slot canyon

I know that taking the pitch on a 3-0 count is the common practice but I have often wondered about swinging in that situation especially when it is one of your better hitters. Seems there is at least a 80+% probability it will be a strike pretty much down the middle of the plate (I have no statistics to back that statement; just observation opinion) and probably the best pitch you will see during that at bat. . Additionally, if you started taking a hack at the pitch in that situation then it would seem to force the pitcher to have to be more careful with the pitch and more likely to throw something well off the plate for ball four. I think I would be in favor of giving some batters the green light in that situation. Could be that's why I am not a softball coach?

Whiskey, I remember that game with LSU and recall thinking the same thing. In fact I made the bold prognostication aloud to my wife....."No way we pitch to Doyle" Regarding Harris, I know she has a history of chronic back problems and that may be the issue. Some have mentioned the arm strength of Taylon Snow. When I say her at practice early in the season she threw with much more force and straight trajectory. She did injure her right shoulder and still had some sort of wrap/brace on it during the regionals.

No secret we had decline in batting last year which continued into this year (all games). Looking at conference stats we ranked last in BA just barely below Ole Miss. Alabama ranked 2nd. In ERA we had great pitching (no secret there) and were 2nd in conference ERA. Alabama was 7th. In fielding % we ranked 5th while Bama was last. Three teams from the SEC who qualified for super regionals; Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee finished below AU in Fielding % as well ERA but finished 1, 2, and 4 respectively in batting average. All this to wonder if we have recruited with emphasis on pitching and fielding (mainly fielding since pitchers don't typically bat) at the expense of hitting. Maybe you can tolerate more errors in exchange for better hitting? Earlier this year I felt the AU players looked "athletic" and some teams had some "large" players who at best could turn a Rivera double into a lumbering single. Now I see that some are not there for fielding skills but rather in the hopes that they blast a ball through the infield, hit a sac fly or a HR. If they get on first put in a sub base runner. I am not saying we need players with Paul Anderson physiques, but maybe more emphasis on hitting abilities rather than fielding abilities. I am not convinced we need a new hitting coach....maybe we need to recruit hitters.

You are correct; our conference batting was very poor with top 5 batters average of .250. As I stated, my stats are based on the season stats.

Season Record Conference ERA BA HR Errors 2013 30-23 7-17 3.52 .340 32 60-79 2014 42-19-1 11-13 3.31 .358 83 35-76 2015 56-11 18-6 3.41 .391 99 45-78 2016 59-12 16-7 1.61 .374 89 63-110 2017 49-12 17-7 1.67 .334 51 56-53 2018 41-17 11-12 1.37 .317 43 39-55 Above chart shows overall win/loss and conference win loss. The ERA figure is an average of the 2 primary pitchers for that season. The Batting Average is the average of the top 5 line up batters for the entire season. Errors AU vs opponents. To get more detail than this was not work than I wanted to endure. Stats can be deceiving but sometimes can be revealing; not sure in the case above. Seems clear that we had very good hitting 2014- 2016 (good ol' days). . There seemed to be 3 main reasons for this: Cooper, Carosone and Howard. They were in the list of top 5 hitters each of those seasons. Sprinkle in a little Rhodes, Fagan, Estell, and Draper and you have an effective offensive recipe. Many on team prior to Myers arrival or prior staff recruits.. It seems that as pitching began to improve the hitting (especially HR) began to decline. I have wondered if this represented a change in philosophy. We all know the mantra that you do not win championships without good pitching and defense and Myers philosophy about pitching to contact. Clearly we want great pitchers but could we have been recruiting other players based more on defensive skills over their hitting skills. Do you have a better chance of making a better defensive player out of a good hitter or a better hitter out of a good defensive player? Clearly someone good at both is desired. Maybe someone who knows something about softball coaching could chime in with their viewpoint.

That is an interesting idea. However, the problem from my perspective is not calling the violation when it is blatant regardless of the "punishment'. I noticed it got called on Bama at least twice last night on their 2 chronic offenders. It may be, as others have stated, it is too much to ask of the home plate umpire to get the pitches called correctly and then focus on foot placement when contact is made with the ball.

Anyone else frustrated with the "stepping out of the box" rule? This not meant to be a sour grapes criticism of Elissa Brown but using her as an example. In other Bama games I have seen this year, she almost always steps out of the box. She did so last night on at least a couple of foul balls and very obvious on her 2RBI hit. I realize that the umpire has a lot to look at just to call balls/strikes but why have a rule if you can't monitor it in some consistent fashion. I know the line of the box gets fuzzy as the game progresses but something really should be done. I can live with bang-bang close plays at let's say 1st base but when a player steps over the line making contact with the ball and nearly steps on home plate the call should be made. I would prefer they remove the rule rather than have it "enforced" in its current form. I also believe I could do without the obstruction rule in its current form. These rules can have such a big impact on the outcome of the game and just leave you frustrated because there is no way to review or reverse a blatant bad call. As the remaining games have greater and greater implications these calls (or lack of) will come front and center in determining the outcome. Rant ended.

Wanted to place this here rather than a new topic since some relation to this game. I thought some governing body had placed restrictions or prohibited the use of paraphernalia (stuffed animals, funny hats and so forth) for sideline and dugout celebrations/demonstrations. Seems I have seen it creep back into the games of late. Was well on display at last game with TA&M when the girls had a pseudo gun fight using bananas and water bottles in front of the dugout. It doesn't help that the TV cameras give it so much screen time. Not meant to be sour grapes or criticism specifically aimed at A&M but something I do not enjoy seeing associated with the sport. I like to see enthusiasm, but doing skits to draw attention to one's self goes too far for me. Would like to see the coaching staffs clean this stuff up before it gets out of hand again.

Thanks for posting your softball adventure story '76Tiger. Sometimes there is nothing like attending a game in person and this one had a special meaning for you and your daughter. The next TV game you watch I'll bet you will have a unique feeling about all the players you got to meet.

Lets clean up those errors ladies. What a gutsy performance by Carlson. Like Coach Dean said after the game, there was no way she was going to come out of the game. He said he was afraid if he attempted to take her out he would get body slammed. .During inning 6 & 7 she looked like she could smell blood in the water. So proud of her and proud for her.

Two years ago we swept them by major margins. We will have to fight tooth and nail this weekend. Did not realize their freshman pitcher has been so effective. Surprised as of a couple of hours ago the Sunday game not moved to a Saturday double header. Looks like major rain expected on Sunday.

You are correct and I should have designated it as the 2019 "season" as described in the AU athletics article. I was in a bit of a rush trying to respond to the original question. Hope I did not cause undue confusion.

If you have not looked at the earlier entries on this topic you may find some of the information there. War Tiger listed 3 commits from Beverly Bandits in a post above on Dec 16, 2017. There are 3 players who have signed for 2019 class ...Aspyn Godwin, Tate Mosley and Haley Nillen.. I believe a pitcher who graduates in 2019 Kelly Lynch has committed and a 2020 grad Madison Penta also a pitcher. If you go to the AU athletic site and look under softball/news and scroll down to Nov.8, 2017 there is an article about the 3 2019 signees mentioned above. Sorry I cannot provide individual details but hope this gets you started.

Carlson getting the start and notice Draper moved to middle portion of batting order.

If not aware, the game time has been moved up to 4:30 CT.