Lady Vols Softball Team Game Thread at Arkansas

#177
#177
I haven't been able to post but have been watching. Top of the 5th TN 3 Arkansas 1. Lockman HBP, McSwain walks, Leach drives in a run with a single to right (I keep saying she can drive the ball) and then Vines drives in two with a single up the middle.

To open the game Arnold faced three batters and put them all on base. Moss did yeoman work to hold them to 1 run and is still pitching.
 
#179
#179
Top of 7th Lockman grounds out, McClain beats out a slap and Leach drives her to 2nd with a single up the middle (keep driving the ball Aubrey). A wild pitch moves the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Vines takes 3 balls then goes to a full count then flies out to left, McClain tags and scores, 4-1 TN. Another wild pitch moves Leach to 3rd. And yet another wild pitch allows Leach to score. 5-1 TN. Gregg walks on all those wild pitches. Geer - the only TN hitter that showed up in Arkansas - has 4 hits in the series and makes it 5 hits with a single to left. Two on two out.

Pitching change for Arkansas. Seggern then flies out to end the inning. 5-1 TN to the bottom of the 7th.
 
#180
#180
Finish it Matty. You have a 4 run lead. Arkansas sending batters 9, 1, and 2 to the plate.
 
#181
#181
Strike out for out #1!

Deep fly to left at the warning track is caught for out #2. The sun made that one a tough catch.

Pop out to Seggern ends it.

TN wins 5-1.

Six strikeouts today for Matty. Nice job in relief.
 
#182
#182
We end up scoring 9 runs in the series to their 7. Pitching was fine for us we needed more offense. Glad to get a win saved a disaster weekend.
 
#183
#183
This team albeit young will still fight.....great job of not being swept could have given up but they didn't...hopefully this will get the bats going....now Ole miss is the next SEC series
 
#184
#184
Well it was a series of disappointments for TN. Despite that, TN was one strike away in game 1 and three outs away in game 2 from sweeping this series.

The pitching, in spite of the breakdowns was not all that bad. Arkansas scores 7 runs total in the series with 4 of them coming on one swing in game 1. The defense was fine - Karen had an issue with Gregg's defense in game 1 but I don't know if that was positioning or what, she just said the team needs to do a better job of getting to the hit balls.

The hitting has to improve and improve a lot. I don't know what adjustments Ralph will make. My untrained eye sees Lockman and Rowland with too much unnecessary body motion in their swings - Lockman swings like she is swinging an ax to fell a redwood and Rowland appears to be dropping her shoulder or hands. Seggern I think will be ok - she just needs reps. She's starting to recognize that pitch low and away and learning how to hit it. Leach and Vines need to drive the ball IMO just like they did today. McClain will never be able to hit away IMO but her speed is so great she can get on base pretty well. McSwain - well all I can say is she's wearing glasses for the first time this season and they aren't helping. Take them off I say.

Bottom line is TN needs players that can hit with power and they so far haven't shown much of that.
 
#185
#185
I am hoping for 12 and 12 in the SEC. After Ole Miss and at Kentucky it gets brutal. We really need to sweep Ole Miss.
 
#186
#186
LVJeff said:
Well it was a series of disappointments for TN. Despite that, TN was one strike away in game 1 and three outs away in game 2 from sweeping this series.

The pitching, in spite of the breakdowns was not all that bad. Arkansas scores 7 runs total in the series with 4 of them coming on one swing in game 1. The defense was fine - Karen had an issue with Gregg's defense in game 1 but I don't know if that was positioning or what, she just said the team needs to do a better job of getting to the hit balls.

The hitting has to improve and improve a lot. I don't know what adjustments Ralph will make. My untrained eye sees Lockman and Rowland with too much unnecessary body motion in their swings - Lockman swings like she is swinging an ax to fell a redwood and Rowland appears to be dropping her shoulder or hands. Seggern I think will be ok - she just needs reps. She's starting to recognize that pitch low and away and learning how to hit it. Leach and Vines need to drive the ball IMO just like they did today. McClain will never be able to hit away IMO but her speed is so great she can get on base pretty well. McSwain - well all I can say is she's wearing glasses for the first time this season and they aren't helping. Take them off I say.

