Britt McKinney (: 35:32

One thing for Stanford though.

We mentioned at the top that they're number 16 in the RPI. that's top 16. You know, they have a really good shot at hosting and everybody left on their schedule. have cow really high RPI, a couple of out of conference games that nothing on this schedule can help them. It can only hurt them. So they have got to lock in, take care of business if they want to be considered for that host spot. So, um, nothing that, that they can't do, but they have to lock in and take care of.

business the rest of the way.

Alex Powers (: 36:05

Yeah, I agree. All right, so should we get into our favorite segment, my favorite segment?

Britt McKinney (: 36:13

Alright BS or no BS with AP gonna ask you some things that I saw on the internet or came up with in my head. The first one. It is cool to schedule a 100 plus RPI team at the end of the season to try and ensure your team is above 500 going into your conference tournament. BS or no BS? Is that cool?

Alex Powers (: 36:21

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 36:38

I'm not a fan of this one. I don't think you are either. think it's insane to just make the win-loss column what it is. Like you're saying, it's doing nothing for your team other than ensuring that you are above 500 because maybe you didn't take care of business when you should have. So now you're scrambling.

Britt McKinney (: 36:59

Yeah, I've seen two teams do that now. They've added these last late minute games. And to me, if you're just one game above 500 and barely eligible, I don't care what conference you play in. Like, why are we getting into the tournament just because we're over 500? But maybe that's a NFCA conversation to be had. Like, when can you add games?

Alex Powers (: 37:02

Thank

Alex Powers (: 37:17

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 37:22

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. There should be a cutoff. Yeah, and it should be because you missed some like certain ones got cancelled or

Britt McKinney (: 37:30

I can't get brained out. Yeah, and you shouldn't be able to add games in the month of April or something like that. But we'll let the smarter people at top deal with that. Hopefully they do. BS no BS. The teams that go furthest in the postseason are the ones that have the most depth in the circle.

Alex Powers (: 37:36

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 37:49

No BS. I think in what is right now a hitters game, pitching is everything. And I think that not dominant pitching because you're, don't think you're going to necessarily, you're not going to consistently have overpowering pitching. You might have really good outings. Yes. It's a hitters game and you need a couple arms that you can rely on in big moments.

Britt McKinney (: 38:11

It is.

This is a conversation for another day. the fact that we have players hitting the ball in a game over 300 feet with the exit velocity over 80, like something something's going on. Something's not right. All these home run records getting broken this year. Like something's changed in the ball, the bat. I don't know. I don't know. I don't like it, though. I don't I don't like it. But yeah, I agree that you've got to have arms. You've got to have arms. And we've seen with Macy's

Alex Powers (: 38:22

and sing.

Britt McKinney (: 38:42

Centron and Clemson like her ability to come into the games and throw it's started to make a really big difference for them late in the season. All right last one BS or no BS being ranked number one is a curse.

Alex Powers (: 38:49

you

Alex Powers (: 38:56

I'm gonna go away.

No BS. It is a curse because I was like thinking the other day, I was like looking at all the rankings and I think it's the best kind of curse. There is the most parody. We always use the word parody. There's the most equality in the sport. It's the most even playing field that I've seen in my whole life, I think. Just with any week, anybody can go down. And actually to prove that the last, I started posing this question myself over the weekend. So then I did some digging. The last six weeks of rankings,

Britt McKinney (: 38:59

I'm

Britt McKinney (: 39:15

Mm-hmm.

Alex Powers (: 39:28

the team that was in the number one slot.

lost a game in that same week. So if you were named number one this week, by this weekend, you have a loss. No team went undefeated in the last six weeks since being ranked number one. I thought that was interesting because it's hard. It's very hard to win games. I'm not saying that I'd knock anybody. I'm saying that to a compliment the rest of the sport, the rest of the teams. It's amazing.

Britt McKinney (: 39:35

Wow.

Britt McKinney (: 39:42

Mm-hmm.

Britt McKinney (: 39:49

Yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 39:59

Yeah, it really is. it has me excited for regionals. Like how many upsets are we gonna have the most number of host seeds not make it to supers? Like last year, remember A the overall number one seed lost to Liberty, didn't make it out. And I feel like we're gonna see a handful of those, especially.

Alex Powers (: 40:03

Me too.

Britt McKinney (: 40:16

With the 1 through 32 seeds, we'll see how the 17 through 32 play out But think the number two seeds in these regionals are gonna be legit like there's so many like hey We don't want that to seed coming here, but no, it's great for the sport and I love it It's Wednesday tonight some really good games South Carolina at UNC South Carolina looking to Be over 500 heading into the SC tournament UNC needs some quality wins on that resume

Alex Powers (: 40:29

Absolutely.

Britt McKinney (: 40:46

This game can help them tremendously and they're playing at home. We'll see how UNC bats stack up against Jory Hurd in the circle. I expect to see her for South Carolina. Kentucky at Louisville, Kentucky having a down year.

by their standards for sure. think they're at the bottom of the SEC. So Louisville, this is another great resume builder for them. Maybe more people start paying attention if they take this series again. They won the one earlier this year. So looking to sweep their in-state arrivals and then Florida at Florida State. Alex, what do you think about that series?

