April 2014 – Page 12 – Sports Radio Service

The Sam Fuld Conundrum

Published on April 8, 2014 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

Sam Fuld this. Sam Fuld that. Everyone is talking about Sam Fuld and how he’s going to be an impact player this year for the A’s.

Well, he is. It’s all-true.

Fuld is a six year vet with playing time spent with both the Cubs and the Rays but he’s come into this first year with the A’s as if he has something to prove to the club, the team and himself.

He’s already endearing himself to all A’s fans as his barely missed inside-the-park homer had the crowd going wild. Also his two diving catches within the past week have proven to the A’s faithful that he’s here and ready to make an impact.

In only four games and 18 at bats, Fuld has four hits, which includes two triples and two RBIs. It’s too early to tell if he’s going to keep his .222 average for the year but his On-Base Percentage of .707 is something that the A’s have to be proud of.

When talking to Alex Espinoza of MLB.com, Bob Melvin said “I knew he was a good player but he’s probably an even better player than I thought. He does a lot of things that don’t show up in the box score.”

The only issue that can come about with Fuld is when injured Craig Gentry return’s to the line up. Where will Fuld go? If Gentry gets back in, Fuld can opt out of his contract on June 1 and make himself available to any team.

The question is – what should the A’s do? Should they option Fuld to AAA? Or should they just let him walk? What if Gentry under performs and Fuld excels on some other team?

It’s a hard decision to make and way above my pay grade but if I had to take a shot, I’d option him to AAA and keep him on a short leash. It’s not everyday you have a 32 year old coming into a new organization and hitting on all cylinders.

Hudson dazzles in home debut

Published on April 8, 2014 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Tim Hudson made his first appearance as a member of the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park one that the veteran right-hander will not soon forget.

Hudson pitched eight innings, allowing three runs (two earned), not a walking and striking out four and the Giants defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-3 before a sellout crowd of 42,166 on Opening Day at AT&T Park.

Brandon Belt continued his torrid pace of home runs, as he hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast off of Diamondbacks starter Trevor Cahill in the bottom of the first inning.

Belt is the first Giants player to hit five home runs in the first eight games since Jose Cruz, Jr., back during the 2003 season, the year that the Giants went wire-to-wire to win the National League West.

It was a tough day for Cahill, as he lasted just 3.2 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and saw his record fall to 0-3 on the season.

Another Giants player made his AT&T Park debut, and did not disappoint the sellout crowd, as Michael Morse went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in for the now 6-2 Giants.

Morse hit a two-run single in the bottom of the third inning that blew the close game wide open, and then added a two-out double in the bottom of the fifth inning and then was pinch ran for by Gregor Blanco.

Brandon Crawford hit a sharp single to right field that scored Hunter Pence, and Blanco avoided the Miguel Montero tag to give the Giants their sixth and seventh runs of the afternoon.

This was the fourth season opener for the Diamondbacks, who opened the season against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Sydney, at Chase Field against the Giants, this past Friday against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field and today versus the Giants.

Unfortunately, it was not a good thing for the Diamondbacks, as they went 0-4 in those home openers and saw their record drop to 2-8 on the season.

Brandon Hicks made his first start as a member of the Giants at second base, but committed a throwing error in the top of the second inning that allowed Martin Prado score from third base.

NOTES: This was the sixth straight win on Opening Day at AT&T Park, and improve to 12-3 in the 15 years since the park on opened on April 11, 2000.

Game time temperature was 73 degrees, the warmest for a Giants home opener since the team moved to the West Coast back in 1958.

Tim Lincecum will make his 2014 AT&T Park debut on Wednesday night, while the Diamondbacks will send Bronson Arroyo to the hill.

PAC-12 Comissioneer Larry Scott and Miles Scott, better known as the SFBatkid threw out the ceremonial first pitches.

So far, all-hit, no-pitch Giants have everyone confused

Published on April 7, 2014April 8, 2014 by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

Coming into the season, the Giants needed a little pop in their bats to support their outstanding pitching.

Now—just a week into a marathon of a season—the same Giants could use just a touch of competent pitching to support their Murderer’s Row-like starting lineup.

“We weren’t swing the bats all that well,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “But the bell rang, they answered it and we came out swinging.”

