Ok, it's been two years since the last posting and I apology for the delay.  However, it's time to get some new stuff on this blog.  With that in mind, here are the keys to the game for the 2008 Division II Softball National Championship Game which will feature Humboldt State and Emporia State.  Please note, this installment was written before the outcome of the morning game between St. Edward's and Emporia State which Emporia State won 2-1 in 13 innings.

When you look back at this year's Division II Softball National Championships, the thing many fans will be talking about for years to come will be the epic battles between Humboldt State and Lock Haven.  Lock Haven got to this game by defeating Ferris State earlier in the day, 3-0 behind a one hitter from Kristen Erb.  The big question coming into the game was how much did Erb have left for the Lady Jacks?  If Humboldt State wins this game, they will advance to their third National Championship Game in the program's history.  Let's look back at the highlights from the latest chapter between these two heavyweights in the Division II softball world.

This game was an epic battle.  It made the 10 inning game from Wednesday look small in comparison. Kristin Erb and Lizzy Prescott gave everything they had and that made this game probably the greatest pitching duel in the history of the Division II Softball National Championships.  This game was the ultimate pitching duel as Erb and Prescott each gave up one hit thru the first seven innings of this game.   Both pitchers also got a lot of help from their defenses.  In the bottom of the seventh, Nikki Ketteringham took away an extra base hit from Ilia Lopez.  Then, in the bottom of the ninth, Chrissy Motzny made the catch of the tournament as she robbed Sarah Norris of a game winning home run to straight away center field.  In the bottom of the thirteenth inning, Marissa Slattery showed why she was an All American at catcher last year when she caught Nancy O'Connor stealing second base as Geneva Perrine applied the tag on that play.  Those were a few big plays from the Lady Jacks that kept this game scoreless thru 16 innings.

In the seventeenth inning, Caitlin Klug got it started when she reached first base on a Lopez error.  Then, Klug was able to steal second base.  After Marissa Slattery reached on another Lock Haven error, Natalie Galletly showed us why she was the West Region Player of the Year as she got a base hit up the middle that allowed Klug to score as Humboldt State got a 1-0 lead.  That would be all that they would score in the top half of the inning as it was in Prescott's hands to get Humboldt State to the National Championship game.

In the bottom half of the inning, Prescott would get Devin Glezen to strike out after a long battle at the plate.  With that strike out, Prescott became the seventeenth pitcher to throw 20 strikeouts in a game and it tie a Division II Softball Championship Finals record, too.  Then, Amanda Gutmaker grounded out to Klug for the second out.  The Lady Eagles sent up a pinch hitter in Brittany Pataky as Prescott was able to strike her out to set the Division II Softball Championships Finals record at 21 strikeouts as Humboldt State picked up a 1-0 victory over Lock Haven in 17 innings.

With the win, Humboldt State improved to 56-18 on the season and they advance to the National Championship Game for the first game since 1999 (the third time in the program's history).  Lizzy Prescott was on her game tonight as she pitched all 17 innings allowing only one hit while striking out 21 batters.  Prescott improves her record to 47-11 on the season.  For Lock Haven, their season comes to an end at 49-8 as Kristin Erb took the loss as she gave up seven hits, one unearned run while striking out 12.  Erb finishes this season at 43-8 for the Lady Eagles.

As mentioned, Humboldt State now advances to the Division II National Championship Game where they will take on the winner of the St. Edward's/Emporia State game that will be played Saturday morning at 10:00 AM Central time (8:00 AM Pacific Time).  The championship game is set for a 4:30 PM Eastern time start (1:30 PM Pacific Time) as the pre game show will start at 1:15 PM Pacific Time on ESPN Radio 1340 AM in Humboldt County.  The game will also be broadcasted on the web at www.hsujacks.com and the game will be on the CBS College Sports Network which is available on Suddenlink Digital Cable, and most satellite providers.

Now that we gave you the highlights from an epic battle, let's look ahead to Saturday National Championship game.

It may have taken nine years to get back to this game, but the Humboldt State softball will be playing for the National Championship against the winner of the St. Edward's/Emporia State game that will be played earlier in the day.  For the Lady Jacks this is their third appearance in the championship game.  In 1994, the Lady Jacks got to the title game and lost to Merrimack 6-2.  Five years later, Humboldt State would get back to the title game and they would finally win their first national championship with a 7-2 win over Nebraska-Kearney.  We will see what happens in this title game.

