Tennessee Softball

#4,051
#4,051
Holcomb is usually pretty far out of the box; sometimes, her foot is almost touching the plate, so it's really obvious. She got away with it this weekend until aTm had a slapper called out. Jo Evans had words with the ump, and Holcomb was called out every time after that. It's like Barnhill and her crowhopping. They don't call it much, but if they're going to call it in the tournament, they'll get her every time.

SEC coaches know who tends to step out and if they give a head's up to the ump, or complain after a no-call, we'll lose Holcomb's offensive production. That will hurt, but she's by far the best outfielder we have. We may have to live with the auto-out and pinch hit for her when it's critical.
 
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#4,052
#4,052
sccshortstop said:
There was a recent post on here about the fact that Phillips is more or less a poor example for us as a catcher. The statement was made to the fact that she could not catch the ball and had to practically throw down to first to get a strikeout victim about every time. The 2 games she caught this weekend I did not see a single time that this had to be done. She not only caught everything she was expected to catch. Earlier in the year she and Osbron had issues with the ball popping out of the mitt and I as well as some others said she needed to break the mitt in or get another. They did something because that is a non factor now I think. Phillips and Osbron is going to be fine as backups for three more years. Both she and Osbron has to hit to play and being RH hitters is not a priority for Ralph as well all know.Yes Phillips throwing motion which is like a girl will negate many if any throwouts at second. Osbron who throws like a boy has a pretty good gun. JMHO as always!
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I saw the ball pop out of the mitt quite a bit yesterday, but she started out strong in the first two innings and didn’t have to throw down on any of the five early strikeouts, though she did have to tag one of them.

Was easy to play Phillips and Weimer behind the plate this weekend, as A&M had not stolen a base in SEC play all season. Won’t have that luxury in the SEC T. Good news is, if Parsons can be as steady at 2B as she was Sunday, they can DP Phillips and let Osbron catch. Then, it’s about matchups at DP and whether you feel better with Ayala at DP or Phillips. Ayala’s numbers are better overall, but depends on the pitcher.

I disagree with the criticism of the pitchers this weekend. I don’t see them as having been the problem at all. One bad pitch from Rogers led to the HR Sunday, otherwise I thought it was fairly solid. Offense can’t leave runners on. Another hit or two and we’re talking about an easy sweep. Can’t put that on the pitchers.
 
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#4,053
#4,053
If I had to wager whether our pitching staff would get us to the WCWS I'd bet against. But, we last made the WCWS in 2015. That pitching staff was Gabriel, Gaffin, Tarango and Aucoin. Would it surprise some of you to know that the current staff is FAR better in every statistical category in SEC play? ERA 1.50 point lower. This staff gives up a batting average of .240. That staff gave up a batting average of .280. This staff strikes out more batters, walks fewer batters and gives up fewer home runs. The 2015 staff got beat by some ugly scores: 9-8, 7-6, 8-0, 12-9, 10-3. At times it seemed like they couldn't get my grand mother out. But they tightened up at the end and won low scoring games in the regionals and super. We had a much better offense that year, but it wasn't the offense that got us there. They slumped and the pitching held. We won games in the regional 2-0 and 3-1. We beat Florida St in the supers 3-2 and 2-1. All I'm saying is

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#4,054
#4,054
SEC FAN 1111 said:
Disagree 100% Holcomb should be in center best outfielder by far. Holcomb has no errors Hannon has 2. Holcomb better speed arm and angles to the ball!
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Holcomb is a wonderful outfielder but her best position is LF. She does wonders there but can't seem to pick the ball up as well in CF.
 
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#4,055
#4,055
This is sort of OT, but I caught part of the OK/OK State game Saturday. I was impressed by both team's batters. They were all up there hacking. I don't remember any slappers because I remember everybody swinging, early and often. I don't know if the pitching is easier to hit in that conference, but the players don't get cheated. I am thinking that good coaching has something to do with it.
I don't like slapping. TN has regularly 2 slappers in the lineup with inconsistent success. Ladies, swing away, early and often. Sorry if OT....
 
