Sports are great. Or they’re not. Your team can make you feel like you’re walking on air when times are good. When times are bad though, not so much. We could go on and on with this stupid intro, but the point is that this was a very up and down weekend when it comes to JMU sports. Let’s get to it.
JMU softball carried a 36 game winning streak into last week’s CAA tournament, before dropping the opener to Hofstra. The Dukes rallied in the losers bracket to get another crack at the Pride in the finals. The ladies came up big with a 3-2 win to force a winner take all second game. We Feel Like: We’ve got a spring in our step.
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out too well in the final game. Hofstra won a squeeker 2-1 to capture the CAA crown. We Feel Like: Someone kicked us in the shins. Hard.
The ladies of JMU lacrosse had an outstanding season and managed to capture another CAA title. The Dukes were rewarded with a bid to the NCAA tournament and a match-up against USC. With the game scheduled for Friday evening in Durham, NC, the seniors would be unable to participate in graduation. We Feel Like: Someone stole our sandwich from the office fridge and ate it.
Fortunately, President Alger held a special graduation for the players as soon as they stepped off the practice field. We Feel Like: The world is a happy place.
The Dukes looked pretty good for most of the game and lead for a while. Then things took a turn for the worse and the Trojans managed to coast home for a 13-10 victory, ending JMU’s season. We Feel Like: We could use a beer.
The Diamond Dukes played their final home series under head coach Spanky McFarland this weekend. Given the way the past few seasons have gone, we haven’t paid much attention to the squad this year. We Feel Like: We’re completely indifferent.
JMU split the first two games of its series against Hofstra. The Dukes took the opener 10-7 and then dropped a close one 8-6 to set up a rubber match for the series finale. We Feel Like: A team we don’t follow did sports stuff.
The Dukes’ bats exploded in game three for Spanky’s home sendoff. JMU scored a whopping 23 runs and finished the home season with a 23-7 win. We Feel Like: We’d probably be thrilled if a team in a sport we followed won this convincingly.
And finally, the NCAA selection committee announced softball College World Series bids this evening. The Dukes are dancing. Oh, and they’ll be dancing in Veterans Memorial Park because the NCAA did something right for once and awarded the Dukes the 15th overall seed. That’s right, the powers that be actually recognized that slipping up against another strong program doesn’t outweigh months of sustained excellence. So JMU will be hosting Binghampton, Fordham, and NC State in the Harrisonburg Regional next week. We Feel Like: Everything is coming up Milhouse.
Three Dukes went yard today in JMU softball’s 13-2 blowout victory over Elon. All home runs are not created equal however, and Taylor Newton’s was definitely one to remember. The center fielder’s blast sailed over the left field wall and directly into the inflatable Duke Dog’s mouth. We were under the impression that was worth 10 bonus runs, but apparently it was not. No fun. Thankfully, the Dukes had all the runs they needed and then some.
Newton’s homer was the icing on the cake of a huge bounce-back win. It came in JMU’s second game of the CAA tournament after Hofstra rallied to defeat the Dukes and put an end to their program record 36 game winning streak. The win over Elon gives JMU a chance to seek revenge against Hofstra tomorrow in the finals of this double-elimination tournament. The top seeded Dukes need to take two from the Pride in order to capture the CAA title. Game one starts at 12:00 noon and can be viewed via CAA.tv.
h/t to @hughe2mj for the pic.
We here at JMUSB are fully on the JMU softball bandwagon. Obviously, there are people out there who know way more about the sport than we do. One of those people is @BHansen40, who thankfully reached out to us and offered to do a guest post. Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.
March 8. That is the last time a team has beaten the JMU Softball team. It was Stony Brook in the JMU Invitational and was actually a game the Dukes lead 4-0 heading into the top of the sixth, before the Seawolves rallied for six runs against one of the best pitching staffs in the nation. Had JMU held onto that game, the winning streak would be at 39 games and its last loss would have been to Georgia on Feb. 27.
