Through 15 games, the Lady Techsters softball team is off to a phenomenal start. They’ve gone 12-3 after starting 8-0, which is a program record for most wins to start a season. That’s right, they’re making history. You can trust me, I have two history degrees from CUSA schools.
But before we jump in and look at Tech’s season thus far, there’s a little business to attend to.
“Kinda insulted, kinda nice lol”
As you’re all aware, we like to stay on top of developments within the Tech sports world. When a Tech team is setting records (well, good records, anyway), we take notice. And we write dumb blog posts about it for our tens of followers to mildly enjoy.
Last year, the Lady Techsters had a tough start to the year, but turned it around and made an ultimately unsuccessful run at a conference championship. That team was led by eventual CUSA Player of the Year Morgan Turkoly. When I wrote this piece, titled “The Lady Techsters are Red Hot,” last year, Turkoly said:
Kinda insulted, kinda nice lol https://t.co/sqz8YZnssu
— Morgan Turkoly (@morgan_turkoly) April 24, 2018
Now of course, I meant no insult when I called them “statistically….average” or when I said that their 3-7 start was “uhh, not very good.” And Turkoly, at least, saw the niceness that goes into me writing a blog on Tech sports when I should have been working.
But unfortunately, not everyone appreciates the charm, the affability, the masochistic sarcasm of gtpdd. Apparently, the @LATechSB twitter handle was not a fan of my piece. I only noticed this a few weeks ago, when I saw Tommy McClelland quote tweet something from @LATechSB. Imagine my surprise, when:
Look, @LATechSB. We’ve all done things we regret. Maybe I shouldn’t have said you were statistically average. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that Jenny Chapman’s pet raccoon Ralfie was enough to make me cheer for the Techsters. Maybe I shouldn’t have jinxed the team with INTERESTING FACT #3: It only goes up from here, in which I claimed the Techsters would continue their run given that their next opponent’s RPIs were really bad (they went 3-3, getting swept by #199 UTEP).
But in the end, we here at gtpdd are simply Tech fans. We’re not perfect. We like pet raccoons named Ralfie. We like saying things are bad when they’re bad, and good when they’re good. But we’re not going to run away at the first sign of conflict. So, @LATechSB, this is my plea. Give us another chance! Please!
To prove our ongoing devotion to the Techsters, here’s a brief recap of how the they’re doing so far this season:
Interesting fact #1
The Lady Techsters are statistically…above average! (See, I can be nice!)
Here’s some stats through 15 games, along with Tech’s rank out of 289 NCAA teams:
- Earned Runs Average: 2.56 (72nd)
- Batting Average: .316 (40th)
- Runs per game: 6.27 (35th)
- Slugging %: .455 (71st)
So far this season, the bats are leading the way. The Techsters have outscored their opponents 94 to 47. Pitching isn’t all that bad, either. The bullpen has put up 4 shutouts, and Preslee Gallaway threw a complete game no-hitter against Penn State last weekend in Orlando.
Interesting fact #2
Morgan Turkoly is very, very good at softball. Currently, the reigning CUSA Player of the Year has 16 hits in 15 games, which puts her at 141st in the nation in hits. The senior outfielder was named CUSA’s Hitter of the Week last week after batting .571 and scoring 13 runs in 6 games. The Techsters went 5-1 during that span, led in part by Turkoly’s bat.
Interesting fact #3
The Techsters received 5 votes in the most recent USAToday NCAA Softball poll. That’s good enough to make them the 35th ranked team in the nation. Not bad!
Upcoming Schedule
So, the Techsters are off to a good start…so what? Can they end up with a strong enough non-conference slate to make an NCAA regional without winning the conference tourney?
The short answer is… probably yes. As we can tell from Interesting fact #3, the Techsters are turning some heads this year so far. In the next two weeks, they’ve got the opportunity to make heads spin.
As they wrap up the non-conference slate, Tech heads to Starkville for two games with the Lady Bulldogs, who are currently receiving enough votes in the poll to rank 28th. But first, they’re in Orlando, where they’ll compete in the UCF tournament.
Weird sidebar: The Techsters are playing UCF three times this season, but not as a traditional three game series. They dropped the first game to them last Sunday (5-2), play them again tonight, and then again on Saturday. Strange.
In the UCF tournament, they get the opportunity to make perhaps their biggest splash in program history when they take on defending national champion and currently 17-0 #1 Florida State at 2 pm on Saturday.
If the Techsters beat Florida State, anything is possible. If they can hand the Lady Seminoles their first loss, look for the Techsters to… wait… I don’t want to jinx them again, so I’ll stop it here:
Go Techsters!!
pls unblock us pls