Game Thread Lady Vols Softball Team NCAA Regionals

#751
#751
volman128 said:
Hi all! New poster, long time lurker here. :)

Concerning the dropped ball by Vines in left field in the Ohio State game, she covered a lot of ground to get that ball. For many outfielders they wouldn't have gotten to it. I would assume she would probably tell you she should've caught it, but it wasn't an ordinary dropped fly ball.

Bria Bush has been given a full release by the staff.
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Yeah, and no one has really harped about it as far as I can tell. We mentioned she should have caught it and she should have but also appreciate the fact she has the speed to reach it. But, a lot of outfielders in the SEC have that kind of speed. We are all very happy to have a player of her caliber on our team.
 
#752
#752
2Alum4EverVol said:
Is it the same DeerPark who said that Kelsey Morrison would red shirt (due to medical reason)? At the time when he said it, I knew that wasn't true, but I kept my mouth shut. Isn't is also the same DeerPark who said the team can only play 2 games (doubleheader) in one day per NCAA rules? I knew that wasn't true either since the day before I heard Clint Myers saying his Auburn team was ready to play either 2 games or 3 games (Auburn regional also had a weather issue last weekend.)

With all due respect, I guess DeerPark is a reliable source and a good poster for most of time, but I sure don't take his words as Gospel truth. In this case involving Bush however, I believe it's accurate.
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They intended to redshirt Morrison, but there were other factors at work and they ended up playing her. You can just say I was wrong or whatever, no problem. I can't tell the whole story because it would violate a confidence, so I'm fine with just taking a loss in your book.

When the NCAA moved to the regional/super regional format in 2005 to match the baseball tournament's format, they adopted all the of the same rules as baseball, including the rule that stated a team could not be forced to play three games in one day. That's why, when there are weather delays, you ALWAYS see the baseball tournament play the third "if necessary" game on Monday instead of Sunday.

When ESPN re-upped its NCAA contract that covers the softball tournament (it's a larger NCAA deal that covers all sports other than women's basketball), they asked that the provision that the "if necessary" game moving to Monday be removed from the rules. ESPN made the request because they're now on the hook to televise at least six of the 16 regionals (as you've seen, in the two years since they have expanded their coverage beyond the minimum), and did not want to incur the extra costs of keeping a truck and crew at a site for an additional day. The NCAA quietly removed the rule and many coaches were not even aware of it until much later. I know for a fact that Coach Lawson at Kentucky was not aware of it until her team faced the same possibility this weekend.

I updated my post in the thread after I found out the rule had been changed. As I understood the explanation I received, the teams should have played the additional game on Saturday night, leaving Sunday exclusively for the regional championship and if necessary game, as was done at Kentucky. But that format was not followed here after the NCAA reps consulted with ESPN.
 
#753
#753
LVJeff said:
Right now there are three pitchers on the roster - Moss, Bush, and Morrison. Of the incoming freshman, at least two are pitchers - Arnold and Martin. Add in the juco transfer and that makes six pitchers. I believe the Weekly's hope to get three reliable starters out of those six.
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With the updated news about Bush, there will now be only five pitchers on the roster next season: Moss, Morrison, Arnold, Martin, and the Junior College transfer.
 
#756
#756
Bush really didn't pitch enough to get a clear picture of whether she had SEC caliber ability. Now that she is leaving it could be for several reasons unrelated to ability on the mound. Regardless tough for the team we'll have a Freshman and a Sophomore pitching. The pitcher Ralph tries to get needs to be of the quality to perform in the SEC. Martin another freshman might be a surprise she was awesome against the competition she faced but it is well below SEC quality.
 
#757
#757
Personally I think you should always carry four quality starting pitchers because of the injury factor. All can get enough innings during a season and certainly would be valuable in the post season.
 
