Tennessee Softball

#4,228
#4,228
W.TN.Orange Blood said:
Well, it comes down to this last @ bat for Vols. Score or go cry rest of the night.
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Doubt they'll cry. They've seemed less invested than Auburn the entire game. For months now, the other team has seemed hungrier and more determined to win, while the LVs are like "oh well, we lost again. Hey, let's have smoothies!"
 
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#4,233
#4,233
Rixxx said:
I may be wrong, but I was always more comfortable against right handers hitting from the right side, because I saw mainly right handers. Do the players mainly see righties or lefties during the course of the year. I need someone to explain to me the loading up the lineup with left handed hitters.
I understand a lineup of speedsters and don't get me started on slappers. Is this a Weekly strategy?
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Yes it is and has been for as long as I can remember! These smaller kids from travel ball for ever have been converted at an early age to slap. Recently big boned big butted and big thighs have been slowly coming into college as power hitters. That actually started a few years back in travel ball. It seems like Ralph has not kept up with the recruiting of that type young ladies. JMHO as always!
 
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#4,237
#4,237
They'd always rather have speedsters or line drive hitters like Seggern. For what reason I don't know regarding the line drive hitters. I don't mind a couple of slappers as long as they're good.
 
#4,239
#4,239
fifties fan said:
I'm a Vol thru and thru, but not a dedicated SB fan. Ralph's obsession with small ball confuses me. From you serious SB fans, are there any top echelon teams still playing small ball?
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Agree and there may be and ever if so I would bet money that there is not 3 slappers in their lineups at the same time. I have heard ralph say that the name of the game is fast pitch because pitching win the games. I will add without someone scoring the game aint won yet.
 
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#4,242
#4,242
I am not going to try to find the answer to this but I would suspect our SEC Tourney record combined for the last 10 years we have lost more than we won! The last team that played with fire I remember was the years we had: RAVEN, KAT, LAUREN, ALDRETTE, AND THAT CREW!
 
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#4,243
#4,243
Small ball can be interesting and successful if executed. Too many RISP stranded last third of season. You still need the player to hit the ball to the outfield for a sac fly, if the squeeze is not in order.
I mentioned earlier, a couple of midwest teams are up there hacking. I like that approach.
Based on current production, how can success be achieved in regionals?
 
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#4,244
#4,244
Rixxx said:
Small ball can be interesting and successful if executed. Too many RISP stranded last third of season. You still need the player to hit the ball to the outfield for a sac fly, if the squeeze is not in order.
I mentioned earlier, a couple of midwest teams are up there hacking. I like that approach.
Based on current production, how can success be achieved in regionals?
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Rixxx I will give an opinion and that is all! You are right you would think if we host we should win the early game and winning the regional is a crap shoot. By reverting back to some of our early success and quit watching strikes go by. Our pitching which is average at best should give us the advantage but our offense and dumbness on the bases as well as conservative coaching will doom us again if we let it. If you cripple your hitters to the point they cannot drive the ball somewhere they lose confidence and I think that has happened to us. Got a weak regional and then draw a SEC team super is what I expect to happen. Got to win it to get there however.
 
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#4,245
#4,245
Another year watching the team steadily regress throughout the season and bellyflop in the postseason. It has become a pattern. Karen talks about our players hitting the mental wall midway through the SEC grind. Wish she would explain why other teams playing similar schedules don't seem to hit a mental wall. Quite a few-- like UK, UGA, UF and Ole Miss-- actually get better as the season goes on. Some, like the team near the bottom of the SEC that just beat us for the third time this year show up for big games. I'd be curious to know why our women's programs and players continue to regress year after year and wilt like hothouse flowers in the postseason.
 
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#4,247
#4,247
LA Vol said:
Another year watching the team steadily regress throughout the season and bellyflop in the postseason. It has become a pattern. Karen talks about our players hitting the mental wall midway through the SEC grind. Wish she would explain why other teams playing similar schedules don't seem to hit a mental wall. Quite a few-- like UK, UGA, UF and Ole Miss-- actually get better as the season goes on. Some, like the team near the bottom of the SEC that just beat us for the third time this year show up for big games. I'd be curious to know why our women's programs and players continue to regress year after year and wilt like hothouse flowers in the postseason.
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Amen!!
 
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#4,249
#4,249
LA Vol said:
Another year watching the team steadily regress throughout the season and bellyflop in the postseason. It has become a pattern. Karen talks about our players hitting the mental wall midway through the SEC grind. Wish she would explain why other teams playing similar schedules don't seem to hit a mental wall. Quite a few-- like UK, UGA, UF and Ole Miss-- actually get better as the season goes on. Some, like the team near the bottom of the SEC that just beat us for the third time this year show up for big games. I'd be curious to know why our women's programs and players continue to regress year after year and wilt like hothouse flowers in the postseason.
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The thing is that we had a very favorable schedule this SEC season, which is the main factor in us finishing so high. We didn't play any of the other top 4 seeds in the regular season (Bama, LSU, Kentucky). We could've easily won the conference with our schedule, but we managed to crap the bed in 3 straight series that we should've won (Georgia, Auburn and Ole Miss). Plus dropped a couple of really winnable games that should've resulted in sweeps, especially at home against Arkansas and A&M. If we had played Bama or LSU our seeding and standing would've plummeted because we likely would've been swept. I see people talking on Twitter about our standing but fact is we benefited from a favorable schedule and teams like Ole Miss and LSU not winning games at the end of the season, despite our efforts to crap away our seeding by dropping the series to Ole Miss and losing a game to a bad A&M team. I'm still stunned we finished so high given that we have basically sucked for large stretches ever since we beat Florida and squandered opportunity after opportunity to win the conference.

Sad that we're in our longest WCWS drought since we started going in 2005, and it's about to get a year longer. Despite hauling in elite recruiting classes every year, we aren't getting to the WCWS. I can't help but think the program is starting to slip, TBH. Even a program like Bama, who had a couple down years recently, manages to rebound and win the SEC, and look like they're a lock for the WCWS and likely to challenge for the NC. They look every bit as good as OU and UCLA, to me.
 
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