Regardless of one minor slip up in March, JMU is 44-6, including a 20-0 record in CAA play to win its second consecutive CAA regular season title (a feat no team besides Hofstra could boast prior to this year). With all of that excitement, it is kind of amazing to think that for the team, their aspirations are so big, the season really only now in its infancy. The Dukes have reached their first goal of a CAA regular season crown. Next up is the CAA tournament, which begins on Wednesday at Veterans Memorial Park.
Before we look at the tournament, let’s take a quick glance at how the awards banquet might shake out on Tuesday night. In 2014, JMU swept all five major awards and I would not be shocked to see that performance repeated. read more…
The NFL Draft came and went this year without any JMU players being drafted. Free Safety Dean Marlowe had an outside shot after participating in the NFL Scouting Combine, but his name was never called. That’s not too surprising, seeing as how about 320 players participated in the combine and 105 weren’t drafted. Marlowe was quickly picked up in the hours after the draft, as the Carolina Panthers inked him to an undrafted free agent deal. In addition to Marlowe, the Duke who was attracting the most attention from NFL teams was Sage Harold. The Chiefs signed him to an undrafted free agent deal as a linebacker. Fellow Dukes Daniel Brown and Brandon Lee didn’t sign contracts, but were both invited to training camp tryouts with the Ravens and Seahawks respectively.
All four of these guys have their work cut out for them to make a roster. As players under contract for training camp, Marlowe and Harold will have it a little bit easier. They still need to be considered long shots to make an NFL roster though. Brown and Lee are going to get looks, but have the deck stacked against them. Here’s to all four of these JMU greats defying the odds and playing on Sunday.
As you are probably aware, JMU softball is a bit of a juggernaut. Coach Mickey Deane and the Dukes avenged an earlier loss to Virginia Tech by sweeping the Hokies in a double header Wednesday night. Over 1,200 fans showed up at Veterans Memorial Park and witnessed the pair of JMU wins. The Hokies had a late rally in game one, but JMU managed to hold on for a 4-3 win. Freshman pitcher Megan Good got the win, because of course she did. That’s what she does. She’s got a record of 25-0 this season. The second game was a bit of a blowout, with the Dukes cruising to a comfortable 10-3 win. Heather Kiefer, the only senior on the roster, came on in relief of Jailyn Ford and earned the victory. The back-to-back wins pushed JMU’s winning streak to an absurd 33 games. That’s the longest streak in the nation.
Football and basketball are the big kids on the college sports block and deservedly so. We get that. They’re the ones we follow closest and care about the most as well. But one of the great things about those sports having offseasons is that they give us a chance to jump on the bandwagon of some of the less publicized teams. And right now, we here at JMUSB are all aboard the JMU Softball bandwagon. Judging from the record crowd for Wednesday’s double-header, we’re not alone. But there’s still room for a few more. Y’all should jump on board with us.
The New Convo
As we’ve previously discussed, JMU released plans for a new convocation center and they’re pretty amazing. We only have one question. Will there be beer? Actually, that’s not true. We have another question. It’s a minor thing. Why is there no pledge form or link to donate on the new website? Seriously? It’s 2015 and the school needs to raise $12M. You’re telling us, the best they could do was tell potential donaors to “call the Duke Club.” C’mon people.
Women’s Lax is Streaking Too
JMU’s lacrosse team might be slightly overlooked this year, due to all the excitement surrounding softball. The ladies are red hot and are riding a five game win streak heading into today’s opening round clash with of the CAA tournament. The ladies will face off against Delaware for the right to move on to the CAA championship. Finally, four Dukes made the All CAA First Team, and a total of seven JMU players were selected to all league teams.
And an Update on Men’s Varsity Lax
The team continues to not exist unfortunately.
JMU NFL Draft Hopefuls
The NFL Draft kicked off last night. If it’s moving at it’s typical pace, I’d imagine we could be on the 5th or 5th pick by now. It’s a big weekend for Dukes with NFL dreams. Most of this year’s JMU prospects will probably have to go the undrafted free agent route, but Dean Marlowe has been working overtime since the season ended and is hoping to hear his name called this weekend.