#758
#758
DeerPark12 said:
Because going into the season, they had five pitchers that had all looked good, sometimes even great, in the fall season.
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Right, I get that. I was just curious why, once the regular season began, and Aucoin and Bush didn't perform well in the circle, the choice was still to not pitch Morrison.

I appreciate your input on these forums, by the way.
 
#759
#759
DeerPark, you are always a wealth of information...Are you a part of the administration, or just well connected? You often have data that I can't find on Google. Thanks for all that you do.
 
#760
#760
Volfan2012 said:
Personally I think you should always carry four quality starting pitchers because of the injury factor. All can get enough innings during a season and certainly would be valuable in the post season.
Click to expand...

I'm not quibbling about the number of pitchers they have on the roster. They had six this past season, it looks like they'll have five this coming season. That seems adequate to me. Of course no one can predict how they will perform. I mean, how many pitchers do you carry in the event that someone is injured or doesn't perform very well? 5, 6, 10, how many? There is no simple answer to that question.
 
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#761
#761
GameTime said:
DeerPark, you are always a wealth of information...Are you a part of the administration, or just well connected? You often have data that I can't find on Google. Thanks for all that you do.
Click to expand...

He could tell you but then he'd have to kill you! Just kidding! 😂
 
#762
#762
DeerPark12 said:
They intended to redshirt Morrison, but there were other factors at work and they ended up playing her. You can just say I was wrong or whatever, no problem. I can't tell the whole story because it would violate a confidence, so I'm fine with just taking a loss in your book.

When the NCAA moved to the regional/super regional format in 2005 to match the baseball tournament's format, they adopted all the of the same rules as baseball, including the rule that stated a team could not be forced to play three games in one day. That's why, when there are weather delays, you ALWAYS see the baseball tournament play the third "if necessary" game on Monday instead of Sunday.

When ESPN re-upped its NCAA contract that covers the softball tournament (it's a larger NCAA deal that covers all sports other than women's basketball), they asked that the provision that the "if necessary" game moving to Monday be removed from the rules. ESPN made the request because they're now on the hook to televise at least six of the 16 regionals (as you've seen, in the two years since they have expanded their coverage beyond the minimum), and did not want to incur the extra costs of keeping a truck and crew at a site for an additional day. The NCAA quietly removed the rule and many coaches were not even aware of it until much later. I know for a fact that Coach Lawson at Kentucky was not aware of it until her team faced the same possibility this weekend.

I updated my post in the thread after I found out the rule had been changed. As I understood the explanation I received, the teams should have played the additional game on Saturday night, leaving Sunday exclusively for the regional championship and if necessary game, as was done at Kentucky. But that format was not followed here after the NCAA reps consulted with ESPN.
Click to expand...

They need to tell ESPN no. Who is more important? The athletes or ESPN? And, I know they do this in AAU. This is probably when athletes are most susceptible to injuries.
 
#763
#763
LVJeff said:
I'm not quibbling about the number of pitchers they have on the roster. They had six this past season, it looks like they'll have five this coming season. That seems adequate to me. Of course no one can predict how they will perform. I mean, how many pitchers do you carry in the event that someone is injured or doesn't perform very well? 5, 6, 10, how many? There is no simple answer to that question.
Click to expand...

You are right no simple answer. I do know this though, Martin is a pitcher who really rather not have to pitch. She did pitch this past weekend in Texas. She did not go out there with the intentions of pitching at all and it worked out where she had to. She did not even carry her pitching equipment with her. I am sure she will do what the Weekly's want her to do put she is a every day player and wants that to be her job.
 
#764
#764
Martin is such a powerful hitter...She will be extremely valuable to apply more muscle at the plate...I'm not aware of her ERA, or if she pitches right or left handed.

In the videos I looked at, the girl knocks the cover off the ball...She will quickly become a fan favorite.

I found an old video...She is a left handed pitcher.
 
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#765
#765
GameTime said:
Martin is such a powerful hitter...She will be extremely valuable to apply more muscle at the plate...I'm not aware of her ERA, or if she pitches right or left handed.