Doesn’t seem much like the team they expected to have. Now, on the eve of Opening Day by the Bay, the remodeled Giants need to show that new is better. Or is it?

And before you venture an answer to that loaded question, remember this: the 2013 Giants opened 23-15 and then finished 10 games below .500 while looking like the worst team in the National League for long stretches.

Likely, in order to venture an educated guess, you’ll need some facts. Here they are:

The Giants are 5-2 after their road swing through Phoenix (3-1) and Los Angeles (2-1). They lead the majors in home runs (11) and are second in the National League in runs scored (40). They haven’t missed offensive catalyst Marco Scutaro in part due to the return of Angel Pagan (.419) and the signing of Michael Morse (.350). Also Brandon Belt’s doing his best not to be a question mark, the young slugger ranks second in the NL with four home runs.

Hunter Pence (.138) and Pablo Sandoval (.148) haven’t taken off yet, but all signs are that they will. Pence led the Giants in most offensive categories a year ago, and Sandoval’s had some quality at-bats thus far without the results to match.

Last year, the Giants finished 13^th in the National League with 107 home runs. This season, based on early returns, they could hit 200 if their power-laden lineup stays intact. In fact, if the Giants’ pitching catches its groove, you can see how the Giants could lean heavily on offensive patience, with their hitters looking for long balls and big innings to break open close, low-scoring ballgames.

But that’s only if the pitchers pitch.

Thus far, Matt Cain has both Giants’ losses, Madison Bumgarner’s been good, not great, and Timmy Lincecum and Ryan Vogelsong have ERA’s of 6.00 and above. The Giants lean heavily on their starters, and their ability to pitch deep in games. When they don’t pitch well, the team doesn’t win, at least that’s been their recent history. Even if the team’s offense continues to show considerable improvement it’s hard to see how the team can win consistently without quality starts.

And thus far, the Giants have just two quality starts, one each from Bumgarner and Tim Hudson. The prevailing thought was that the pitching would come around if it wasn’t quite up to snuff. But the Giants opted to stick with the same core of starters, and they’re starting to show some wear. It’s not clear if you can count on them coming around still. Cain and Lincecum have lost velocity, and Vogelsong’s two seasons removed from his magical 2012.

Still not sure where this thing’s headed. Then do this: wait another week and decide. In 2013, the Giants were awful at home, finishing 42-40. If this team pitches like its capable, hits like it has so far, and plays defense like they’ve done since a rough opening night in Phoenix, then they’ll be a great home team, capable of winning 60 at AT&T Park. If that’s the case, they’re ready to take off starting tomorrow. So watch the next six ballgames against the Diamondbacks and Rockies, and you’ll be a savant for sure.

The Giants have tabbed Tim Hudson for Tuesday’s 1:35pm opener with Arizona’s Trevor Cahill the opposing pitcher in an all-former Athletics matchup.

Behind Bats of Moss, Cespedes, Athletics Spoil Twins Home Opener

Published on April 7, 2014 by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew Harrington

For the Oakland Athletics, Monday afternoon’s 8-3 pasting of the Minnesota Twins offered a reversal of fates for the green and gold. After setting an MLB record for first-day futility with their tenth-straight Opening Day loss last Monday, the A’s (4-3) played spoiler to the Twin City faithful excited to take in their home team for the first time in 2014.

Yoenis Cespedes and Brandon Moss knocked in a pair of runs each, Derek Norris connected on his first homer of the season and Scott Kazmir (2-0, 2.03 ERA) fired six innings of three-run ball to pick up his second win on the season.

The A’s opened the scoring in the top of the second after Moss walked to lead off then scored on a Cespedes double to left field. Alberto Callaspo, getting the start at designated hitter Monday, singled softly to right to advance Cespedes to third. Right fielder Josh Reddick plated Cespedes on a base hit, his first RBI of the season.

Minnesota (3-4) cut the lead by one in the bottom half of the inning off Kazmir when former Oakland backstop Kurt Suzuki singled sharply to left with one out. Center fielder Aaron Hicks doubled to his counterpart to push Suzuki across the plate.

