Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're celebrating
Speaker 1: National Girls and Women in Sports Day by walking into
Speaker 1: our neighborhood sports bar and asking every bro we encounter
Speaker 1: a women's sports question we know they can answer.
Speaker 2: Feels good to flip the script every once in a while.
Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, February fifth, and on today's show, we'll be
Speaker 1: nixing the Need to Know and bringing you No Dumb
Speaker 1: Questions Softball Edition with journalist, reporter, and editor Rhiannon Potke
Speaker 1: ahead of the twenty twenty five college softball season, which
Speaker 1: begins tomorrow. We talked about what makes the sports so unique,
Speaker 1: perennial powerhouse programs, and of course the stars, stakes, stats
Speaker 1: and stories that you need to know.
Speaker 2: That chat's coming up right after this joining us now.
Speaker 1: She's a journalist for multiple outlets, including d one sooftball
Speaker 1: dot com, the leading source for college softball coverage and scores.
Speaker 1: She's the founder of Goods for Greatness, and nonprofit that
Speaker 1: provides sports equipment to low income children across the country,
Speaker 1: and she's one of those.
Speaker 2: Mourning people you hear about. It's Rhiannon pot Key. What's up, Rhannon, Hey, Sarah?
Speaker 3: How are you doing. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'd like to think I'm doing better than
Speaker 1: you because I didn't wake up at four point thirty
Speaker 1: in the morning, But that's your thing.
Speaker 4: So I am a morning person. It's you know, to
Speaker 4: be in this profession as a sports writer and be
Speaker 4: a morning person is probably the worst possible thing in life.
Speaker 4: But I just can't. I mean, if I'm sleeping until six,
Speaker 4: then that's a long long sleep.
Speaker 3: In for me, which is crazy.
Speaker 2: But it's no thank you.
Speaker 3: My genetics is blame my parents. I'm blaming my parents
Speaker 3: for that.
Speaker 1: Well, thanks for taking the time to join us and
Speaker 1: tackling the very worthy task of answering all of our
Speaker 1: very not dumb questions about college softball in the upcoming season.
Speaker 1: We probably have some listeners that watch a lot of
Speaker 1: college softball, even more likely some that just catch up
Speaker 1: on the World Series, and maybe some that are new
Speaker 1: to it. So let's make sure everyone who's curious about
Speaker 1: softball earns what they need to know to dive in,
Speaker 1: even if it's for the first time.
Speaker 2: So this is college softball, no dumb questions.
Speaker 1: Addition, historically, what are some of the top programs in
Speaker 1: the women's softball world maybe of all time and then
Speaker 1: maybe just for the last couple of years.
Speaker 4: Yeah, of all time. You got to go back to
Speaker 4: UCLA and Arizona. They used to you know, go back
Speaker 4: and forth. Huge rivals. Still I don't know if they
Speaker 4: will still be rivals given the changes in conference re alignment,
Speaker 4: but those two historically were, you know, always winning the titles.
Speaker 4: More recently we've seen a little variety. But last four
Speaker 4: years and six of the last eight, Oklahoma has become
Speaker 4: the dominant program. But there is a lot more variety
Speaker 4: than there used to be. We had Florida State win titles.
Speaker 4: We've had the SEC build up programs like Alabama and Tennessee,
Speaker 4: and so there's a lot of legacy programs. But I
Speaker 4: think everyone knows that Oklahoma is kind of the big
Speaker 4: program now, but in the heyday it was Ucla.
Speaker 3: Arizona that we're kind of winning most of the titles.
Speaker 2: Why do you love college softball so much?
Speaker 4: I love it because there's just it's softball, such a
Speaker 4: faster paced game, and then baseball. For me, the innings
Speaker 4: are quicker, there's more variety. I mean, you get some slapping,
Speaker 4: you get some home runs, you get a lot of
Speaker 4: variety with that. The teams are very they have fun stories.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of cheering in the dugout, which you
Speaker 4: don't get much of baseball. I mean I can be
Speaker 4: honestly like in my maybe run an air and go
Speaker 4: to the kitchen and have a game on and know
Speaker 4: who's playing just because of the cheers I hear from
Speaker 4: the dugout, because every school is kind of distinctive and
Speaker 4: they all have their own separate cheers. It's just, you know,
Speaker 4: and like a lot of women's sports, the players and
Speaker 4: the coaches that are a lot more approachable and they
Speaker 4: seem more down to earth a little bit, and they're
Speaker 4: willing to kind of like want media attention and share
Speaker 4: their stories. And it's just fun. I mean, I think
Speaker 4: the main word. Whenever I go to a game, I
Speaker 4: feel like it's a lot of fun and a lot
Speaker 4: of action.
