To face your divisional opponent in a double header and to lose both games isn’t the way to start your weekend series. The FIU Softball Team wasn’t able to take a game from a very dominating pair of games from North Texas. The first game was just a blow out, as North Texas just had their way with the Golden Panther’s pitching. North Texas took control in the third inning as Mariza Martinez, Mallory Cantlor, and Lisa Johnson all had singles to load the bases with just one out. Amber Miller got the clutch hit to bring in two runs. They left the inning 4-1 and never looked back. The Mean Green shut down the Golden Panthers until the sixth inning and just allowed one run as the Mean Green scored two more runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh. The Golden Panthers couldn’t take the beat down and lost the game 10-2. In the second game the Golden Panthers look to split the double header but again failed to come out on top. Although the deficit wasn’t has badly, the Golden Panthers were just dominated by North Texas pitcher Ashley Lail. Lail pitched a complete game just allowing one run and five hits.  In game two the Golden Panthers defense was very sloppy and committed five errors in the game. I was able to speak to Golden Panthers Brie Rojas after the game to discuss what they didn’t do which could’ve helped them win the game. Rojas was very critical of her team saying that they “stop believing in each other”, and they “lost their confidence.” And before she left I asked her how they would prepare for Saturday’s game. Rojas told me “we have to be ready and make plays” and “go balls to wall.” Two losses in a row are very disappointing but it shouldn’t make or break your season. I truly expect the Softball team to bounce back and finish the season strong.

Ok so who honestly had Duke and Butler in the championship game? Butler has had an amazing run, taking out some of the top teams in the country and shocking everyone in making to the Final Four and barely getting by Michigan State to reach the championship game. Now let’s look at Duke. Some have said they have had the easiest road to reach the Final Four. Duke hasn’t really had a difficult challenge, even when I thought that West Virginia was going to take down Duke (they got beat down). Butler has taken down Syracuse, Kansas State and the team I just mentioned Michigan State, and did I mention that Butler is playing in their home state. Duke has Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler as known as Duke’s big three. These men can simply be the reason that Duke will take down Butler convincing. They haven’t disappointed one bit throughout the tournament, and just dominating their opponents. Duke in simple terms is stacked. Although Butler didn’t dominate in their Semifinal game, don’t give up on Butler yet. Butler has defense, a very good and solid defense that can possibly slow down the big three of the Duke.  Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack lead the way for Butler and they could end the Cinderella story in the best way possible. On Monday night they are going to be playing in front of their home crowd giving the advantage to Butler I and truly believe they can pull this off. I pulling for Butler because how you not pull for them, an incredible run playing in their home state and they are one win away from winning it all. I love Coach K but not the team, sorry Duke I’m going to be pulling for the underdog. It’s a classic David v. Goliath matchup and if I remember correctly and smaller guy wins. One win away, it’s going to be exciting.

Who says defense doesn’t win you games? Who says having a dominate pitcher isn’t a coach’s worst nightmare? And who says that freshman can’t be the center of attention?  The Golden Panthers softball team is heading back home in a positive note as they defeated Stetson University 2-1 on Sunday and take the series 2 to 1. On Sunday afternoon Freshman Brie Rojas basically stole the show by hammering a three-run homerun to give the Panthers the early 3-0 lead. The Hatters would eventually score in the third inning by a sacrifice fly. And that was it; defense and pitching took over the game as neither team will allow a run for the rest of the game. The double play, a pitchers best friend played a big role on Sunday’s game as the Panthers were able to turn two double plays and end any threat that the Hatters may have had. Sophomore Jennifer Gniadek pitched a complete game and improved her record to 9-3 on the season. You not always going to get those offensive shows and at times you need your pitcher to go deep into games to preserve a win. For Coach McClendon, it must be the best feeling in the world to know that she has a very dominate pitcher and also have the offensive talent to win games. Whether it be softball or baseball, it all starts and ends with pitching. No team is going to win without pitching, it’s where you build your team from and it’s a clue on how your season is going to turn out. The Panthers softball team has what it takes to compete with the best teams in the country and with their impressive record this season of 21-11 shows it. The Panthers have the day off tomorrow and they will be back on the field on Tuesday to take on Florida Gulf Coast in Miami.