Tell Us How You Really Feel Professor
Apparently, Professor Rosser isn’t too pleased with The Breeze’s coverage nowadays. He might have a point, but whoever edited that piece sure can spin a headline. The professor complains about “the worst reporting I have seen in 38 years,” and the headline characterizes the coverage as “falling short.” Well done.
Have a great weekend everyone!
JMU officially released plans for a new Convocation Center today. You can read all about the project over at JMUconvo.com. Um, wow! That’s really all we can say at this point. The current Convo is, to be kind, a bit of a dump. JMU is planning on replacing it with something that is most definitely not a dump. In fact, plans call for it to be a state of art arena with 8,500 seats, 10 luxury suites, practice facilities, video classrooms, meeting rooms, coaches offices, and new locker rooms. And it will be on campus, situated at the corner of Carrier Drive and University Boulevard (a place referred to as “the woods” when we were in school by the way). In a neat twist, students will actually get good seats in this arena, instead of being relegated to the rafters. In short, this new arena looks like everything the Convo is not.
The entire project is expected to cost $88 million. Which is a lot of money and the main reason JMU is asking for your money. And our money. And everyone else’s money. The school has set a fundraising target of $12 million. Construction will only begin once pledges exceed that target and $3 million is actually secured.
These plans are amazing and the arena would be a huge boost to both the men’s and women’s hoops programs. For years, a legitimate argument could be made that JMU wasn’t throwing its full support behind basketball. An $88 million arena would certainly change that. Obviously, it would be terrific for players, but it would be one heck of an upgrade for fans as well. This thing looks like a home run.
JMUSB resident recruiting and personnel guru, @Michael_2Clutch, made the trip to the ‘burg for the spring game and agreed to share his thoughts. Take it away Mike.
Hello everyone! Thank you to the guys at the JMU Sports Blog for giving me the opportunity to write once again to the JMU Nation! I really enjoy writing to you all, and I imagine that I am not the only one itching for football season to begin and to see our Dukes dominate on the field.
After seeing the Dukes first-hand this past Saturday, I thought I’d share my two cents from the 2015 JMU Football Winter … I mean Spring … Game.
Bryan Schor shows promise: For what it’s worth, Bryan Schor (our #2QB) was my personal MVP during the scrimmage. While the back-up QB position has been a topic of interest given our lack of depth over the past few years, Schor showed some moxie and potential manning the helm. The former Miami (OH)-commit showed off an improved throwing motion and confidence running the offense for a majority of the scrimmage. Per Brett Elliott’s tweet, Schor finished with an 88% grade: completing 21 passes out of 35 attempts for 199 yards and 3 touchdowns. In addition to showing good touch, he displayed a much more live arm than I had originally thought and good mobility – he reminded me a bit of Drew Dudzik in the Montana game when he came in for an injured Rodney Landers. Vad Lee played on a limited basis during the scrimmage, which I believe is a result of Coach Withers trying to figure out what type of depth he has at the position going into the summer. read more…
The Legend Grows
Happy Monday Morning Dukes! We’ve got a very special Spring Game report coming Tuesday or Wednesday from our Maester of Recruiting @Michael_2Clutch and Rob will be covering the always fun, but always underwhelming on the news front Coaches Caravan later this week. But first we HAVE to explore those numbers in the headline and everyone’s new favorite JMU squad, the badass women of Dukes’ Softball!
We’ll let the numbers speak for themselves:
40-6 – JMU’s overall record
17-0 – Goes w/out saying the Dukes are lapping the field in the CAA
24-0 – Freshman pitching phenom Megan Good’s record thus far this season. 24 is tied for the program record for W’s in a season.
0 – Number of hits Elon had in Sunday’s 8-0 throttling. The fourth no-no in program history would only be more impressive if it Megan Good’s effort wasn’t still in the shadow of #2 stud pitcher Jailyn Ford’s earlier PERFECT GAME a few weeks back.
