This is going to be a bit of a hybrid post today. My niece had her last weekend of Fall travel ball down in Chattanooga Tennessee this past weekend. It was actually a really great weekend for her and she got to meet the new assistant coach from the university she is going to be attending next year.
In fact, it was such a good weekend, that in one of the games her team actually completed a triple play. I didn't notice it live, but when you go back and watch the video of the game, it was pretty impressive. You don't see that happen too much in softball given the proximity of the bases and the style of play.
It's also college basketball season now as well. Things kicked off on Monday night and with softball season coming to a close, I will be transitioning my weekly content on this day from a softball focus to a basketball focus. Speaking of basketball, let's get that out of the way right now.
Remember, at the beginning of the season like this, most of the games are going to be considered cupcake games with a few exceptions. First, Michigan State has a history of tackling some really tough teams early in the season. Their attitude of "anytime, anywhere" has given us some great November match ups in the past.
Additionally, before too long here we are going to start seeing some early season tournaments get played in exotic locations like the Bahamas, Hawaii, or even on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
I'm not going to cover all of the games with you, but I will highlight a few of the better ones. Let's get started with an upset. UCF beat number 13 Texas A&M 64 to 61. At this point in the season, it should be pretty rare to see upsets like that, but they do happen.
Some of these games are so lopsided, it's really not even worth mentioning them.
Kansas once again finds themselves in the number 1 spot at the beginning of this season. They beat Howard University 87 to 57.
Alabama continues to buck the trend of only being a football school finding themselves in the number 2 spot in the early rankings. They beat UNC Asheville 110 to 54.
Ohio State came away with the second top 25 upset of the week beating number 19 Texas 80 to 72. Probably the biggest game of Monday night was the number 8 Baylor versus number 6 Gonzaga match up. Gonzaga took the victory 101 to 63.
We had a couple of games on Wednesday night too. Nothing of note, but number 15 Creighton and #16 Arkansas didn't have what I would consider blow out games. That could be telling for their future in the top 25.
I'm actually a bit shocked that Michigan State isn't in the rankings yet, but they had a 81 to 57 win over Monmouth. I have a feeling it won't be too long before MSU finds themselves in the top 25.
Meanwhile, as I said, my nieces team had a big tournament down in Tennessee to end their season. They started off slow with a 5 to 1 loss against Fury Platinum. I should point out, this is an 18U team, my nieces team is 16U, so they were playing with girls at most two years older than themselves.
Oddly enough, age really is just a number because their second game against another 18U team the Indiana Shockwaves ended with a Lady Lasers win 5 to 3.
Saturday they started the morning with another 5 to 1 loss against an 18U team from Chicago. Something must have clicked with them after that loss because they didn't lose a single game the rest of the tournament.
Then went on to grab a 6 to 2 victory over a Fusion Premier 18U team and then a 9-0 win against an 18U team from San Diego called Athletic Mercado.
Sunday the bats stayed hot with a 14 to 1 run rule victory over an Indiana Magic 18U team and then their final game was a 4 to 1 win over FAM 18U.
In case I haven't mentioned it before, the "U" stands for under, so all of the girls on the team are 18 years old or under. Just like all of the girls on a 16U team would be 16 or younger.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, that 5 to 3 victory they got in the second game was a walk off triple by my niece. I happened to be sitting in a restaurant in Escanaba, MI watching the stream and I got to see the hit. It was amazing!
I look forward to seeing how she does on the basketball court as she laces up her shoes for a new season. Rumor has it she is going to be getting a lot of court time as a senior this year.
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