After losing track of the count on a 2-2 pitch with one down in the top of the third, A’s shortstop Jed Lowrie tried taking a base-on-balls one pitch too early. After already removing his equipment to jog to first, Lowrie was informed of his mistake and returned to the plate for the full-count delivery. Lowrie launched the 3-2 Correia change up down the right field line for what appeared to be a homerun to the naked eye. The ruling on the field, upheld after a lengthy video review, confirmed the ball had gone just foul. After being denied the long ball, Lowrie settled for a walk on the next pitch.

Third baseman Josh Donaldson, flip-flopping with Lowrie in the batting order to bat third for the first time this season, doubled on a fly ball to right to put runners at second and third. Moss followed him up by wrapping a one-out single for a 4-1 A’s advantage. After Yoenis Cespedes popped out to Aaron Hicks, Callaspo doubled in Moss to cap the three-run inning.

Minnesota completed its scoring for the day in the bottom half of the inning. After Trevor Plouffe singled to open the frame then league RBI leader Chris Colabello took a four-pitch walk. Kazmir induced a line-drive out off the bat of Josmil Pinto, advancing Plouffe to third on the play. Jason Kubel ripped a run-scoring double to right field, then Suzuki bounced into an RBI groundout to plate Colabello cutting Oakland’s edge to 5-3 after three innings.

With two down in the sixth Norris launched the first pitch he saw from Correia to deep center field for his first home run of the season, a solo blast that chased the Twins starter and put the A’s ahead 6-1.

Despite entering the season with the expectation that Norris would sit against right-handed pitching in favor of the left-handed hitting John Jaso, Norris now has hits in 5-of-9 at-bats against righties this season. He also handled same-handed pitchers with ease in Spring Training to a .354 batting average.

The A’s added a pair in the seventh inning after Twins reliever Samuel Deduno balked home Nick Punto from third with an out before Cespedes’ sacrifice fly brought Josh Donaldson around from third. Despite the blip, Deduno pitched well in relief of Correia (0-1, 6.17 ERA). After the Twins started got knocked out of the game on Norris’ homer, Deduno pitched the final 3 1/3 innings allowing two earned runs.

A’s lefty Scott Kazmir followed up his no-run debut by rattling off six innings of six-hit baseball. He allowed three runs, all earned, and struck out five batters while yielding four walks. Fernando Abad and Dan Otero pitched scoreless innings apiece before Ryan Cook sealed the win by shutting the Twins down in the ninth.

Cook missed the A’s first six games with a strained shoulder forcing him to the disabled list for the season’s first week. Though he didn’t allow a run Monday, Cook opened his 2014 campaign with a somewhat shaky start. He got shortstop Pedro Florimon to strike out on a pitch in the dirt, then issued back-to-back walks to Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer. After a visit from pitching coach Curt Young, Cook retired Plouffe on a popout then finished Colabello off with a punch-out to seal the win.

The A’s will take their first scheduled off-day Tuesday although they have already had two games postponed due to weather-related circumstances. On Wednesday, Jesse Chavez will look to build on his six-inning, one-run performance that yielded a no decision Thursday evening. The A’s ultimately walked off in the 12^th inning on Coco Crisp’s first-ever walk-off home run. Chavez will be countered by righty Phil Hughes. The White Sox roughed Hughes up in his first start of 2014, scoring four runs including a pair of long balls over five innings.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Stanford’s year was monumental after getting to the semi finals three straight times

Published on April 7, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–Stanford will always be noted for their great achievement for reaching the NCAA semi finals three times in a row although they lost to UConn all three times but they lost to a team that was either near perfect or perfect in the case of this year.

Reaching the Final Four in the first place was tough to achieve, it’s tough to win and look at how many teams in college there are and what the odds are, the Sweet 16 and all the other dances that go on. It’s very tough for Stanford to get that far but congratulations to the Cardinal for what they accomplished this year.

Just getting to the Final Four that is quite an achievement for the ladies of Stanford. Not many schools can claim they went to the semi finals three years in a row like the UConns of the world. Then there’s the men’s game where Kentucky and UConn have been there before.

For the women to make it three times in a row it’s an eye opener and this is our school in the Bay Area to have made it that far. Cal is another great school in the Bay Area a great place for learning and a great place for sports. So three times in a row to make the Final Four that doesn’t happen very often in college sports and the Stanford women did it.