Speaker 2: How were you first introduced to softball?
Speaker 3: I grew up playing softball.
Speaker 4: I mean I started in Little league baseball and then
Speaker 4: I eventually like, everyone's like, you're a girl, go to softball,
Speaker 4: So I did. I grew up playing it for about
Speaker 4: twelve thirteen years. So I grew up in southern California
Speaker 4: playing it pretty high level travel, so that kind of.
Speaker 3: Got me addicted.
Speaker 4: And then I you know, I was always watching softball
Speaker 4: whenever I could, although back in the day that wasn't
Speaker 4: you know, as accessible, but go into games and stuff,
Speaker 4: so it's always been in my blood.
Speaker 1: I guess, Yeah, what important thing should fans know about
Speaker 1: what went down last season in college softball?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well as we kind of, I said, Oklahoma when
Speaker 4: it's fourth straight national title with one of the best
Speaker 4: senior classes in the history of the sport. They won
Speaker 4: a title every year, you really can't do better than that.
Speaker 4: It's pretty pretty amazing, you know. Last year OU Texas,
Speaker 4: Oklahoma State, UCLA, Stanford, Florida, Alabama, and Duke all made
Speaker 4: the women's College World Series.
Speaker 3: Duke was kind of a cool story. Is the first
Speaker 3: time in the history of the program.
Speaker 4: The program started in twenty eighteen, and it's a fast
Speaker 4: rise underhead coach Mercy Young, And it was a littally
Speaker 4: even more compelling because her husband the previous year had
Speaker 4: suffered a major heart attack that caused a lot of
Speaker 4: serious health issues and he wasn't there to see it
Speaker 4: that year, and like so they almost made it the
Speaker 4: year before, but if they had, he would have been
Speaker 4: having that heart attack at that time. So it was
Speaker 4: almost kind of like this, you know, but they made
Speaker 4: it back this into last year and that was a
Speaker 4: really cool, cool breakthrough for that program.
Speaker 3: So that was fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Let's get into things that might be unexpected. Are there
Speaker 1: any major rule differences, conference re alignments changes that we
Speaker 1: should be aware of heading.
Speaker 4: In We talk about Oklahoma, Well, the SEC is adding
Speaker 4: Oklahoma and Texas, and the SEC already gets in pretty
Speaker 4: much every single team to the tournament every year, maybe
Speaker 4: just one misses. So you add those two juggernaut programs
Speaker 4: and that conference is going to be crazy good.
Speaker 3: And then you got the other moves.
Speaker 4: Sadly, the PAC twelve was a softball juggernaut, and you know,
Speaker 4: we're still mourning the loss of the PAC twelve. I
Speaker 4: know it's kind of going to be back in name only,
Speaker 4: so Big ten adding UCLA and some of those road
Speaker 4: trips in Washington and Oregon, and the Big twelve with
Speaker 4: Arizona Arizona State, and then you get calan Stan from
Speaker 4: the ACC. So it's going to be interesting to see
Speaker 4: some of those different matchups you don't see although in
Speaker 4: softball you get a lot more teams playing each other
Speaker 4: because the amount of games you got, like sixty seventy
Speaker 4: games some teams play, so you do see more interconference
Speaker 4: map I mean, like you know, cross conference matchups more often.
Speaker 4: But it'll be cool to see three game series like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, let's get into my patented four s's the
Speaker 1: stars stake stats and stories. Who are a couple players
Speaker 1: our listeners can follow on social maybe expect see in
Speaker 1: a lot of highlight clips and at the top of
Speaker 1: the stats.