You never thought it can happen at your school. When you see a bunch of reporters and cameras asking a bunch of questions, it’s usually for a popular event that is happening at your school. But not this time, FIU students are now mourning the death of Kendall Berry, a young and very talented running back for the Golden Panthers football team. According to the Miami Herald, Quentin Wyche, a former teammate of Kendall Berry turned himself in on Friday night and was charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon. How can two teammates get into an argument so severe that a life had to be taken away? According to the Miami Herald sources close to the investigation mentioned that the argument started with Berry’s girlfriend and Wyche. Wyche was supposedly throwing cookies at her face so that prompted her to call on Berry to settle the argument. The argument ended in the worst way possible, and now there plenty of signs throughout campus in recognition of Berry’s death. The most noticeable one is a giant X right in front of the Rec center. Now as students walk by they will see where one of their classmates was brutally attacked. This now becomes a very sensitive issue concerning the safety of students on campus. Students should always feel safe whether it be in the morning or even late night as some students are getting out of class. I really do believe that the campus does a good job on keeping the students safe, there are plenty of police officers as soon students are walking in for their morning classes and even after the majority of classes are dismissed. The death of Berry is a wakeup call for all students to be aware of their surroundings and to be careful whenever there is a dispute. Never let stupid arguments escalate to a level that it should never have reached. The school has security guards and police officers to handle disputes, such as what happened on that night. Kendall Berry will never be forgotten as his death as affected everyone on campus plus everyone who had a special connection with him.

With the game tied 6-6 late last night, all you want is your pitcher to get you through the inning and let your offense win the game for you. But Troy’s Ryan Ditthardt hit a solo go ahead homerun in the top of the eighth inning to silent the crowd at FIU Baseball Stadium. In a night where Troy struck first in the fourth inning with a 3-0 lead, the Panthers just chipped away until the bottom of the 6^th where they pulled away with a four run inning, to go ahead 5-3. The Panthers pinch hitter Raiko Alfonso came in for Sean Reilly in the bottom of the sixth who hit a game tying triple later followed by Pablo Bermudez and Jeremy Patton RBI singles to give the Panthers their first lead of the game. After that it was back-and-forth game as both teams cut into the lead. Troy’s Chad Watson would cut the deficit to one run has he hit a solo homerun. Eventually Troy would tie the game with a hard hit ball to the shortstop scoring the run from third. Coming from behind after you see your lead disappear marks the good teams from the great. The Panthers were able to keep their cool and enter the bottom the eighth inning and take the lead with fundamental baseball. It was all about moving the runners and sacrificing oneself for the better of the team. Two sacrifice flies did the job as Mike Martinez and Garrett Wittels came through in the clutch to pull away and give their pitchers the opportunity to win the game in the ninth inning. Eric Berkowitz did exactly what his coach told him to do, as he closed out the game with a perfect inning. The Panthers are in a four game winning streak and hope to sweep Troy in the last game of the series on Sunday afternoon. Coach Turtle has been able to keep the team focus after a short bump on the season. I asked Panthers infielder Michael Vargas on how Coach Turtle has been keeping the team focus during the win streak. Vargas told me that coach told them to “keep working and that one game doesn’t make or break us” also he mentioned that “one bump on the road doesn’t affect the season, it’s a long season.” Coach Turtle has done a good job to keep the boys focus and it looks like the Panthers are back to their winning ways.

This week has to be one of the wildest most unpredictable times in college basketball; it’s one of those moments that you just stare at the TV in disbelief. Who is your sleeper? Who is your Cinderella?  Which school is your alma mater and no matter what they are going to win the championship? Which school was the undisputed winner that was just going to “march on” to the finals? According to ESPN about 40 percent of all the brackets made had Kansas winning it all. Every analyst had Kansas winning it all, even President Obama had Kansas winning it all, but what happened? The whole world fell in love with Kansas with its great defense and unstoppable offense you would dumb not to pick them. They call it March Madness for a reason, at any point of time a powerhouse team could fall. I love seeing the school who doesn’t get the everyday recognition the school who no one gave even the smallest chance the school who proved the so called “experts” wrong, and that’s what Northern Iowa did. UNI did exactly that to KU, they SHOCKED the world as they march on to the Sweet Sixteen. But that is not the only upsets we have seen so far: Villanova, Georgetown, Temple, and Marquette has been some of the top seeds that are already watching the tournament from home. So as all the brackets are pretty much in the trash, who now is the team to beat? Or will we see another top seed go down? It just takes one game to prove everyone wrong, to have the chance of see the impossible happen. There is no 7-game series here it’s either win and advance or lose and see the other team celebrate. The upsets and game winning shots is why we watch the college basketball tournament, this is the time of the year where anything is possible. Long live the underdog.