Los Angeles hit with a series of tremors: I was in my hotel in during the Mariners and Angels series about a weeek and half ago and I remember the beginning of a video tape that was played with Dodger great Vin Scully at the microphone on it announcing the Dodgers game when someone was at the plate and Scully said, “here’s the pitch and we’re having a tremor and here’s a ground ball to second” he just mentioned it so casually and it was so funny.

“We’re having a tremor” and he didn’t panic or anything and kept announcing. My broadcast partner Jose Mota was with the Angels doing the broadcast of the Freeway Series against the Dodgers on English TV and he felt it at Dodgers Stadium. I didn’t work that game because I didn’t do the Angels pre season but Mota told me it was quite a jolt.

There is also a lot of people who said they didn’t feel anything so it’s kind of strange it’s an old park, Dodger Stadium know as Chavez Ravine up there on the hill overlooking L.A. It was scary there were a number of after shocks in the L.A. area but nothing like the one in Chile thank God that one was an 8.2 earthquake that triggered a tsunami.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Vice President of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Museum and does News and Commentary each week on Sportstalk

Michelle Richardson on the NCAA Championship finals: Stanford women one and done with UConn; had a great run

Published on April 7, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michelle Richardson

UConn 75 Stanford 56: The Stanford Cardinal went into the Final Four and wanted to push for a victory this time and got to the NCAA finals but again failed for the third straight time since getting into the semi finals since 2010. It was too much Huskies for the Cardinal as the Huskies top scorers Breanna Stewart finished the game with 18 points and for Stanford Amber Orrange led with 16 points.

“It wouldn’t be fun if you didn’t beat teams that were any good” said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma “I think Women’s basketball needs rivalries like this,teams that aspire to be great and want to win championships”

Stanford star Chiney Ogwumike said it was an exciting year and her last at Stanford, “it’s been an amazing remarkable experience to have Stanford on my jersey one last time.” For head coach Tara VanDerveer it was just a tough game offensively and that the shots were not falling for the Cardinal, “we knew the biggest challenge for us was to score, we worked hard defensively, had a lot of good stops. Their size, when they went big, their size is really disruptive. Probably more than anything, they have very skilled players, play very well together” said VanDerveer.

Notre Dame 87 Maryland 61: The Fighting Irish’s Kayla McBride’s offense kept things going for Notre Dame with her 28 point leading performance. She was a one woman performing machine with those Harlem Globetrotter’s type behind the back dribbles and passes and quick cross overs before hitting the bucket.

For Maryland Brionna Jones finished with 16 points for the top scorer in the loss. For McBride in her senior year this is the one that makes her graduating year sweet finishing up a season in the Final Four with a big win “it means a lot as a senior, I am so proud of this team. We went through a lot of adversity, especially after losing Ace. We’re going to go in and look at the film and be ready for the game” said McBride.

Kentucky-UConn NCAA Finals: Willie Cauley-Stein of the UConn Huskies sat out of the semi finals game on Saturday. Cauley-Stein hurt his ankle in the tournament and made it worse playing on it against Louisville in the Regional semi final win and sat out in the win against Michigan last week.

The Huskies have proven one thing that they know how to do it without him and their prepared to play Kentucky without Cauley-Stein and that’s basketball. That’s the way the game works, one player can not decide whether their team is going to win or not.

This is the second time in the title in three years that Kentucky got here and two years ago they got here with a group of Freshman led by former Wildcat Anthony Davis who is now with the New Orleans Pelicans. The Wildcats now have their own crop of freshman and all we can say this game is really going to be very interesting on Monday night.

The Wildcats have a 29-10 record and the Huskies have a 31-8 record and the last time the Wildcats got in the finals they pretty much finished perfect and blanked everybody for the whole season. This game should be a razor thin margin win for either team it’s evenly matched and should up end being the best of the finales.

Michelle Richardson covered the NCAA for Sportstalk and will be back in the fall

A’s conclude tumultous opening week with a big win over the Mariners

Published on April 6, 2014April 6, 2014 by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

If navigating a very difficult first week of the season is any indication, the A’s could again be a force in the AL West in 2014.

The A’s homered their way past the Mariners, 6-3, on Sunday to finish the first home stand with a 3-3 record. No great shakes, but given that the A’s dealt with rain outs, blown saves, King Felix, seven guys on the disabled list and another Opening Day loss, a .500 start doesn’t seem deflating at all.