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's start with probably the best pitcher in the game,
Speaker 4: Najerie Kennedy Naja Candy for some people that know her well.
Speaker 4: She transferred to Texas Tech from Stanford, which was a
Speaker 4: huge story because she signed an nil deal that was
Speaker 4: reportedly to be about a million for softball.
Speaker 3: That's huge.
Speaker 4: So that was a huge move in the offseason. So
Speaker 4: she's what you got to start with. You have a
Speaker 4: picture at Tennessee named Carlin Pickens, who.
Speaker 3: Was a really, really good pitcher.
Speaker 4: She's wanted to watch Jordi ball from Nebraska. I'm sure
Speaker 4: some people if they tuned into Oklahoma a few years ago,
Speaker 4: she was helping lead them to the title. She transferred
Speaker 4: to Nebraska and then tore her ACL about three or
Speaker 4: four games into the season. So she's going to be
Speaker 4: back for Nebraska this season, but kind of the first
Speaker 4: time we've seen her there. Catcher Reese Atwood for Florida
Speaker 4: had a breakout season last year and she's back. And
Speaker 4: then one at Florida catcher Jocelyn Ericson, she had a
Speaker 4: great season SEC Player of the Year last year and
Speaker 4: she's one to watch too.
Speaker 2: And who are some dark horse teams?
Speaker 1: Are there any that maybe could be, you know, making
Speaker 1: a run in trying to steal a top spot.
Speaker 4: It's interesting because there's a lot of quality mid major
Speaker 4: programs in softball. I think if I was to say
Speaker 4: a dark horse, which is not really I mean with
Speaker 4: Jordi Ball and the team, but I think Nebraska is
Speaker 4: going to be one to watch just because they've got
Speaker 4: a lot of transfers in and they have Jordi Ball back,
Speaker 4: so that could be one that can make a World
Speaker 4: Series run.
Speaker 3: That's kind of a dark horse sleeper to get to
Speaker 3: the World Series.
Speaker 2: Cool. Okay, let's talk stakes.
Speaker 1: How important is every game in a college softball season,
Speaker 1: Like when it comes to making the tournament or being
Speaker 1: a good team. Is it a big deal if you
Speaker 1: lose a game or how many are there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, not every game is as important as it would
Speaker 4: be for like college football or college basketball, because there
Speaker 4: are more, Like I said, there's more than fifty games
Speaker 4: in a season, So you have some midway call mid
Speaker 4: weeks where you'll throw out some pitchers who maybe aren't
Speaker 4: on weekend starters, and some teams can trip up there
Speaker 4: and lose some of those games.
Speaker 3: So there's not as much worry about that.
Speaker 4: It's really conference play where you know you have the
Speaker 4: three game series each weekend, So most coaches would be
Speaker 4: satisfied to win two of those games and win the
Speaker 4: series each weekend.
Speaker 3: Obviously they love to sweep.
Speaker 4: But it's really kind of just about who you beat
Speaker 4: and when you beat them, and usually most of these
Speaker 4: major conferences you get plenty of chances. I think for
Speaker 4: the mid majors it's really important they take advantage of
Speaker 4: the opportunities against the bigger opponents for the RPI's sake.
Speaker 4: So maybe some games matter more to them than some
Speaker 4: of the conference games. But yeah, it's not quite as
Speaker 4: important as it would be in like football, where you
Speaker 4: only get you know, fourteen chances. This is you know,
Speaker 4: one chance each week. So college has a college offer's
Speaker 4: got a lot of games.
Speaker 2: Explain to us the RPI, Well.
Speaker 4: It's ratings percentage index, which is very controversial in softball.
Speaker 4: Most people don't like it because it's you know, depending
Speaker 4: on who you play, where you play them. You know,
Speaker 4: if you play a team that has an IRPI, you
Speaker 4: keep it. Even if you lose, you can jump in
Speaker 4: the RPI. So there's no perfect formula. As we said,
Speaker 4: almost all sports we see that, but that's the one
Speaker 4: that the tournament committee uses the most.
Speaker 1: So at the end of the season, it's about both
Speaker 1: your record and also the eye test or how a
Speaker 1: committee views you as a team, which is why you
Speaker 1: say it doesn't quite matter as much necessarily all the losses.
