Wow! They say pitching wins titles, and if the second weeKend of the 2024 campaigns of the University of ArKansas RazorbacKs baseball and softball teams are any indication as to what the rest of this season holds – looKout!
Hagen Smith KicKed things off Friday night against Oregon St. by striKing out the first 15 Beaver batters he faced and 17 outta 20, through six, full innings of work in a 5-4 ArKansas victory. That’s right – five perfect innings, fulla nothing but Ks. As a lifetime box score addict, I honestly don’t remember ever reading such stats, even outta some of the greatest arms in baseball history. Rarefied air, for sure.
Actually, last time I can recall similar dominance, it was the bicentennial year, 1976; I was eight years old, playing teeny league baseball down in the sweltering, Little Rock summertime at Kanis Park; and Jody Carson and speedball Steve Singleton, a mountain of a child, were mowing down snotty-nosed kids of single-digit ages left and right.
But wait. It gets better. Cuz there’s good, there’s great and in sports played on diamonds there’s perfection.
Not to be outdone, not by a longshot – Robyn Herron struck out nine, while tossing a perfect game of softball on Saturday at the incomparably-cozy, and dare i say cute, Bogle Park, leading the University of Arkansas to a 7-0 victory over Illinois St. She became only the second woman, behind Mary Haff and her 2022 effort, in 31 years of Razorbacks softball history to achieve such absolute mastery.
Kudos to you, Robyn, for breathing the rarest of all air.
Meanwhile, Dave Van Horn’s entire arsenal of amazingly awesome arms was also on display last weekend in the Kubota Baseball Series, played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Over a three-game stretch, 10 separate Hogs pitchers struck out 59 of the 112 Beavers, Cowboys and Wolverines (oh my!) that peacocked to the plate only to crawfish back to their respective dugouts.
For those keeping score at home, that’s 68 total strikeouts, racked up in only 39 innings of ball. And no matter whether you’re pitching baseballs or softballs, over or under, left or right-handed, stats like that are usually only talked about in fictional literature and achieved through video games.
Last week me and some of the homies found ourselves out at Airport Rd., posturing and talking Razorbacks sports, as we are prone to do, and baseball came up. Unfortunately, due to the soap opera that Razorbacks basketball has become, I hesitantly admitted to not being fully versed in this year’s team, yet, but would be soon. I did, however, seem to recall something I’d heard about Van Horn assembling an impressive array of pitchers. Or something of the sort.
Little did I know.
I am beyond hopeful.
This is the stuff that dreams are made of.
So go forth, wear the Cardinal and Red, walk proudly and talk smack loudly to the haters, especially those of the Longhorn variety, cuz warm weather is upon us, the flowers are blooming, Razorbacks pitchers are dealing, and sounds of aluminum batted balls fill the air.
WPS!!!