In the videos I looked at, the girl knocks the cover off the ball...She will quickly become a fan favorite.
Click to expand...

Bats and throws left.
 
#766
#766
DeerPark12 said:
They intended to redshirt Morrison, but there were other factors at work and they ended up playing her. You can just say I was wrong or whatever, no problem. I can't tell the whole story because it would violate a confidence, so I'm fine with just taking a loss in your book.

When the NCAA moved to the regional/super regional format in 2005 to match the baseball tournament's format, they adopted all the of the same rules as baseball, including the rule that stated a team could not be forced to play three games in one day. That's why, when there are weather delays, you ALWAYS see the baseball tournament play the third "if necessary" game on Monday instead of Sunday.

When ESPN re-upped its NCAA contract that covers the softball tournament (it's a larger NCAA deal that covers all sports other than women's basketball), they asked that the provision that the "if necessary" game moving to Monday be removed from the rules. ESPN made the request because they're now on the hook to televise at least six of the 16 regionals (as you've seen, in the two years since they have expanded their coverage beyond the minimum), and did not want to incur the extra costs of keeping a truck and crew at a site for an additional day. The NCAA quietly removed the rule and many coaches were not even aware of it until much later. I know for a fact that Coach Lawson at Kentucky was not aware of it until her team faced the same possibility this weekend.

I updated my post in the thread after I found out the rule had been changed. As I understood the explanation I received, the teams should have played the additional game on Saturday night, leaving Sunday exclusively for the regional championship and if necessary game, as was done at Kentucky. But that format was not followed here after the NCAA reps consulted with ESPN.
Click to expand...

"Quietly removed the rule" so that the reigning SEC coach of the year Rachael Lawson wasn't aware of it, but Clint Myers and the Weeklys were, huh? I guess that's the difference between an up-and-coming young coach whose team got upset in the regional & a sly old gray fox who's been in the trenches before and has won a couple national championships (and about to win his 3rd natty before his retirement is up). But, I don't really blame Lawson. I had been an official/umpire before (and officiated both UT men's and women's matches), and even after going through an extensive training/reading the rule handbook from cover to cover and getting real match/game experiences, I sure didn't know/remember every rule in the book. I sometimes had to refresh my memory and consult the handbook when some situation came up which required some clarification.

When faced with a possibility of playing 3 games in one day, Karen Weekly at least didn't seem fazed by it. She was like, "these girls were used to playing 5-6 games in travel ball, and it's not gonna affect our game plan," something along that line. And Ralph Weekly who said two pitchers would suffice to get his team through the NCAA playoffs, all of sudden changed his mind after losing to AZ, and harped on having to have 3 reliable pitchers in his presser. Oh well, a day in the life of being a (Lady Vols) softball fan...
 
#767
#767
DeerPark12 said:
Because going into the season, they had five pitchers that had all looked good, sometimes even great, in the fall season.
Click to expand...


You say there were five pitchers in the fall who looked good or great, besides Bush. I assume you mean Gabriel, Moss, Gaffin, and who else? Aucoin? That's four. Who's the fifth? And yet only Gabriel, Moss and Gaffin pitched in the regular season. Bush got a few innings very early and was sat down; Aucoin pitched two innings early--and never again--and that was it. And so we had nobody in a position to throw, apparently, after Gaffin's injury.
 
#768
#768
armchair said:
You say there were five pitchers in the fall who looked good or great, besides Bush...
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No. The conversation was about Morrison not pitching, not Bush. So the 5 pitchers besides Morrison were Gabriel, Gaffin, Aucoin, Moss, and Bush.
 
#769
#769
Aucoin got shafted, imho

she was a very good pitcher at TT. And good at the USF tourney last year. Then, Ralph ruined her...:(
 
#770
#770
LVJeff said:
Right, I get that. I was just curious why, once the regular season began, and Aucoin and Bush didn't perform well in the circle, the choice was still to not pitch Morrison.

