Preseason SEC Softball Poll

#26
#26
tim said:
Played against both and agree both bats need to be in the lineup and if they go with McCrary at 3 then Phillips could find a spot in the of or 1b. Historically the Weeklys have struggled to put the best hitters in the lineup even if the defense is a tad weaker. I also agree that we’ll go as far as our pitchers can take us, but with good power hitting we might eek out some wins when our pitching doesn’t get off the bus.
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I do not see us as 11 or 12 nationally regardless. One proven pitcher and run off a proven pitcher. the old adage strong up the middle will be much better with Seg at short since Ally is back, 2nd solid and I think Milloy may take CF. I can not see Phillips in the outfield at all myself. Yep pitching is the name of the game and we have not had great solid pitchers since Ellen and Ivy! Cant wait to hear the leather pop and the bats ping! JMHO as always!! SS
 
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#27
#27
I guess they have pulled the plug on Milloy pitching any. She was a top pitcher for her team in high school. I thought Ralph had said one time that she brought to the pitching staff the same ability of Rainey Gaffney then she hasn't taken the mound to this point. Karen talked about McCrary is glowing terms I'm a long way from Knoxville so I have never seen her play I would be excited if she is a better hitter than Phillips as Phillips did fail late in the season.
 
#28
#28
Volfan2012 said:
I guess they have pulled the plug on Milloy pitching any. She was a top pitcher for her team in high school. I thought Ralph had said one time that she brought to the pitching staff the same ability of Rainey Gaffney then she hasn't taken the mound to this point. Karen talked about McCrary is glowing terms I'm a long way from Knoxville so I have never seen her play I would be excited if she is a better hitter than Phillips as Phillips did fail late in the season.
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Yep my very thoughts as well! Karen did say she was a Rainey type player with more power but we have a history with screwing up pitchers. Distance wise I am over 400 miles so I do not get there very often.
 
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#29
#29
Volfan2012 said:
I guess they have pulled the plug on Milloy pitching any. She was a top pitcher for her team in high school. I thought Ralph had said one time that she brought to the pitching staff the same ability of Rainey Gaffney then she hasn't taken the mound to this point. Karen talked about McCrary is glowing terms I'm a long way from Knoxville so I have never seen her play I would be excited if she is a better hitter than Phillips as Phillips did fail late in the season.
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I think you'll see Milloy pitch more than you think.
 
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#30
#30
Didn't know AL was going to be that good this year. Looks like UF finally losing Barnhill has dropped them some. SEC will tough but LV's seem to be positioned to be right in the mix this year if all the pitching can come thru. Would be nice to have 3 solid pitchers this season.
 
#31
#31
sccshortstop said:
I do not see us as 11 or 12 nationally regardless. One proven pitcher and run off a proven pitcher. the old adage strong up the middle will be much better with Seg at short since Ally is back, 2nd solid and I think Milloy may take CF. I can not see Phillips in the outfield at all myself.


Agree with you on ranking. They will be very lucky if they can meet their pre season sec rank of 2nd. I think they will be around 5. They play a much harder sec scheduled than last year. Phillips is the better option at 3rd if seggern is at short. It’s all about getting your best 9 stix in the lineup and Phillips has already proven herself. Anxious to see how Turner does on the mound this year!
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#32
#32
I was going through the schedule and thought we'd have a record similar to last season. This team's potential hitting ability is very high much higher than last season. The three through seven will probably be Ayala, Seggern, Milloy, and Shipman. Then you have players like Phillips, McCrary, Webber, Morgan, and Hannon to make up the lower half where we've been mostly terrible in the past. This lineup one thru nine looks the be the best in the SEC along with Bama. Pitching You'll have to let Rogers go up against as many aces as you can and the others you hope will pitch well enough where you just outscore the other team. We'll fail if our run production is not way up. That is where this team is different the potential to put up big run totals in most of the games seems to be the way we'll win. If the offense fails to produce as expected of course we don't seem to have as much pitching as last season at least from the fall results. Potentially we have a couple of freshmen that could be or will be awesome pitchers.
 
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#33
#33
sccshortstop said:
I do not see us as 11 or 12 nationally regardless. One proven pitcher and run off a proven pitcher. the old adage strong up the middle will be much better with Seg at short since Ally is back, 2nd solid and I think Milloy may take CF. I can not see Phillips in the outfield at all myself. Yep pitching is the name of the game and we have not had great solid pitchers since Ellen and Ivy! Cant wait to hear the leather pop and the bats ping! JMHO as always!! SS
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Just to Clarify.. I think Seg will be a decent SS I just don’t think shes a top tier SS and I do think shes an AA 3rd. And.. taking her off 3rd creates 2 weaknesses vs 1. I understand doing whats best for the team and only bring this up for debate. But.... this staff has historically played defenders over hitters, but last year it seems they did do that by playing Bearden in RF to get her bat in the lineup. So this is why I suggested Phillips to the of. Maybe theres hope
 
#34
#34
Someone refresh me...What happened to our pitcher from Maryville?

