Last night the first of a best-of-three set games went 17 innings; with the Oklahoma Sooners beating the Florida Gators. 7-5. The game lasted 5 1/2 hours.
It was a really great game. The officiating was good (in a playoff bracket that has seen some really questionable calls.)
Other interesting facts and stats from the game.
Sooners went 1 run up in top of the 7th, Gators tied it up when they were down to their last strike.
Sooners went 2 runs up in the top of the 12th, Gators tied it up when they were down to their last strike.
Sooners went 3 runs up in the top of the 17th, Gators tried to rally but only scored 1 run.
I think I saw that there were over 500 pitches thrown in the game.
I’m looking forward to seeing it through to the end.
Can anyone tell me why softball pitchers have a wristband like QBs use to call plays?
Are pitches mapped out ahead of time? Is there a specific pitch that must be thrown on a particular count and/or situation? Does the manager call the pitches?
It’s a tool to combat stealing signs. Different teams use different systems. I saw a lot of coaches signalling pitches during the games. An assistant would hold up a solid colored board and the signalling coach place her hand in front of it and quickly flash 2 or 3 hand signals. The pitcher would then look at her card to see (for example) what pitch 3-5-1 was. Since the signal is out in the open and not coming from the hidden area between the catchers legs there has to be a way to obfuscate the pitch. You don’t want the opposing team to pick up on 3-5-1 = “high inside curve” so there might be multiple ways to signal that.
The idea that the manager calls the pitches is weird. It’s like they don’t trust the catchers to get it right. Do managers call all the pitches in college baseball?
Sooners won the game last night, and the series, with a score of 5-4. Weird game; almost all the scoring happened in the first two innings. Three-run double by OU in the bottom of the second ended Florida’s hopes.