Let's look at the possible teams that could face Humboldt State in the championship game.

St. Edward's is the South Central Region champion from the Heartland Conference.  The Hilltoppers come into the Emporia State game at 53-16.  St. Edward's is not a power hitting team, they are a quick team throughout the lineup.  As a team, the Hilltoppers has hit 101 doubles on the season, 29 home runs, and they have stolen 138 bases in 170 attempts.  So, this team is not afraid to go for the stolen base.  St. Edward's have four players with 20 or more stolen bases on the season.  That is one thing Humboldt will need to address if they play St. Edward's.  Here are a couple of players to watch at the plate.  Lexi Stephens is the leading hitter on the team with a .412 batting average, 8 doubles, 2 triples, 0 home runs, 21 runs batted in, and 36 stolen bases on the season.  Kristen Lozano is the big bat in the lineup with a .379 batting average, 10 home runs, 62 runs batted in, and 23 stolen bases.  St. Edward's can hit the long ball, but they can use their speed to beat you.

In the circle, St. Edward's has two possibilities at pitcher.  One option is Diana Cezeaux, who is 25-8 on the season with a 1.28 ERA and 230 strikeouts.  Opponents are hitting at a .184 batting average against Cezeaux this year.  The other option is Robin Becker, who is 28-8 on the season with a 1.70 ERA and 109 strikeouts on the year.  Opponents are hitting at a .233 batting average against Becker this year.

We talked about Emporia State a couple of days ago, so I would look at a couple of adjustments that the Hornets would make in a title game against the Lady Jacks.

I think one adjustment that Emporia State could make is to find a way to get Jessie Wiard on base.  I mentioned that Wiard has a lot of speed on the bases and in the first game, Humboldt State did a great job in keeping Wiard off the bases, except for one bloop hit that snuck by Caitlin Klug in the fourth.  If Emporia State is win this game, they need Wiard to get on base and create havoc for the Lady Jack defense.

The other adjustment would be to try to get the outside corner when the Lady Jacks are at the plate.  The one thing Kristen Erb was able to do was to frustrate Humboldt with the outside pitch.  If Samantha Sheeley can establish the outside corner, then the Hornets could find a way to frustrate the Lady Jacks in the championship game.

With that in mind, here are the keys to the National Championship Game.

1.  Be yourself.  Every player on the Lady Jacks needs to remember what they did to get to this game.  Now, it not the time for each member of the Lady Jacks team to be someone that they want to be.  Continue to do the things that got you to this point and hopefully in a couple of hours, we will be talking about the second national championship in the program's history.

2.  Be aware of the speed.  Both opponents have some speed potential on the bases.  That means that Lizzy Prescott needs to give Marissa Slattery a shot to nail the runner if they try to steal a base.  If the Lady Jacks can keep the speed off the bases, that will help Humboldt in a big way.

3.  Get off to a fast start.  In the 2007 National Championship Game, Southern Illinois Edwardsville defeated Lock Haven 3-2 in 12 innings.  That game was the first one run game in the title game since 1998.  In the games between 1999 and 2006 all of the games were decided by 2 or more runs.  I think it is very important that the Lady Jacks get off to a fast start in the championship game.  If they can get a few runs early in the game.  I think that could be more than enough for Lizzy Prescott to get Humboldt State to their second national championship.

4.  Focus and determination.  The Lady Jacks can't look ahead to the seventh inning of the game when it's in the first inning.  They need to approach this game the same way they do with every game.  Don't over think the simple things and get through each batter and each pitch.  If they do that, the Lady Jacks will win the title.

Prediction:

I will do two predictions as we don't know who Humboldt will play in the title game.

The Lady Jacks needs to be alert about the speed on the bases.  Humboldt needs to play hard on defense and get the runs that they need to allow Lizzy Prescott to cruise in this game.  She pitched two tough games to knock out Lock Haven from the tournament.  It's time for the bats to finish the job and give Prescott the championship she wanted since she came to this program.

In the end, I think Humboldt State proved that they are the best team in the country this year.  Based on that, here are my predictions based on the match up.

If Humboldt plays St. Edward's:  I think Humboldt wins the game 6-1.

If Humboldt plays Emporia State: I think Humboldt wins the game 4-0.

I'll add one more thing, if Humboldt wins the championship, then Lizzy Prescott will be an oblivious choice for the Most Outstanding Player in these championships.