17 – JMU’s RPI. This is important because although they remain disrespected (#CAA4Lyfe) in the national polls, languishing in the 20’s, the top 16 RPI has traditionally been the most important factor in determining host sites for NCAA Sub-Regionals. The Dukes are certainly making an enormous push for an extended Spring in the ‘Burg! (Huge thanks to @BHansen40 for the serious softball knowledge).
31 – JMU’s current winning streak is so long that the last loss came on a weekend that Men’s hoops was still in action!
And this thankfully means the Dukes will host the CAA tourney if not a sub-regional in the NCAA’s. Tourney will be in the ‘Burg May 6-8 and chances are the women will be mopping the floor with the league just like they have all year!
Also, JMU will be attempting to avenge their season-opening 3-2 loss by whipping Virginia Tech and their 58-turkey-feet-on-the-minivan followers at home again this Wednesday evening if you’d like to catch a softball clinic!
There are lot of things that exist today, that I’m glad weren’t around back when we were in school. Instagram, Twitter, ubiquitous cameras and video, are all cool, but the old guy in me thinks they would have been more trouble than they’re worth as a student. You know what would have been cool to have around though? Student Appreciation Day.
For the second year in a row, Coach Withers and the football program hosted Student Appreciation Day at Bridgeforth Stadium last Saturday. It’s a day to give back to the fans, and market the football program. Students were given the opportunity to tour the locker rooms, participate in drills, and get to know the players and coaches. In turn the players got a chance to thank their fellow students for their support, and maybe attract a few new fans as well. It’s a win-win in every sense.
Hopefully the event continues and grows to be bigger every year. Withers brought the idea to JMU after experiencing a similar event at Ohio State. Ohio State of course has some legendary support and just drew 99,000 fans to its Spring Game. JMU isn’t quite there yet, but things like Student Appreciation Day are exactly what’s needed to grow the fanbase. Now if we could only convince Withers to have Alumni Appreciation Day.
h/t to @jmudukeblawg for bringing the video to our attention
It’s been a while since we did a traditional Old Guys Leave roundup touching on a few issues at once, but here’s some great Dukes’ vibes to start your week with.
First, Softball is becoming a thing. Not just for us and hard-core JMU dorks like us, or even just for softball people. The Dukes went nuclear (or as one former President would say, nucular) on the hated Blue Chickens over the weekend by mercy-ruling them in all three games in the “series.” JMU is now 37-6 on the year, 14-0 in CAA play, and riding a staggering 28-game winning streak! There appear to be only two questions left in the regular season: 1) Can anyone in the CAA even challenge the Dukes? (Not likely) and 2) Will the national media/selection committee acknowledge the Dukes with a quality postseason spot, even in the unlikely event they get clipped in the CAA tourney, which is thankfully less likely than other sports since SB is a double-elimination format? (Who knows, but this winning streak has to be putting them on some radars that don’t usually pick up Harrisonburg, VA and Veterans Memorial Park sure would look good for a sub-regional).
Softball has been on such an historic pace that it’s actually overshadowed another Spring team challenging for one of that program’s best seasons. Nationally ranked #18 Lacrosse also beat Delaware over the weekend to push their record out to 12-4 overall and 4-1 in CAA play. The Dukes’ balanced attack helped them pull ahead of Delaware on the field and in the standings as they approach tourney time. JMU (2 seed) and UD (3 seed) are already locked into their CAA tournament spots and will be re-opening this rivalry in the semis in two weeks.
In other GREAT news, Women’s Basketball’s Lady Okafor became the second Dukes player in program history to be drafted in the WNBA. The JMU center was selected in the third round at #34 overall by the Atlanta Dream (the same team that previously drafted JMU star Tamara Young, who has gone on to become a key contributor for the Chicago Sky). This is a huge accomplishment for a player that improved immeasurably during her time under Kenny Brooks’ tutelage.
Finally, don’t forget the Spring game and the Rocktown Beer Festival are both coming up this Saturday in the ‘Burg. Beautiful time of the year and this year the Spring Game is finally allowing tailgating on Godwin Field and in G-Lot!