Bottom line is TN needs players that can hit with power and they so far haven't shown much of that.
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Yep power hitting is a huge need .....for that matter any hitting would be nice.If hitting doesn't pick up significantly this team could finish in bottom half of SEC.Someone posted that this team is /would be better than the team last year......for that to happen the bats really need to come alive and stay alive.IMO this team is not better nor will it become better than the one last year ....would love to be proved wrong.
 
#187
#187
Vols4life said:
This team albeit young will still fight.....great job of not being swept could have given up but they didn't...hopefully this will get the bats going....now Ole miss is the next SEC series
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The good news is the team gets a chance to get their feet wet in SEC play with SC, Arkansas, and Ole Miss to start out. The bad news is Alabama, LSU, Florida, and A&M all in a row to finish.
 
#188
#188
LVJeff said:
The good news is the team gets a chance to get their feet wet in SEC play with SC, Arkansas, and Ole Miss to start out. The bad news is Alabama, LSU, Florida, and A&M all in a row to finish.
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And three of those pitching staffs man whew....but then those three teams with pitching cannot hit very well...then you have A&M with 1 pitcher but they can hit
 
#189
#189
My guess is that the power hitter were supposed to be Rowland and Lockman to go along with Geer , Gregg. That hasn't worked out at all. Lockman and Rowland hit more worm burners than the slappers. I think Vines could have some power and even Leach if they so desired to swing that way.
Were really hurting at DH, 1B, and Catcher for help scoring runs. Still it seems however Leach and Vines go so will the team. If they get on a lot seems one of the next three finds a way to drive them home.
 
#190
#190
Volfan2012 said:
My guess is that the power hitter were supposed to be Rowland and Lockman to go along with Geer , Gregg. That hasn't worked out at all. Lockman and Rowland hit more worm burners than the slappers. I think Vines could have some power and even Leach if they so desired to swing that way.
Were really hurting at DH, 1B, and Catcher for help scoring runs. Still it seems however Leach and Vines go so will the team. If they get on a lot seems one of the next three finds a way to drive them home.
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I agree. My guess is until Ralph sees somebody else do what Leach and Vines do (and McClain and Holcomb to a lesser extent) he will continue with them at the top trying to get on base.

I would like to hear what Ralph has to say about putting Holcomb in Leach's spot and dropping Leach to the middle of the order and have her hit away. I think Leach swings a heavier bat than does Vines.

This is Rowland's first year of hitting. I give her a longer leash than I do Lockman. Lockman is running out of chances as is McSwain.

I would like to know what happened to the Scarlet McSwain that batted .300 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI's her freshman season.
 
#191
#191
LVJeff said:
I agree. My guess is until Ralph sees somebody else do what Leach and Vines do (and McClain and Holcomb to a lesser extent) he will continue with them at the top trying to get on base.

I would like to hear what Ralph has to say about putting Holcomb in Leach's spot and dropping Leach to the middle of the order and have her hit away. I think Leach swings a heavier bat than does Vines.

This is Rowland's first year of hitting. I give her a longer leash than I do Lockman. Lockman is running out of chances as is McSwain.

I would like to know what happened to the Scarlet McSwain that batted .300 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI's her freshman season.
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He could experiment in some of the games coming up with Holcomb leading, Vines, Leach, Gregg, Geer, Seggern, Rowland, Lockman, McClain. I have certainly noticed when Leach takes a rip at the ball she can hit with some power.
 
#192
#192
When McClain beats the ball into the ground hard and gets the high bounce that is a hit they want throw her out. Problem is she isn't good at contact yet but she is certainly better than last season. This series was all about Leach and Vines failing in the top two spots with Gregg in a slump as well. They are our run producers as they get on and Gregg and Geer drive them home.
 