Speaker 1: It's more that you're beating the good teams and the
Speaker 1: teams that have a high RPI exactly.
Speaker 4: I mean, there's and it's kind of built in obviously
Speaker 4: with some of the strong conferences like the SEC. That's
Speaker 4: why a lot of their teams get in because they're
Speaker 4: playing every weekend teams that are very good.
Speaker 3: And high in the RPI.
Speaker 4: So it kind of you know that's kind of baked
Speaker 4: in and there is some eye test, but I think
Speaker 4: the committee as they usually just go straight RPI a
Speaker 4: lot more, and I think a lot of people don't
Speaker 4: really like that as much sometimes, but that's just kind
Speaker 4: of the way it is when you have this many
Speaker 4: teams contending for spots in the tournament.
Speaker 1: We got to take a quick break when we come back.
Speaker 1: More college softball with Briann and pot Key. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: talk stats. What's a great stat line for a hitter
Speaker 1: in the college game.
Speaker 4: I would say if you get two or more hits
Speaker 4: in a game and a few runs or maybe a
Speaker 4: few RBIs you know. The hitting is in softballs, which
Speaker 4: really gotten better these past few years. The offense has
Speaker 4: increased way more than it used to be when you
Speaker 4: pretty much every game was one zero, two to one,
Speaker 4: one zero, two to one. So I think if you
Speaker 4: get two or more hits driving a few runs, you know,
Speaker 4: that's a pretty solid stat line.
Speaker 2: What about a picture.
Speaker 4: I think now for a picture, limiting teams to two
Speaker 4: runs or less, you know, maybe eight strikeouts or more
Speaker 4: and zero to one walks would be good. Like I said,
Speaker 4: the offense is really increased, so it's you can't The
Speaker 4: pitchers aren't going to be like shutouts every game like
Speaker 4: it used to be. And softball's kind of developed the
Speaker 4: baseball approach of by committee. That's been a really really
Speaker 4: new thing these last five years. There's no you'll still
Speaker 4: have your ass that go the distance, but they're doing
Speaker 4: a lot more mixing and matching than they've ever done
Speaker 4: in the sport. So that's a really really kind of
Speaker 4: a new thing this sport, and I think it's made
Speaker 4: it fun. You even have some closers in softball which
Speaker 4: you never used to see.
Speaker 2: Why do you think that's happening?
Speaker 3: I think because the hitting is in it.
Speaker 4: The video has improved so much, and people have so
Speaker 4: much more stats and information on pitchers that you know
Speaker 4: you can be and you have you know, if you
Speaker 4: have a bigger staff, you can throw a change of pace.
Speaker 4: And an interesting thing about softball is if you take
Speaker 4: a picture out, you can put them back in, so
Speaker 4: you don't like when you pull them, they don't have
Speaker 4: to sit the whole game.
Speaker 3: You can rein hurt them again. So sometimes you just
Speaker 3: do it for a particular hitter or like a part
Speaker 3: in the lineup or something.
Speaker 4: And I think it's just the more variety that the
Speaker 4: more pitches that people see from different arms, different angles,
Speaker 4: different spins, it really impacts the hitter. So coaches know
Speaker 4: that and now they're going with it.
Speaker 1: Are there any rules to how long a pitcher has
Speaker 1: to be in once they're inserted? Can they come in
Speaker 1: for just one batter and come back out?
Speaker 4: Yes they can't. Yeah, just one batter, come back out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's that's wild.
Speaker 1: So like if you just get torched by a particular
Speaker 1: hitter as a pitcher, you can just sub out and
Speaker 1: be like, I'm good, I don't really want to get
Speaker 1: rocked by that gal again. We'll send someone else into
Speaker 1: facer and I'll come back in possibly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you can only come back in out limited times.
Speaker 4: Like you can't keep doing that every time that picture
Speaker 4: that the hitter comes up.
Speaker 3: But yeah, you conceivably do that. It's fun. It's kind
Speaker 3: of makes it a little bit more of a chess match,
Speaker 3: you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because we had Kat Osterman on the show
Speaker 1: to preview the ausl Athletes Unlimited Softball League, and she
Speaker 1: still holds a billion d records. Now obviously that's because
Speaker 1: she's unbelievable, but to your point, we're just also not
Speaker 1: seeing pictures go the distance as often and throw as
Speaker 1: many innings.
