The Big Ten has only had five commissioners since 1922. That’s an amazing number and a testament to the loyalty shown by these five individuals. One of those elite is none other than Jim Delaney, who has captained the conference for almost 20 years. He has undergone several changes in several different arenas, and one of his chief responsibilities at the current time is amongst other commissioners on the Bowl Championship Series “team”. Read the rest of this entry »

The NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) gives out honors in different ways than other organizations, where things are broken down into specific regions for accolades. A lot of times, like for the All-American teams, they release regional teams and then end up making a national conglomerate. For coaching staffs to be honored, that’s a little more difficult to surmise. But that takes nothing away from the fact that Purdue and Michigan’s coaching staffs were rewarded from the organization as being the best in their respective regions. Read the rest of this entry »

Northwestern and Michigan have pretty much been the class of the Big 10 in terms of softball for the entire 2008 year. Sure, Iowa looked pretty good at times, but the Wildcats and Wolverines certainly dominated when it came down to it. So it really wasn’t a huge surprise when the two players that got individual honors as first team All-Americans from the Big Ten were from these two respective teams. I am frankly surprised there wasn’t more… Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll admit it, I have been like a lot of people in my anger at both sides of this epic battle of the Big Ten Network and Comcast, as it seems it always comes down to money. Heck, I’m not real happy with Comcast in the least, they came in as the big bully and took over Insight as my “everything” provider, and has promptly raised rates as well as concerns with their network capabilities, etc. But I digress.

Since March, subscribers and Big 10 fans have eagerly been awaiting the final ok to a proposed agreement with the BTN and the cable network, but it has yet to be disseminated. In fact, it’s making me a bit nervous that there are more stipulations that I will not be hip to, but as long as at least I have an option to put the BTN on my list, I am simply ecstatic for that availability. The fact is with the biggies Michigan and Ohio State hogging much of the primetime games on the football schedule, when you want to watch another team, the choices are slim pickings most of the time.

Get it done, boys. You can only hurt yourself the longer this goes on, for pete’s sake.

We all knew that the Big 10 was strong in softball, but how’s this for a number: 13. That’s how many players were selected by the NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) to the All-Region teams that are broken down into nine regions across the country. This once again gives credibility to the strength that the conference has in terms of having quality players and teams not only top to bottom, but also on a national level. Read the rest of this entry »

The first for the last. That’s what the summation of the Big 10 Women’s softball tournament really breaks down to; Northwestern beat Iowa 1-0 to win its first conference tournament crown, but it will be its only one for the immediate future, as the conference tournament is being disbanded as voted on by Big 10 coaches to extend the regular season, thus giving more of a chance to teams for NCAA seeding and placement. Read the rest of this entry »

Katie Brown had a good weekend. That’s an understatement. The Iowa Hawkeyes’ sophomore was only sent down 1 time in six at bats against the Illinois Fighting Illini softball team this weekend, and the times that she did get on, she put on maximum damage by having 3 HR, 1 double, and six RBI with an absolutely amazing 2.500 slugging percentage to take home the co-Big Ten player of the week. Read the rest of this entry »

This just in: Samantha Findlay is good. The Michigan Wolverine sophomore, who went 6 for 10 over the weekend against Michigan State and Northwestern, not only got timely hits for her team, but she also extended her hitting streak to seven games. For her efforts, she has nabbed her second Big 10 player of the week honor for women’s softball, and it’s her third time winning the award overall.

Out of the six hits, one of them was a monstrous grand slam against the Spartans (it was one of two against MSU). Although her hits this weekend were probably the biggest showing offensively for Michigan, it’s not as if she’s the only star on this team, which has a gaudy 44-5 record and 16-2 in conference play. They are really playing great ball and should be a tough opponent to anyone they face come NCAA tourney time.

The Northwestern Wildcats have been, for the most part, the bully of the Big 10 softball scene. But on Sunday, the Iowa Hawkeyes, despite losing the opening game of the doubleheader, scored 5 runs in the first inning against Northwestern, and that was all they needed in the victory, upsetting the Wildcats and handing them their first conference loss, 5-2. Read the rest of this entry »

…And heeeeeeeeeere’s the pitch…

Northwestern’s Lauren Delaney, you could say, was in a zone. Over the weekend, she simply was on fire–and so were her pitches. Not only did she compile a 1.02 ERA and a whopping 31 strikeouts in 20 innings of work, she also showed pinpoint control by only walking two–an average of 1 per inning. But the biggest statistic that the sophomore was able to put up was 4: that’s the number of wins she had in as many games that she pitched.

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