South Alabama Softball Takes On Clearwater Classic

I am currently a member of the University of South Alabama softball team here in Mobile Alabama. This weekend, February 7-9, myself and my team traveled down to Clearwater Florida for the spring softball opening tournament. The tournament was called the NFCA Division 1 Leadoff Classic presented by Rawlings. South Alabama softball was one of 16 teams participating in the tournament. The list of the teams includes South Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Kentucky, Liberty, Louisville, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Missouri, Missouri State, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Texas State, Illinois, and the USA team. We competed and played in a total of 5 games within the 3-day span of being down in Clearwater Florida. Our first game was on Friday, February 7^th against Texas State. Texas State is a competitor in the Sunbelt conference located in San Marcos Texas. The final score to the season opener between South and Texas State was 5-2 with Texas State clenching their first win of the season. The next game was also on Friday, February 7^th against the Missouri tigers. Missouri is a part of the SEC conference and is located in Columbia Missouri. The ending outcome of game two of the Clearwater Leadoff Classic was 7-5 with Missouri coming out with the win. The next set of games for the South Alabama Jaguars came the following day, Saturday February 8^th against Minnesota and Illinois. Up first was Minnesota who is in the Big Ten conference located in Minneapolis Minnesota. This was a nerve-racking game for the jags as they fought a 0-0 ball game until the 6^th inning. The umpires were terrible all game, not giving anything to the jags and calling all plays to best benefit Minnesota. Things fell apart in the 6^th inning putting the Gophers on top 10 – 0 for the final score. It was a heartbreaker for the jags, but they had to bounce back for the next game facing Illinois. Game two of the day following the match up against Minnesota was a face to face game between South and the fighting Illinoi. The University of Illinois is located in Urbana-Champaign which is in east Illinois. Illinois play and compete in the Big Ten conference. The game between South and Illinois went back and forth for the entire 7 inning game. When one team would go up a run the other team answered back. Unfortunately for South Alabama they lost another close one, the final score being 5 – 4. Heading into the final game of the weekend, South Alabama finished up their last game on Sunday, February 9^th, against Notre Dame. The fighting Irish are located in Notre Dame Indiana and are a part of the select few who are in the NCAA FBS Independent Schools. This was another close game for South Alabama. The final score was 3 – 1 with the Irish on top. Overall it was a rough and challenging weekend for me and the South Alabama squad. We faced some very difficult teams that are in the top 25 of the NCAA Division 1 rankings for college softball. They had the top of the line pitching, hitting, defense and coaches. Walking away from the weekend, our team learned a lot and got better mentally and physically. For hitting, we must swing at better pitches, have a better approach at the plate, and have a fundamentally sound swing. For defense, we need to clean up the errors, talk more when on the field, and keep our head and eyes down on the ball. We are heading back to school, ready to fix our mistakes, work hard, and get better for ever other game we will play this season. Keep reading throughout the spring season to get more updates on the South Alabama softball team. GO JAGS!!