Speaker 3: Huh, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: There's there's you know, you used to have it pretty much.
Speaker 4: You threw you to start a picture and she would
Speaker 4: go the full seven if she was succeeding, or but
Speaker 4: nowadays only even pull play. They'll think, you know, hey,
Speaker 4: let's rest her a little bit for the stretch run,
Speaker 4: or we don't want to. So it is there's I
Speaker 4: think you're going to see a lot of different stats
Speaker 4: that maybe you know, and Monica Abbott and kat Austraman
Speaker 4: have tremendous like I don't think if you put people
Speaker 4: seven innings they would do this, But now I think
Speaker 4: it's not going to be quite as easy to do that.
Speaker 4: Or you're going to see different types of stats. So
Speaker 4: judging things for like awards and things have to be
Speaker 4: kind of, you know, a little different than they.
Speaker 3: Used to be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and a lot more strategy, feels like for coaches
Speaker 1: than as opposed to just like ride the ace. You've
Speaker 1: got a little bit more thinking about who faces who.
Speaker 2: I let's talk to stories.
Speaker 1: Any players, coaches, teams that have a particularly compelling story
Speaker 1: heading into the season, could be come back from ury,
Speaker 1: could be uh that they're close to break in a
Speaker 1: record or switch schools.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we just gus a few of them earlier.
Speaker 4: With Naja Kennedy going from Stanford to Texas Tech. That
Speaker 4: was the biggest story in the offseason. And they've got
Speaker 4: a new coach, Jerry Glasgow, who's he was at Louisiana
Speaker 4: and now he's there and he's all in. He's one
Speaker 4: that likes to get transfers in there and kind of
Speaker 4: quickly transform programs. So we'll see if they can, We'll
Speaker 4: see how high they can go. And then, like I said,
Speaker 4: Jordy Ball coming back from injury is going to be
Speaker 4: one to watch. She's a great story, you know, giving
Speaker 4: her immense success, and she hits and pitches, so she's
Speaker 4: a huge dynamic add to that lineup. So I think
Speaker 4: those are the two ones that everyone's going to be
Speaker 4: looking at. I think, oh, you they're still top five program,
Speaker 4: but just see who can take that, you know, who
Speaker 4: can replace those stars and become the stars of the
Speaker 4: Sooners for the next generation.
Speaker 2: How rare is it in softball to pitch and hit?
Speaker 4: It's it's it's not as rare as it as it
Speaker 4: used to be. I mean, you still I think a
Speaker 4: lot of kids they do it in high school, but
Speaker 4: for some reason, once they get to college, a lot
Speaker 4: of coaches don't want to give them the pressure of
Speaker 4: doing both.
Speaker 3: But then there's some that love to do both.
Speaker 4: I've noticed the past few years and more are allowing
Speaker 4: them to, like some of the top aces two hit,
Speaker 4: which I think is great. Some love to so I
Speaker 4: think that's kind of an attraction for them. But I
Speaker 4: would say it's you know, it's like fifty to fifty.
Speaker 4: You get some that love love it, and it really
Speaker 4: depends on what kind of you know, what coach you
Speaker 4: go to, and how they utilize pictures.
Speaker 2: And tough to do it at the highest level on
Speaker 2: both sides, I presume.
Speaker 4: Yes, exactly, it is hard. I mean you you know,
Speaker 4: if you can find one that can hit against the
Speaker 4: great stuff like well as they can throw it, you're
Speaker 4: definitely gonna do it. And it saves you a spot
Speaker 4: in the lineup too. You don't have to use the DP,
Speaker 4: so there's some strategy in it too to keep that,
Speaker 4: you know, the picture in the lineup without having.
Speaker 3: To put in another player.
Speaker 2: Tell us about the DP designated player.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well you can.
Speaker 4: That's a spot where you can insert someone in the lineup.
Speaker 4: If you have like a week hitter who's a good
Speaker 4: defender or something, you can put a DP in there.