#193
#193
The hitting is a major concern. Gregg has been excellent until this series--she did not get a hit in the three games. Geer hit well in the series and seems to be getting her groove back. But this team has not shown much power at all against the better teams we've played. Did we get even 1 extra-base hit in this series? I don't think so--maybe 1? It was a pretty week display of hitting. Of our seven hits today, I think all of them were ground balls. Nothing wrong with ground-ball hits--but except for Gregg that's pretty much ALL we do--and that IS a problem.

I am optimistic about Seggern and Rowland--both first-year players--but long-term optimistic. I'm not sure what we can expect out of them this year in the SEC. Lockman is hitting better than she did last year--when she didn't hit at all--but that's not to say that she's hitting well. But at least there's been improvement. The worry is that I think Rowland and Lockman were expected to provide some power in our lineup--they were both top 100 prospects--and the power has been absent. And then McSwain's regression has pretty left us with nobody who can drive the ball in the gaps or hit it out except Gregg and Geer. That's not enough. Having said all this, we could have won all three games--even with the lackluster hitting. Moss makes one terrible pitch and it costs us four runs and a game, and then Arnold imploded in the 7th inning of game two. Uggh.

I think hitting and scoring runs could continue to be a problem. We do have players who are good at getting on base with their slapping and their speed--but we're not driving in many runs, and if slappers come up with runners on base, well, we're going to get yet another ground ball.
 
#194
#194
Karen said in the post-game media interview that they told the team in the pregame meeting to not be so selective in the batter's box and to swing at any pitch that was in the strike zone.
 
#195
#195
LVJeff said:
Karen said in the post-game media interview that they told the team in the pregame meeting to not be so selective in the batter's box and to swing at any pitch that was in the strike zone.
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Yep and once they did that they starting hitting amazing haha
 
#197
#197
LVJeff said:
Karen said in the post-game media interview that they told the team in the pregame meeting to not be so selective in the batter's box and to swing at any pitch that was in the strike zone.
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Im of the opinion that when you mess with a hitters agressiveness you're playing with fire. Of course you dont want batters hacking at balls, but if a good hitter is worried if they're swinging at the "right" strike they're thinking too much.
 
#198
#198
Aggregate box score of all three Arkansas games:

Batting:19 for 77 for a 0.247 BA, 1 double, 9 walks, LOB 17
Hits: Leach 3, Vines 1, Geer 5, Lockman 2, Seggern 3, Rowland 2, Weimer 1, McClain 2
Stolen bases: 2 out of 3
Pitching Moss: 4 runs, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts, 216 pitches, 0.63 strike/pitch ratio
Pitching Arnold: 3 runs, 5 walks, 4 strikeouts, 116 pitches, 0.58 strike/pitch ratio

Comments: 0.247 is an anemic BA to say the least. Geer, Leach, and Seggern were the only batters consistently getting their bat on the ball with a few scattered hits and their outs not of the dribbling kind like some of the others. Gregg wasn't pitched around as I recall - maybe a time or two - she just didn't hit.

The lack of stolen bases was partially because of the lack of hits - although there were several walks - and partially because of the wet field Friday. Hiers at catcher for Arkansas threw out one runner so maybe she's pretty good and the ump in Friday's game called Geer for leaving early. Speed didn't help TN in this game.

Pitching was not so bad except the strike/pitch ratio needs to be a little higher about in the 0.65 to 0.70 range. Arnold for unknown reasons was not sharp she usually is higher in this stat than is Moss.
 
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#199
#199
I was wondering if they coaches might give Weimer a shot today--and they did--and wouldn't you know it: 0-3.
 
#200
#200
LVJeff said:
Well it was a series of disappointments for TN. Despite that, TN was one strike away in game 1 and three outs away in game 2 from sweeping this series.

and a helluva lot closer to being swept. All this team needs is to add some pitching and hitting and it would be decent. For right now, they would need two promotions to make average.
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