“It was definitely an odd week with all the rainouts,” Brandon Moss said. “It feels like it’s been more than a week with all the time down that we’ve had.”

The jumbled nature of things seemed to play into the A’s rough start Sunday. The A’s fell behind 3-0 as Daric Barton committed an error, starter Sonny Gray wasn’t quite on his game, Coco Crisp’s slow reaction to a single by Robinson Cano allowed the former Yankee to reach second base, and John Jaso whiffed on a passed ball.

“Whether its days of non-batting practice and not being on the field or whatever, there’s no excuse to not have some focus early on,” manager Bob Melvin admitted.

But right after the A’s looked bad, they looked good. Seattle’s Erasmo Ramirez missed location on his slider and Moss deposited the offering into the right field bleachers with a pair of runners aboard to tie the game. Moss’ homer was his first after a very encouraging spring, and showed the beauty of the A’s newly minted designated hitter: if the pitcher makes a mistake, Moss hits them as long and as far as anybody.

Gray settled down after that, throwing three scoreless frames that took the A’s through the sixth. The bullpen trio of Luke Gregerson, Sean Doolittle and Jim Johnson allowed just two hits to close it out, and the A’s now look forward to their first road set in Minneapolis, which is expecting clear skies and moderate temperatures in what hopefully will be a return to normalcy for the road team.

Sunday’s game had a few crowd pleasing plays as well allowing the A’s fans to settle in as well. Kyle Seager’s ground ball down the first base line jumped off the first base bag and into Gray’s glove for an unassisted ground out. Sam Fuld–battling to stay at major league level with roster moves anticipated for the road swing—made a diving catch in right field. And Yoenis Cespedes hit his first home run of the season to cap the A’s scoring for the day in the eighth.

“Some at-bats certainly are a lot better than we saw in the spring, and if he continues to stay up the middle and the other way, he’ll see better results,” Melvin said of Cespedes.

In the Twins’ home opener on Monday afternoon, the A’s will hand the ball to Scott Kazmir, looking to build on his solid A’s debut on Wednesday. The Twins will open their home campaign with Kevin Correia on the hill.

Warriors beat Jazz 130-102

Published on April 6, 2014 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by George Devine, Sr.

The Warriors continued to advance their playoff prospects with a decisive 130-102 win over the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena. The score was Golden State’s highest for the season.

Although Klay Thompson scored 35 points, Stephen Curry was just as impressive with 31 points–more than one in each of 29 minutes–and a career-high 16 assists. Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala each had 11; Harrison Barnes and Jordan Crawford each had 10. Of Thompson’s 11 field goals, Curry assisted on 8. This was the first game in which Curry and Thompson both scored over 30 points. Curry made half of his 10 3-point attempts.

Golden State shot 100% from the charity stripe and outdid Utah in percentages on field goals (57.8-45.3) and three-pointers (51.5-30.8) despite committing 16 turnovers to the visitors’ 12. The Jazz were a mere 71.4% on free throws, considerably below the standard for the NBA. The home team was in triple digits before the third period ended.

The victory gave the W’s their first season sweep over the Jazz. The return of Andrew Bogut to the court, after a bruise in the pelvic area, strengthened the inside defense and befuddled Utah. Still, Trey Burke impressed with 24 points and 15 assists; Alec Burks also scored 24. Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward each had 10 points.

David Lee remained inactive, for the sixth straight time, with a sprained right hamstring, and an MRI revealed a nerve inflammation which could keep him on the bench for at least the rest of the regular season.

Assistant coach Darren Erman was also missing, on a more permanent basis. He was fired the previous day for “a violation of company policy” according to the team’s administration. Another assistant, Brian Scalabrine, was reassigned recently to the team’s NBA developmental league team in Santa Cruz, California, owing to “philosophical differences” with head coach Mark Jackson.
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Dodgers avert sweep behind Kemp and Ramirez

Published on April 6, 2014 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

By Jeremy Kahn

Matt Kemp did something against Matt Cain in the series finale between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants he last did during the 2012 season.

Kemp hit his first home run at Dodger Stadium since September 30, 2012, when he hit one off of Jorge De La Rosa of the Colorado Rockies, a span of 140 at-bats.