I appreciate your input on these forums, by the way.
Click to expand...

Because they didn't feel that putting someone in the rotation that hadn't pitched consistently in a year was a recipe for success. She did do limited pitching workouts, but the plan from the start was for her not to pitch this year and they were too far down that road to make an adjustment that they felt could help the team.

The plan was to get Bush work in midweek games, but it didn't work out for that to happen for a variety of reasons. Many of our midweek games were close until the 3rd or 4th inning, so Gabriel or Gaffin stayed in.

Sandvol said:
They need to tell ESPN no. Who is more important? The athletes or ESPN? And, I know they do this in AAU. This is probably when athletes are most susceptible to injuries.
Click to expand...

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but that's unfortunately not the way the NCAA sees it.
 
#771
#771
sccshortstop said:
I DP said it is true, it is. I would suspect this is something that has been in the works, at least in Bria's mind for some time. Too some to not have weighed all the options. I would think also not any injury related reason at all.
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Agreed. It seems like a seed of doubt was already planted in Bush's mind way before she got to Tennessee. She had a stellar high school career/stats. There can be only one other explanation; I suspect that she didn't do particularly well in those showcase (summer) tournaments where the elite players get together and play against one another. Moss wasn't afraid to throw strikes even after she got hammered for a home run or two, and she rarely walked the batters. On the other hand, Bush's reluctance/inability to throw strikes explains that Bush knew that her stuff wasn't good enough and she knew that she would get hit hard by the SEC batters when she challenged them. The coaching staff knew that too but they decided to honor her scholarship for one year and give her the chance to live out her dream of representing UT. It was a good gesture by them. It was an injury alright, but not a physical one, but mental/psychological one that she just couldn't get over. Simply put, she just wasn't good enough to play at UT.
 
#772
#772
To DP or anyone in the know. Will anyone who was a freshman actually redshirt? I know injuries and not playing for some of the ladies may want to. I also know that the redshirt is not commonly used in softball but just wondering out loud.
Thanks in advance!
 
#773
#773
sccshortstop said:
To DP or anyone in the know. Will anyone who was a freshman actually redshirt? I know injuries and not playing for some of the ladies may want to. I also know that the redshirt is not commonly used in softball but just wondering out loud.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Only Taylor Rowland will redshirt this season due to her injury. All of the other players played and are not eligible to receive a redshirt.
 
#775
#775
Well, someone just said they intended to redshirt Morrison--but didn't they blow her shirt by playing her against LSU--a decision that made NO sense, by the way. A kid doesn't play ALL YEAR and you decide to play her in the SEC tourney?

When you are getting a lot of commitments from 14-year-old kids in the 8th/9th grade, you are going to have some misses, as some kids who are top prospects at 14 are not going to be top prospects at 17/18. Their development flattens out while others, late bloomers, come on. It is a risk that everyone is taking nowadays--and every program is going to have the same problem. A lot of top 14-year-old prospects WILL keep developing and be good/very good college players--but a lot of them won't. Coaches should really monitor commits through high school and club seasons--and if someone simply stops developing, they should talk to the player and her family and be honest, and maybe new decisions made. I'm sure this happens now. With some players, maybe even a lot, you can't be sure how they'll be until they get to college and start playing. I'm sure there are some early commits who might struggle late in their high school/club career--but get to college and find their game and display the skills that got them noticed in the first place.

UT has got a couple of young soccer players who were big-time recruits, played on U.S. national youth teams--and they simply aren't that good. One of them was supposed to be one of the top freshmen in the country last year--and IMO she was maybe the 4th best freshmen on OUR TEAM last year. She'll be ok, but is not fast or athletic enough to be a big-time player. A lot of kids get big reputations when they are young, and that rep carries along for a few years--the rep becomes the reality, not the quality of play. We see that sort of thing a lot--see the All SEC selections, for example.
 
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