Briefly
The softball team won the first game, 4-2 (official site) securing this team a spot in the Big 12 Tournament, then went ahead and won the second game 11-7 (official site), and then went ahead and swept on Sunday (official site). Jessica Hartwell hit her 16th home run in the first game, she’s pretty amazing, and Kassidy Scott threw a complete game two-hitter on Sunday.
The women’s tennis team defeatd Kansas State on Friday and then defeated No. 7 Oklahoma State on Saturday, 4-1 (official site). The ladies then played in the Big 12 Championship against No. 6 Texas and lost 4-1 (official site). The men’s team played No. 14 Oklahoma and was swept 4-0 (official site). They’ll have a selection show on Tuesday at 3:30 at the Texas Tech Club, the women’s show is at 4:00 and the men’s show is at 4:30.
The men’s and women’s teams won the Corky/Crofoot Shootout on Friday night, defeating Nebraska, Kansas State and Wichita State (official site).
Texas Tech Baseball
The baseball team dropped the series to TCU yesterday afternoon (series thread with recaps, links and highlights). Sunday’s game left a pretty terrible taste in everyone’s mouths, Texas Tech issued 14 walks and TCU really didn’t need to do much of anything to score runs except watch Texas Tech not throw strikes. Hey, we all have those rough games, but right now, the Sunday starter isutation is in pretty terrible shape. John McMillon has struggled for a few weeks now. Even Davis Martin has been in consistent as of late, he was on Friday. The best pitcher is Caleb Kilian and it’s not close. Ryan Shetter has pitched well as of late, but it seems as if he’s been paired with Kilian in the Saturday game. Ty Harpeneau has also pitched well too. Maybe there’s some movement there at some point.
Oklahoma State continues to win (I’m sure LaBarre will get into more detail on this) and it seems likely that the Cowboys will win the Big 12 unless Texas Tech goes on some sweeps in the next two weeks. OSU is 15-3 in conference play, Texas is 12-6 and Texas Tech is 11-7. That’s a 3 game lead for OSU on UT and 4 games against Texas Tech.
Texas Tech is at home for the next 5 games, a mid-week game against San Diego, then three against Texas this weekend, and then hosting Dallas Baptist before hitting the road for Stillwater to end the regular season.
Texas Tech Basketball
InsideTheRedRaiders’ Jarrett Johnson has a lengthy interview with South Dakota graduate transfer target Matt Mooney, who will be visiting Tuesday through Thursday:
Johnson: Why did Tech make your Top 3 and why are you visiting? Why are they in the picture?
Mooney: All three I like the head coaches a lot and at the end of the day that’s what it’s about. That’s why I came to South Dakota, because I love Coach Craig Smith and Coach (Austin) Hansen and the coaching staff here. It turns out I love the facilities and the people out here, but you choose someone because of the head coach. I like those coaches a lot and I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of really great coaches through this process and I like a ton of coaches but after the head coach I look at is it a great fit? Is there an opportunity for me? Do they have a need for me and my skill set? I think all three schools do. Texas Tech has a need for me. Obviously, they were in the Elite Eight last year so they’re building something there. They have a good team coming back and I think I can fit in. In all three spots I think I can fit in and bring something to the table. Texas Tech is one of those schools.
Texas Tech Football
Kliff Kingsbury is set to be inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame on Saturday and WacoTrib’s Chad Conine profiled Kingsbury and I learned something new, including that Kliff’s dad, Tim, attended a offensive clinic put on by Hal Mumme that changed pretty much the course of Texas Tech’s history:
Kingsbury will enter the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame on Saturday along with eight other inductees. When he got the news last fall, Kingsbury immediately called his dad.
“He was fired up,” Kingsbury said. “He coached for 30 years and loves the state, loves the game of football and thinks Texas high school football is what it’s all about. To have his son go into (the Texas High School Football Hall), it means a lot to him.”
Tim Kingsbury attended a coaching clinic hosted by Kentucky’s Hal Mumme, the guru of the modern spread offense, during the late 1990s. The New Braunfels head coach was hoping to find an offensive edge that would help his team battle some of the big name programs his team faced. He couldn’t have forecast that his son would end up joining forces with Mumme disciple Mike Leach and reinventing offensive football in the Big 12.
Congrats to four seniors who have signed free agent deals. Quarterback Nic Shimonek has signed with the Los Angeles Chargers. Receiver Cameron Batson has signed with the Tennessee Titans. Defensive tackle Mychealon Thomas has signed with the New York jets. Receiver Derrick Willies has signed on with the Cleveland Browns. Running Back Justin Stockton has signed with the Seattle Seahawks. This was a neat interview with Dylan Cantrell from the Chargers site:
Chargers.com: What do you want your first message to Chargers fans to be?
Cantrell: I’m going to try to be the best person on and off the field. I was blessed with parents who raised me the right way with how to conduct myself on and off the field. I love reaching out to fans and getting out in the community. Doing everything I can to help. We did that a lot in college so that’s one thing I’m going to take to the league as well. You’re going to get a consistent, hard-working, do-it-all type of guy. I don’t have a big ego at all and I don’t think I’m too big to do anything. I’ll do anything I can do. Special teams, offense, whatever I can do to help the team, I’m down for it.