Game Thread Lady Vols Softball Team week 8

#177
#177
10 losses and five have been giveaways this season. I am hoping as we go along the defense will get better. I think Moss is coming around Ralph need to give her a start in the next series at home. Bria Bush has control problems thus far hopefully that will be fixed so she can pitch more as well.
 
#179
#179
Vols4life said:
Well fast pitch softball has been around since the 70s and 80s it was really big out west...Texas A&M was the only school not on the West coast to win a national title until Michigan broke through in 2005....slow pitch softball was what the south....what helped the south with the softball explosion was 96 Olympics in Atlanta....SEC teams started fielding teams and of course most girls came from slow pitch programs...Pat Murphy at Bama got the ball rolling with better play in the SEC when he was hired to lead Bama's team in 96 or 97 not real sure....softball slowly gained popularity as time went as more teams moved to fast pitch....

Thank goodness AD's in the south saw a future in the sport as more and more females played it....then it became an arms race with facilities with money coming in from new tv deals with CBS and ESPN....girls on the west coast saw what was happening and realized that the south cared about facilities, fans, and education and hence a pipeline started south
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Talent is still the best out west but the south is definitely catching up quickly. Softball, volleyball, and soccer are exploding at the youth level. Girls basketball not so much.
 
#180
#180
She got her pt trimmed?








get yer minds out of the gutter, p t = playing time. lol
 
#181
#181
GameTime said:
Hey guys, What has happened to Bria Bush? I don't hear much about her.
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She pitched for a couple innings against Florida I think and did well. Probably should have given Moss the start and brought Bush in to relieve on Sunday.
 
#182
#182
Missouri hits off speed pitchers very well. Have all season. Why not let Moss who has a lot of velocity pitch more against Missouri? Gabriel should have won on Saturday. She has good velocity and her rise and screw balls were working well. I would have come back with Moss on Sunday. This team has probably given away three or four games this year. I know one against Florida and one against Missouri and probably the Alabama game. So that's three. Also, defensively, play at first, second and third has been spotty this year. Also, waiting for Lockman to break out. When she does I think she'll be really good power hitter.
 
#183
#183
LVJeff said:
I don't claim to know any specifics about how Karen and Ralph arrive at any particular decision. Generally, Ralph handles the hitting and Karen handles pitching and defense, if I remember correctly. Karen is also usually the disciplinarian. Karen calls all the game pitches. I assume Karen makes pitching changes, but that's a big assumption - I've never heard it said one way or the other.

Regarding the pitchers themselves, from what little I have seen of Bush, she cannot throw strikes. And since she's a control pitcher, not a power pitcher, an inability to throw strikes is fatal.

Moss is more of a power pitcher who needs to develop speed and pitch variance - which she is doing so. She has had some trouble throwing strikes, but not nearly to the extent of Bush, or say, Aucoin from last season. I am not surprised Bush isn't pitching. Moss I am surprised. I am not sure what is going on there.

Leach will be ok, she's a freshman, she just has to slow down. I worry about Geer at third. Almost anyone is an upgrade from poor McSwain, but Geer didn't perform exactly stellarly there in her earlier stint.

The team is doing "ok" but I expected more from this season and am frankly disappointed. The team lost Lewis and Tarango to graduation and Aldrete and Koenig to transfers. None of these were irreplaceable. With the pitching back plus the new pitchers and players I expected an improvement over last season's record.
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Yes, they had some rough spots here and there earlier in the season but I think Moss & Bush have been coming on strong as of late, and seem to have ironed out their problems. I'm still puzzled as to why they have not seen more PT as I think they richly deserve to. Pitch Gretchen more as gule said? I won't be surprised if that's what Ralph decides to do using his logic as "Gretchen, you are senior now, please lead us to the promised land. " Duh..

I used to have a tad bit higher expectation for this program, and hoped that the Weeklys would one day even win a national title or two. But after watching how Walton at FL, Murphy at AL have built their program and manage their personnel (their game management is almost flawless IMO), and in particular how Clint Myers has turned the mediocre Auburn program into a title contender in 3 short yrs w/ his two sons (now just one but) vs. the great recruiters that are the Weeklys but seemingly deficient in gamesmanship and crisis management, well I've decided to curtail my expectations for the Weeklys and our SB program. I cannot honestly say that higher-achieving FL, AL or AU have better overall talent than we do. My prediction: Walton, Murphy AND Myers will hoist another Natty before the Weeklys do their first.