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#4,056
#4,056
Rixxx said:
This is sort of OT, but I caught part of the OK/OK State game Saturday. I was impressed by both team's batters. They were all up there hacking. I don't remember any slappers because I remember everybody swinging, early and often. I don't know if the pitching is easier to hit in that conference, but the players don't get cheated. I am thinking that good coaching has something to do with it.
I don't like slapping. TN has regularly 2 slappers in the lineup with inconsistent success. Ladies, swing away, early and often. Sorry if OT....
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The other coaches killed the slapping/speed game not by defensing it better but by changing the rules it was much easier to slap when you could step where you wanted. Other teams have adapted not by becoming better slappers but by being aggresive and using power. Teams don't waste outs as a whole any more to move runners up one base they use outs trying to generate the big hit. (there are still times in a game to move runners but usually late). We play a style that will win a lot of games but will it win the games will really need to win to reach the wcws? i hope so but recent years do not look promising we are on a slide advancing in the postsesason deep. One game I would paid to see is Oklahoma vs Alabama trust me they are not batting just to get on base they give no quarter they are up there to kill the ball.
 
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#4,057
#4,057
In reference to my prior post one could say isn't the point of hitting to get on base? How many base runners did we have Sunday? The point of hitting in the end is to score runs base runners are just window dressing if they do not cross the plate as whole. It seems our overall philosophy is to get on base all well in good as I have said before but with runners in scoring position you got to go up there with the mindset to drive them not to pass it on to the next batter.
 
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#4,058
#4,058
We average between 7 and 8 runners left on base a game. In some of our losses, we've stranded double-digit runners, half in scoring position. We're going to run into teams that can hit it out of the park throughout the order, even when our pitchers are pitching a good game. We can have all the speed in the world, but without timely hitting, we're going to continue to lose games exactly how we've been losing them.

We have dead zones in our lineup. Shuffling the deck doesn't help much when only a handful of players are hitting. If Ayala, Morgan and Phillips could return to their early season form-- and the umps don't call Holcomb out-- our postseason chances rise significantly.
 
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#4,059
#4,059
The best lineup we can put up there and it is not ideal is Leach, Parsons, Ayala, Seggern, Bearden, Phillips, Morgan, Hannon, and Holcomb. How many times have we got to that five hitter and failed to come through with a hit. Early in the season the five was Shipman and she was doing a great job knocking in the runs she had 28 RBI's in half a season. We usually see two of the top four listed get on someway and then that five person comes up and never converts to get us runs. I know Ayala is not you ideal three hitter but she is not your ideal five or six hitter either. I like dropping Seggern and Bearden back a slot to four and five to have a shot at that two out run production or in the instance when they all do well a huge inning.
 
#4,060
#4,060
LA Vol said:
We average between 7 and 8 runners left on base a game. In some of our losses, we've stranded double-digit runners, half in scoring position. We're going to run into teams that can hit it out of the park throughout the order, even when our pitchers are pitching a good game. We can have all the speed in the world, but without timely hitting, we're going to continue to lose games exactly how we've been losing them.

We have dead zones in our lineup. Shuffling the deck doesn't help much when only a handful of players are hitting. If Ayala, Morgan and Phillips could return to their early season form-- and the umps don't call Holcomb out-- our postseason chances rise significantly.
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and Holcomb quits stepping out...
 
#4,063
#4,063
Volfan2012 said:
SEC to use video replay review at Softball Tournament

Big trouble for Holcomb and stepping from box and maybe good news for some of our players beating out hits.
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Does it cover the stepping out of the box rule? That article doesn't list that rule specifically as one that can be reviewed. I can't tell from that article if those are 'some' of the rules that are included or if those are the "only" rules that are included.
 
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#4,064
#4,064
Creekdog said:
2018 record 48 -14, SEC 14 - 1O. Ending in Super Regionals . 2019 to date 39 - 13, SEC 14 - 10, ending to be determined. Yes, we've been much better this year with 3 sometimes mediocre, sometimes very good, never great pitchers rather than 2.
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You were talking about possible tournament runs, so was I. Much better to have 3 pitchers, rather than 2, in the tournaments, and yes, I believe in our pitchers.
 
