I'm sure we will see NiJaree, who we have faced the last two seasons (last year against Texas Tech and two seasons ago against Stanford). She is 25-6 this season with a 1.78 ERA and would be the pitcher you would make in a lab if you wanted to shut us down.
Last year, we faced her three times:
Won a pitcher's duel and won 3-1 in 8 innings (all runs scored in the 8th). We only had five hits and three came in the 8th.
They beat us 10-1 and NiJaree scattered five hits
They beat us 9-6 and we got to he - had 6 runs on 8 hits
They have not seen any of our pitchers so we have that advantage. We have to score 5+ runs to have a chance in this game. Tech's lineup is not quite as brutal as Oklahoma's, but they have better pitching.
I feel like we will go with Faircloth and hope she can have a good outing. Ricketts had the team practice at a city park yesterday (We had an extra day because we stayed in Oklahoma instead of coming back to Starkville). She wanted to remind the players that they were playing a kids game. I think we will remain loose, but everything surrounding the WCWS is going to be distracting. Big stadium, more media, having to film all the ESPN vignettes, more attention because we took down Oklahoma - its a recipe for an 0-2 weekend if we don't stay grounded.