Behind Kemp , who added another home run in the bottom of the fourth inning and Hanley Ramirez, who also hit two home runs, as the Dodgers were able to salvage the series finale, defeating the Giants 6-2.

Kemp planted a Matt Cain pitch into left field pavilion in the bottom of the second, as Cain gave up his first home run of the season after giving up a career-high 23 last season.

In his next at-bat, Kemp hit a two-run home run following a double by Adrian Gonzalez, giving the slugger his first multi-home run game since September 29, 2012, also against the Rockies.

It was the sixth multi-home run game of Kemp’s career.

Ramirez got into the act in the bottom of the fourth, a home run that was measured at 425 feet that landed in the left field pavilion, just like Kemp’s second inning blast.

The shortstop completed his 15th multi-home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, as he connected off of Giants reliever David Huff.

Cain, who lost for the first time this season, pitched six innings, allowing five runs and six hits, striking out three and not allowing a walk.

The Giants got on the board in the top of the sixth inning, as Brandon Belt hit his fourth home run of the young season and then Hunter Pence hit a solo home run of his own.

Cardinal Season Comes to an End, Losses to Connecticut in National Semi-Finals

Published on April 6, 2014April 6, 2014 by joelamiLeave a comment

By: Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal played their final game of the 2013-2014 season on Sunday night after they were defeated by Connecticut 75-56 in Nashville. The Cardinal were seeking their third National Championship in school history and their first one since 1992, however they fell short in their sixth trip to the final four in the past seven years. Sunday also marks the third time in four years that the Cardinal have fallen in the National Semi-Final.

The Cardinal controlled much of the first half. The Huskies got on the board first with buckets from Bria Hartley and Moriah Jefferson to go up 4-0. Chiney Ogwumike got on the board first for the Cardinal with a jumper of her own. Connecticut would get the lead back up to four, until Stanford went on a 7-0 run to give them their first lead of the evening with 16:09 remaining in the half. The Cardinal held the lead for 12 minutes until Stephanie Dolson tied it up at 22 with four minutes remaining. The 12 minutes marked the longest stretch of time this season that Connecticut had trailed. Stanford pushed their largest lead to six, marking the second highest lead a team had on Connecticut all season. The Huskies continued their run, extending it to 14-0 before Stanford was able to answer with a bucket of their own. UConn went into the half with a 28-24 lead.

Stanford fell apart in the second half, as Connecticut started the second half with a 5:46 16-3 run. The three points came from a rare three-pointer from Ogwumike. The run would be give enough of a lead for UConn to ride out the win. The Cardinal wouldn’t be able to fight their way back.

Amber Orrange led the way for the Cardinal with 16 points, she also added five assists in the losing effort. Ogwumike wrapped up her Stanford career with her 25^th double double of the season, as the expected 1^st overall pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft finished the game with 15 points and ten rebounds. Lili Thompson wrapped up the double figure Cardinal scorers with 12 points, eight of which came in the first half.

The Huskies saw all five of their starters get into double figures. Player of the Year nominee, Brianna Stewart led the way with 18 points. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis contributed 15 points, all of which came in the second half. Hartley shot four of 12 from the field to finish with 14 points. Both Jefferson and Dolson finished the game with ten points each to cap off the double digits scorers. Kiah Stokes also came off of the bench to add nine points in 22 minutes played, as the Huskies used only six players in 39-minutes of the game. In the last minute, substitutes Saniya Chong, Tierney Lawlor, Briana Pulido and Brianna Banks replaced the starting five.

Connecticut remains undefeated at 39-0 and advance to their school’s ninth National Championship. Next up for the Huskies is another undefeated team in Notre Dame (37-0), who beat Maryland 81-67 in the other National Semi-Final game. Tuesday will mark the first time ever, where two undefeated teams will battle it out for the National Title. Connecticut also joins their men’s team in the National Championship, as the men’s team will be going up against Kentucky for the men’s title. Both Connecticut team’s won the title in 2004, and have a chance to do it again just ten years later. They remain the only school to accomplish the feat.

Stanford finishes their season with a record of 30-4 and some uncertainty in next season, as it will be the first one since 2008 where an Ogwumike will not be on the team.