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#4,066
#4,066
One of our big problems last year at the end of the season was we would lose 2 to 3 batters each time through our lineup for stepping out some are now gone.
 
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#4,069
#4,069
IBlvNTmWrk said:
As it should not be. If it becomes reviewable, then they would also need to add crow hopping to the list. And at that point, games would go on way too long.
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The plays listed in that article can be reviewed at any time at the discretion of, and initiated by, the umpires. Most of them are things that won't happen that often. I agree with you that reviewing something that could happen many times would slow the game down too much. Here is where I disagree - each coach gets 1 challenge and should, in my opinion, be able to challenge anything they see fit that can possibly be determined by a replay, including stepping out of the box.
 
#4,070
#4,070
Also, the wording on the first play is odd. "Deciding if a batted ball called fair is fair or foul." It does not say anything about deciding if a batted ball called foul is fair or foul. Does that mean a batted ball initially called foul can't be reviewed? And the first 3 plays seem redundant. It seems like you could combine them into 1 rule by saying "Deciding if a batted ball is fair or foul."
 
#4,071
#4,071
larjoranj said:
Also, the wording on the first play is odd. "Deciding if a batted ball called fair is fair or foul." It does not say anything about deciding if a batted ball called foul is fair or foul. Does that mean a batted ball initially called foul can't be reviewed? And the first 3 plays seem redundant. It seems like you could combine them into 1 rule by saying "Deciding if a batted ball is fair or foul."
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It may mean like a ball hit in front of plate was really in front or not like that or down the line. Strangle wording though
 
#4,072
#4,072
larjoranj said:
Also, the wording on the first play is odd. "Deciding if a batted ball called fair is fair or foul." It does not say anything about deciding if a batted ball called foul is fair or foul. Does that mean a batted ball initially called foul can't be reviewed? And the first 3 plays seem redundant. It seems like you could combine them into 1 rule by saying "Deciding if a batted ball is fair or foul."
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In college baseball, a fair/foul ball can only be reviewed if it is ruled fair, unless it is a home run. The reason being, the play is dead at the moment of a foul call, where a fair ball is played to conclusion. Same principle as not being able to award a fumble in football when a whistle is blown. I assume they're just applying the baseball rule here for this experiment.
 
#4,073
#4,073
DeerPark12 said:
In college baseball, a fair/foul ball can only be reviewed if it is ruled fair, unless it is a home run. The reason being, the play is dead at the moment of a foul call, where a fair ball is played to conclusion. Same principle as not being able to award a fumble in football when a whistle is blown. I assume they're just applying the baseball rule here for this experiment.
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I didn't know that. It seems unfair that the defense can benefit but not the offense. On obstruction the umps will decide how many bases to award the runner. If there is a ball hit in the gap and the 1st baseman trips the runner the ump has the discretion to award whatever base he/she thinks the runner would have reached. You would think the same thing could happen on a ball called foul and then reversed on replay. For instance, a hooking line drive down the left field line that is called foul but is shown to be fair on replay. If the umps deem the ball was uncatchable by the left fielder it seems fair the ump could then place the batter and runners where they believe they would have reached. At the very least award the batter 1st base and award 1 base to any runners forced to advance because of the batter reaching 1st. Doesn't that seem fair? Now I can understand on a ground ball down the line that is called foul before the 3rd baseman fields it (before he has a chance to throw it) and he/she stops making a play on the ball. You couldn't review that and call it fair because you took away the 3rd baseman's opportunity to make the out by calling foul.
 
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#4,074
#4,074
I am not a fan of video review in any sport. I saw an NAIA tournament basketball game last season in which a team lost because a call was reversed with 1.2 seconds left, and the replay was anything BUT conclusive. The officials are human and so are the players, and life is never perfect, so just let the humans handle it. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it :)
 
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