You know, 7 WCWS in the last 11 yrs aint' so shabby. But that's what you're expected to do when you pull in a top 5 recruiting class year in and year out, isn't it? There are about 200 colleges out there who are dying to be in our shoes. At least the Weeklys seem to be a lot better coaches overall than the clueless HW of WBB. At some point, the two-headed monster of Karen & Ralph duo will have to be broken up, and we'll need to hire a new assistant coach (for hitting). I wonder if Madison Shipman will be ready to step into that role a few yrs down the road.
 
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#184
#184
Also what ultimately matters in the recruiting is not the number of stars next to the recruit's name, but what "type"/"kind" of athlete/competitor one really is. The mental makeup, or fortitude if you will. Lately, I've been listening to FL and Auburn players in their post game interviews, and they universally struck me as ultra competitive, tough-minded, high SB IQed players. Does one get that same feeling when listening to our own players? I don't. Whenever I listen to our own players' post game comments/interviews, they strike me as nice, gentle, feminine, soft-spoken, good-natured, somewhat timid individuals. Yes, our girls are all genuinely good citizens and all, and we should be all proud of their upbringing and makeups, but they don't necessarily display the required tough-mindedness or competitiveness for championship contention as our rival schools girls do. Maybe it's just me, but I think our girls are a little soft. Maybe reflective of our coaching staff? Good people, but not cut-throat competitors?
 
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#186
#186
Been fishing and missed the weekend series ....disappointed to hear we lost the series.
 
#188
#188
Vols4life said:
Well fast pitch softball has been around since the 70s and 80s it was really big out west...Texas A&M was the only school not on the West coast to win a national title until Michigan broke through in 2005....slow pitch softball was what the south....what helped the south with the softball explosion was 96 Olympics in Atlanta....SEC teams started fielding teams and of course most girls came from slow pitch programs...Pat Murphy at Bama got the ball rolling with better play in the SEC when he was hired to lead Bama's team in 96 or 97 not real sure....softball slowly gained popularity as time went as more teams moved to fast pitch....

Thank goodness AD's in the south saw a future in the sport as more and more females played it....then it became an arms race with facilities with money coming in from new tv deals with CBS and ESPN....girls on the west coast saw what was happening and realized that the south cared about facilities, fans, and education and hence a pipeline started south
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Looks like the LV's are doing well again this year. Looking forward to the game in Knoxville in April with OU.

Oklahoma won the national title in 2000 to become another school not on the West Coast or PAC-12 (PAC-10) to win it. It was dominated mostly by Arizona and UCLA. I don't think the NCAA stepped in to take over College Softball until the late 80's or ealry 90's. Before than the WCWS became what we see today, the tournament was under the old AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women). The tournament was held at Norman with OU being the host school. Marita Hynes, for whom the SB field at OU is named for, was the women's SB coach at OU and became an Assoc-AD at OU and was one of the driving forces, with others, to make the tournament more grand. I believe as more schools from the Midwest and South made more gains into the WCWS, more players begin to see opportunity at other schools. You can read a little here about the WCWS beginnings.

WCWS Marks Silver Anniversary in OKC | College Sports Madness
 
#190
#190
I sure hope there are some other of the new recruits just like her from top to bottom. From what I hear the young lady in west tenn Kaitlyn Martin is cut from the same cloth. Great read!!!
 
#191
#191
Hopefully we have a dominating pitcher looking at us as I like Moss but we need another elite pitcher. I really don't know if Bush is going to be that good she hasn't pitched much and when she has her control hasn't been very good. With two senior pitchers gone we need someone ready to step in immediately and be a dominating pitcher.
 
#192
#192
Volfan2012 said:
Hopefully we have a dominating pitcher looking at us as I like Moss but we need another elite pitcher. I really don't know if Bush is going to be that good she hasn't pitched much and when she has her control hasn't been very good. With two senior pitchers gone we need someone ready to step in immediately and be a dominating pitcher.
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Kelsey Morrison will be available next season.
 
#193
#193
Volfan2012 said:
Hopefully we have a dominating pitcher looking at us as I like Moss but we need another elite pitcher. I really don't know if Bush is going to be that good she hasn't pitched much and when she has her control hasn't been very good. With two senior pitchers gone we need someone ready to step in immediately and be a dominating pitcher.
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We've the pitchers coming and Bush will be alright trust me
 
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