I'm still in basketball mode, but I do like the softball team too.

Found it...She transferred to Florida State.
 
#37
#37
It was a small sample size but Willingham looked great at SS. McCrary looked good at third. If the bats match the leather we are in for some real good years ahead. Willingham looked real good at catcher also and could really snap the ball to second. We have Ally but it gives us some options depending on who is hot with the bat Ally could shift to first if needed. Lots more options this year. It will be fun watching it play out this year. Looking forward to it.
 
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#38
#38
Volfan2012 said:
I don't know a lot about Willingham or McCrary yet but Phillips at short is beyond frightening.
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kregman said:
It was a small sample size but Willingham looked great at SS. McCrary looked good at third. If the bats match the leather we are in for some real good years ahead. Willingham looked real good at catcher also and could really snap the ball to second. We have Ally but it gives us some options depending on who is hot with the bat Ally could shift to first if needed. Lots more options this year. It will be fun watching it play out this year. Looking forward to it.
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Willingham is the only true shortstop out of these 4. I'm sure she will get a shot at short in the early season. She's a very good athlete with a big swing. I'm surprised that the Weekly's really did not recruit more at the SS position. The other 3 are more natural 3rd base, in fact, I've never seen McCrary play anything other than 3rd. (my kid is a freshman at UTC and played in the same TB circles with Fury Plat, Sparks Elite etc - she's played in the same district as KK McCrary and I've watched them play each other many, many times over the past 5 years).

Both of them will take some time to adjust to the faster pitching of the top fastpitch programs like UT will face, but once they do they both have a lot of upside. Milloy is probably already there and will be an all-american type in a short period of time.

I've also seen Fox and Hazelwood play TB. Fox will be a pinch runner type and I'm not sure that Hazelwood will get much pitching time this year, she may be a longer term development player.
 
#39
#39
tim said:
Just to Clarify.. I think Seg will be a decent SS I just don’t think shes a top tier SS and I do think shes an AA 3rd. And.. taking her off 3rd creates 2 weaknesses vs 1. I understand doing whats best for the team and only bring this up for debate. But.... this staff has historically played defenders over hitters, but last year it seems they did do that by playing Bearden in RF to get her bat in the lineup. So this is why I suggested Phillips to the of. Maybe theres hope
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Understand completely!!! It would not surprise me if Willingham eventually gets to SS and I have said for three years Seg is a AA at third with her quick reflexes. More than adequate at short but not great. Yes and HB finally woke up and hit which gave us a unforeseen offensive player in my opinion. I think Morgan and Ally is our keys with the bat one way or the other. After Phillips tailed off last year it hurt up from the offensive standpoint but she is a hitter who we need to hit.
 
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#42
#42
I think we might be looking at something like 16 and 8 or 17 and 7 in the SEC where that makes you finish in the standing is unknown could be as high as second or as low as sixth.
 
#43
#43
MadWorld said:
Willingham is the only true shortstop out of these 4. I'm sure she will get a shot at short in the early season. She's a very good athlete with a big swing. I'm surprised that the Weekly's really did not recruit more at the SS position. The other 3 are more natural 3rd base, in fact, I've never seen McCrary play anything other than 3rd. (my kid is a freshman at UTC and played in the same TB circles with Fury Plat, Sparks Elite etc - she's played in the same district as KK McCrary and I've watched them play each other many, many times over the past 5 years).

Both of them will take some time to adjust to the faster pitching of the top fastpitch programs like UT will face, but once they do they both have a lot of upside. Milloy is probably already there and will be an all-american type in a short period of time.

I've also seen Fox and Hazelwood play TB. Fox will be a pinch runner type and I'm not sure that Hazelwood will get much pitching time this year, she may be a longer term development player.
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I think they thought Osbron was the future at short. She looked good defense wise but the bat disappeared, and Ally getting hurt threw everything into chaos so she was moved to catcher a lot.
 
#46
#46
Volfan2012 said:
Flosports has a stronghold on the opening season tourneys. 12.49 per month is the charge.

https://www.flosoftball.com/signup?...S80R4A3pIlqD5XoF-yM0jzYcDcRSJGfsiKJ4tPDL8p3kY
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There is a monthly rate that is $29.95, but the 12.49 is rate per month for a whole year which they will charge $149.88 right off the bat. It is a little deceptive on the website. Download the Flo app and if you want you can get the monthly rate and one month will cover the events the Ladyvols are in. Just a word to the wise don't fall into getting stuck paying for the whole year.
 
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#47
#47
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#48
#48
briancrice said:
If the Flo price is too steep, I'll have free live audio at UTSports.com and the Tennessee Athletics app for all of the early season games, except for the five Mexico games.
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Brian, really appreciate the audio and the effort you and the university do to give it. Sometimes there is limited video cameras and sometimes none at all so the audio is a blessing for fans. Thanks .
 
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