Speaker 4: And like I said, most times that could be for
Speaker 4: the picture because the pictures. But if you have a
Speaker 4: great picture who can hit, then you can. That's a
Speaker 4: strategy where you can utilize someone else who's a weaker
Speaker 4: hitter and put them in the field somewhere it's a
Speaker 4: great defender and then have someone come in and you know,
Speaker 4: hit the crap out of the ball.
Speaker 1: So let's start with the stars, starting with the favorite
Speaker 1: teams to win it all. It sounds like Oklahoma's going
Speaker 1: to be the favorite again right running four straight.
Speaker 4: Actually, Oklahoma will be up there, but I think the
Speaker 4: favorites to win it all are probably mostly Florida and
Speaker 4: Texas are the two that you're seeing a lot of
Speaker 4: because Oklahoma lost so many players from last year. I
Speaker 4: think people still realize they're going to be up there
Speaker 4: and contending. But I think Florida and Texas will be
Speaker 4: ones that maybe you have at the top of the
Speaker 4: rankings to start the season. Whether that you know continues
Speaker 4: at the end, we'll see and I think UCLA and
Speaker 4: Oklahoma State or two that also are going to be
Speaker 4: in the running there as well.
Speaker 1: Is it the first time it's felt a little bit
Speaker 1: more open with all those players graduating from Oklahoma?
Speaker 3: I think the first time in the like the last
Speaker 3: four years.
Speaker 4: Yes, I definitely believe that, because they just said that
Speaker 4: class was so sensational, and then plus you had the
Speaker 4: COVID year, so you had some coming back that were
Speaker 4: fifth years, so they Oklahoma was stacked and they still are.
Speaker 4: They still have tons of talent, but it does feel
Speaker 4: more wide open than it was the last four years.
Speaker 1: So we know that Patty Gasso, who is the head
Speaker 1: coach at Oklahoma, is literally like a legend in the game,
Speaker 1: knowing what you know about her.
Speaker 2: Is this like an exciting season for her?
Speaker 1: The idea that people are doubting them, that a bunch
Speaker 1: of players would graduate and they wouldn't be a favorite.
Speaker 4: For sure, Patty loves and she loves coaching, and I
Speaker 4: know not that she didn't have to coach those other players,
Speaker 4: but as she loves developing players and developing.
Speaker 3: You know, people into what they are.
Speaker 4: So I think she's gonna love this season and get
Speaker 4: kind of reinvigorated and having some young talent to kind
Speaker 4: of mold and she does it. It's you know, I
Speaker 4: guess doubted quote unquote being like five instead of number
Speaker 4: one is. But you know, you'll take the chip anywhere
Speaker 4: you can get it. So I think she'll love that.
Speaker 4: But I do think the part she'll really love is
Speaker 4: just the development aspects and having to kind of, you know,
Speaker 4: teach them what much of the game again, as opposed
Speaker 4: to having such veterans that you know, you don't necessarily
Speaker 4: have to teach as much as you did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, two more for you. A softball back in
Speaker 1: the Olympics in twenty twenty eight. Will that have any
Speaker 1: sort of trickled down effects on college programs?
Speaker 2: You think?
Speaker 4: I think it will, Yeah, because many of the players
Speaker 4: that you're watching now may have a chance to make
Speaker 4: that national team. I mean it's because it's still you know,
Speaker 4: three years away, and some of the top seniors juniors
Speaker 4: may be able to make it, depending on who's still
Speaker 4: around or hiring or not. And you know, the Olympics
Speaker 4: always brings a spotlight to the sport, so it always
Speaker 4: ends up like you know, if people, oh I see
Speaker 4: in the Olympics, maybe I'll either start playing softball or
Speaker 4: else watching college softball if they haven't already. And the
Speaker 4: cool thing is a lot of them know the stars
Speaker 4: if they are because most of the college stars do
Speaker 4: play for the Olympics, and you know, some of the
Speaker 4: coaching staff too could be as usually made up of
Speaker 4: college coaches, so that there's there's usually you know, a
Speaker 4: little trickle down. The only thing about the softball being
Speaker 4: the Olympics that's kind of a bummer is it's going
Speaker 4: to be as much as I love Oklahoma City and
Speaker 4: like it's a great venue, having to be play there
Speaker 4: and not getting the full Olympic experience around the other
Speaker 4: Olympic athletes I think.