Alex Powers (: 41:20

Yeah. it's one of my favorite ones. So I'm so excited. Definitely be tuning into all the games, but of course that one will probably be from center on my TV and then I'll have the other two on the other screens. but I'm excited. think it is, it's a huge opportunity. like at Florida state, if they could get one win, great. If they could win both. Huge.

Britt McKinney (: 41:33

It's huge opportunity too.

Britt McKinney (: 41:44

Huge. It will definitely help them. that's a lot of implications for Florida State that game. All right, let's pick them. Upcoming series, Florida State at Georgia Tech. The bees, man, they are stinging right now. What you got?

Alex Powers (: 41:49

We'll see. Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 41:58

Yeah

Alex Powers (: 42:03

Yeah, I'm going to go Florida State takes the series, but they're not going to save Georgia Tech's going to sneak one in there. And I think they're going to be close games.

Britt McKinney (: 42:10

Yeah, I think Florida State's defense, is.

Unbelievable this year is gonna have to play really well because not only did Georgia Tech hit the gaps in the long ball and games two and three they were able to put some pressure on Virginia Tech's defense who is number two in the ACC really good defense and You made Jordan Lynch bobble a couple balls at third like they put pressure on the infield So that'll be interesting, but I agree I think Florida State both these teams are playing for a lot, too So I think it's gonna be an awesome series, but I agree I think Florida State takes two of three but one of those

games is gonna be really close. Next, UNC going to Virginia Tech. What you got?

Alex Powers (: 42:51

I'm gonna say Virginia Tech gets the series. I am gonna say UNC is gonna get one. Again, I hope to see the hitters are hitting. I think both of those parks are hitters parks, but I would love to see LaGette break the record this weekend in Blacksburg. The ball flies, yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 43:12

Definitely will be record watching there. I think we'll see a lot of home runs in this series. mean, should we do an over under? Like it's gonna be the ball is gonna be flying. Will Mazuron and Kerrko be able to come back after having like getting roughed up for the first time all season and back to back game? So and I will run, let's do run score, total run score.

Alex Powers (: 43:17

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 43:22

my god.

Alex Powers (: 43:33

Do I do overrun or runs or home runs?

Alex Powers (: 43:39

Yeah.

Britt McKinney (: 43:41

Uh, over under, say, 30 and a half runs.

Alex Powers (: 43:46

Okay, I was thinking 32, like 30 as well. So that's perfect. Okay, I'm going to go over.

Britt McKinney (: 43:53

I'm going go over two. I mean, that's average 10 runs a game. I think we'll see some 7-5 games, maybe a 14-9 game. I don't know. But there's going to be a lot of runs. All right, NC State at UVA. Need to turn around for the Cavs.

Alex Powers (: 43:54

Okay. Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 44:01

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 44:06

Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 44:11

Yeah, Virginia needs a good feeling going into the tournament. think Virginia is going to go for this week.

Britt McKinney (: 44:18

Yep, I think so too. At home, getting ready. Virginia, sweet. NC State. Clemson at Duke. Duke swinging to bat, so good. Clemson maybe putting some things together for more consistent performance. And it's in Durham. What you got?

Alex Powers (: 44:26

This one's hard. Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 44:33

Yeah.

This is hard for me. I'm going to go Duke wins, but I think Clemson could sneak a game with how well they've been playing. Otherwise I would say Duke's sweet just because they're insane right now. But I think Clemson's gonna like be a little chippy.

Britt McKinney (: 44:51

I Clemson has more to prove to me that they can do it on a consistent basis. So I'm going, I'm going Duke sweep. I'm Duke sweep. All right. Lastly, Stanford at cow asterisks.

Alex Powers (: 44:58

Okay, let's go.

Britt McKinney (: 45:06

They're going to be playing at Stanford, but Cal is going to be the home team because their stadium is under construction. So when you watch that game and you see Cal on the bottom of the score bug, but they're at Stanford, that's why. So Cal will be the home team at Stanford's new beautiful stadium. So who you got? Yeah.

Alex Powers (: 45:18

Yeah, you're not crazy.

Alex Powers (: 45:23

I'm an EGOS Stanford Suite.

Britt McKinney (: 45:26

It's a rivalry series. set the all time attendance record remember last year in the football stadium and Cal came out and kind of surprised us last year. But yeah, I think Stanford. Like I said, they have everything to lose with the games coming up with their hosting situation, so they need to sweep and I think they're smart enough to know that. So they're not going to take anything lightly. So yeah, I'm going Stanford sweep as well. Some great games coming up for winding down winding down.

Alex Powers (: 45:30

Yep.

Alex Powers (: 45:50

All right, we'll tune back in next week. Just see how we go. I know crazy. All right. Thanks for watching. As always, leave us your questions, comments, concerns, whatever you got. We're here. Oh yeah, that's it. Bye.

Britt McKinney (: 45:55

No.

Britt McKinney (: 46:00

Subscribe, like, I'll talk to you later. Bye.