Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Prepares for Its Final Tournament
March 06, 2007 | Softball
March 6, 2007
LUBBOCK, Texas - Texas Tech finished the Fullerton Worth tournament, 2-3, and moved to 13-8 on the season and will now head back to Arizona State, this time for a Big 12/Pac-10 Challenge, a round robin-type event where, basically, the Red Raiders will face No. 10 Washington (15-2) and No. 6 Arizona State (21-2) twice, but not Missouri, the other Big 12 representative at the affair. After those games, the team with the best record from each conference will pair off and play on Sunday, as will the No. 2 teams. (Presumably there's a complicated formula to break the dreaded each-team-having-2-2-records scenario, but we'll let the fine folks at ASU figure that out!)
According to Google/maps, it is 1517 miles from Seattle to Tempe and 772 miles from Lubbock to Tempe, so it's not really something we could call middle ground, but as neutral sites go, it will suffice. The Huskies play there at least once each year, while truthfully the landscape is more like the Red Raiders' backyard (except for the mountains, of course). It's likely the only game in America this season where all the female coaches (on both sides) once played for the head coach of one team. Or, where one player (Robyn Wike) actually wore one team's colors (purple and gold) and played against the other, then switched sides (and now wears scarlet and black) and has the opportunity to face the first school three seasons later--at the same site, in Tempe, but, there it is.
In reality, the match up with Washington is just another example of a team trying to build a tradition playing one that already has one. But, if you've been paying attention, you know that the note here is that the same head coach is building/helped build both of them. Heather Tarr, head coach of UW, played for Teresa Wilson from 1994-97, Eve Gaw, assistant coach of UW, played for her in 1997-98 and, Tech's Amy Hanson played for Wilson from 2000-03.
Texas Tech is 0-2 all time against Arizona State, having played each other 2002 and 2004, and is 0-3 against Washington, having played each other in 2001, 2002 and 2004 (on Valentine's Day).
Coach Wilson No. 800 Watch Teresa Wilson is now nine wins shy of the 800 mark. She's down-playing that; we're not. (By the way, 532 of those wins came while guiding the Huskies.)
The complete release, PDF format, is found at the link to "weekly releases" on the right of the main softball page or at: http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/text/sports/w-softbl/auto_pdf/weekly-release.pdf