Speaker 1: Is yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they won't be able to be in LA around
Speaker 4: and like in the you know you just fraternizing with
Speaker 4: other athletes. I think that's kind of a bummer for
Speaker 4: just you know, they'll still get the the other softball players,
Speaker 4: but but yeah, I think it'll have a trickle down
Speaker 4: effect to college and and some like I said, some
Speaker 4: of the players you're watching now may be on those teams.
Speaker 4: So it's pretty good primer to get used to who
Speaker 4: you might see then.
Speaker 1: Which brings me to my final question, which relates to
Speaker 1: somehow Oklahoma even getting home field in the Olympics, which
Speaker 1: is unrelated to college softball. But there are people who
Speaker 1: respect that Oklahoma's facilities are incredible. They are by far
Speaker 1: the best place to play the World Series, and that
Speaker 1: means that they get home field every single year. How
Speaker 1: much of a benefit is that and is there a
Speaker 1: real argument to having it move.
Speaker 4: There's no question it's a little. It's a benefit in
Speaker 4: terms of the fans. Can you know, travel easier and everything,
Speaker 4: and it's it's you know, comfortable for them. But you know,
Speaker 4: I don't think it's as decided as some people like
Speaker 4: to make it out to be. I think there's I
Speaker 4: think it's a great venue. I think you know, you
Speaker 4: have to have it somewhere. I mean, Omaha's not winning
Speaker 4: every baseball title. I mean Creighton's not winning every baseball title.
Speaker 4: They're in their own backyard. You still got to be
Speaker 4: good to get there. It's not really a factor there.
Speaker 4: And the biggest question there is where else are you
Speaker 4: going to play that has a facility that you can
Speaker 4: build with the amount of money that'll have space and
Speaker 4: people to do it. If someone wants to spend a
Speaker 4: few billion dollars million dollars to build a whole facility
Speaker 4: with the infrastructure, that's great, they'll play it somewhere else.
Speaker 4: But until that's done, I really did the complaining is
Speaker 4: kind of you know, it's I think it's just a
Speaker 4: coincidence that's become like now it's taken a life of
Speaker 4: its own. And I think if it was, you know,
Speaker 4: played anywhere else, I don't know if like, if there
Speaker 4: was a good team there, you would be saying the
Speaker 4: same thing.
Speaker 2: But and for now, it does make for a really
Speaker 2: cool experience.
Speaker 1: Everyone knows what they're getting, everyone knows where to go,
Speaker 1: where it'll be, when it'll be, and how they can
Speaker 1: go watch one of the great things in college sports,
Speaker 1: which is the women's softball College World Series. I mean
Speaker 1: it is just one of the highest rated, one of
Speaker 1: the highest viewed, and attendance in the scene around it
Speaker 1: is always such fun. All right, I feel like I
Speaker 1: know more, I'm more prepared. I'm ready to dive into
Speaker 1: college softball. So thanks so much for giving us some time,
Speaker 1: Rannon my pleasure.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much to Rihanna for joining us.
Speaker 5: We got to take another break, be right back, Welcome back, slices.
Speaker 1: We love you're listening, but we want to get you
Speaker 1: in the game every day too, So here's our good
Speaker 1: game play of the day.
Speaker 2: You know what time it is.
Speaker 1: Choose your fighter, and by that I mean choose the
Speaker 1: program you'll be rooting for this college softball season. The
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five campaign starts tomorrow, so decide who you're
Speaker 1: rocking with and get in on the trash talk in
Speaker 1: action if you feel so inclined. We'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you, so hit us up on email Good Game
Speaker 1: at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a voicemail at
Speaker 1: eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Good game, Rhannon, Good game, College soft Bebes?
Speaker 2: Wait what college softbab? No? Few College soft Bebes.
Speaker 1: Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iheartwomen's sports production
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Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rutter, Britney Martinez and Grace Lynch.
Speaker 1: Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host
Speaker 1: Sarah Spain