slot canyon

I know what you mean but looking at the overall picture, Van Stuedeman has been at State for 8 years and has overall SEC % wins of 35% compared to Evans 44% wins competing in SEC since A&M joined 7 years ago. In that same 7 year period, , they have been to the regionals, or super regionals and even made a trip to WCWS in that time. After they went to WCWS in 2017 she signed a 2 yr extension through 2022. Last I saw, she was making about $245K. She has been the head SB coach at T A&M since 1997. Also, their top pitcher, Samantha Show, transferred out prior to last season. Not making excuses, just saying she may have some "sympathy coins" in her pocket.

Softball 7/16/2019 2:45: From AU Athletics 7/16/2019 AUBURN, Ala. – Sophomore pitcher/outfielder Samantha Yarbrough and junior outfielder Tyler King have joined the Auburn softball program for the 2020 season, Tigers head coach Mickey Dean announced Tuesday afternoon. "Samantha had a great high school career and we are looking forward to adding her to our pitching staff and having her bat in the lineup; she has shown in the past that she can hit for power," Dean said. "Tyler has proven to be a really good Division I hitter and has been a mainstay in centerfield her first two years of college softball. She'll be a great addition having really good playing experience in the outfield. "We really look forward to having both of them in our lineup to help boost our offensive productivity." Yarbrough, who concluded her prep softball career at Fairhope High School in Fairhope, Ala., appeared in 29 games at the University of South Alabama as a freshman during the 2019 season. She made her collegiate debut against Tennessee State on Feb. 9, when she went 6.0 innings, scattered five hits, struck out five batters and allowed only one run. She struck out a career-high nine batters on three occasions, including accomplishing the feat on April 27 against Georgia Southern in just 3.1 innings of relief. For the season, Yarbrough finished with a 4.71 ERA and a 6-9 record in 93.2 innings pitched. Her .212 opponent batting average was the lowest on the Jaguars' pitching staff. Her two saves and 103 strikeouts were the most on the team. King, a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., native, comes to Auburn after spending the first two years of her collegiate career at East Carolina, where she started 103 games in the outfield. Her .314 batting average was tied for the top spot among Pirate hitters in 2019, while her 55 hits and 15 stolen bases led the team outright. Through two seasons, King has already collected 106 hits with a .321 on-base percentage, 52 runs scored and 21 stolen bases. Yarbrough and King will join a seven-player signing class the Tigers announced in November to help contribute during the 2020 season. Print Friendly Version

I would suspect that any open head coaching positions would likely become available prior to fall ball which is not far off. We know from another topic on this forum that the HC at Mississippi State is available. We also know we lost a valued assistant prior to season start a couple of years ago. I do not know how contracts are structured for assistant SB coaches but an assistant coach with good credentials and long term record of success as prior HC could be vulnerable. When someone is willing to essentially double your salary (I have not seen any figures for our assistants) you likely listen. He is in his early 50's. I know he and CMD coached together in the past so that may be a positive in AU's favor. I have not seen his name mentioned for the State job nor try to start any type of rumor; I just see him as an attractive candidate (if he so desires) for a lot of schools.

From 247 sports: "Stuedeman finishes her head coaching career in Starkville with an overall record of 275-188 and had just one losing season in eight years, but her teams never finished higher than seventh in the Southeastern Conference which came in her first season on campus. She had a 69-127 conference record." She seemed a bit wacky to me.

Apologize if off main topic but relates to type of team you assemble and maybe speaks to your point about being well rounded. Looking at SEC conference stats only and ranking teams numerically based on category rank seems to make some points but also begs some questions. For category rank will look at the metrics of Batting Average, Earned Run Average and Fielding Percentage ; hitting , pitching and fielding. Keep in mind that in some of these categories the difference between say a #1 and a #2 may be very slight to be nearly insignificant. Clearly there are other metrics within these categories that may be revealing. SEC Finish BA ERA FLD% total points 1 Alabama 18-6 4 1 7 12 2 Tennessee 14-10 6 5 4 15 2 LSU 14-10 1 9 3 13 2 Kentucky 14-10 2 6 1 9 5 Ole Miss 13-10 8 2 6 16 There were 4 teams tied at 6th with record of 12-12 but interesting to look at Florida. AU added for comparison 6 Florida 12-12 13 4 2 19 10 Auburn 10-14 11 10 5 26 Bottom three teams S Carolina 9-14 9 8 11 28 Miss. State 9-15 3 11 10 24 T A&M 6-18 12 13 12 37 As a broad generalization, of the teams listed (did not include Arkansas or Missouri) it seems that in order to be successful you need to be better than average in at least 2of the 3 categories which is somewhat reflected in the “total points” with lower being better. In looking at some of this in the past it has seemed to me that if you had a choice between being good at hitting vs good at fielding you usually came out better with the former. Kentucky seems to be somewhat of an outlier and I would need to look into that one deeper. Obviously, everyone does not play the same schedule. Florida is interesting in that they were last in batting average but were able to ride Barnhill and good fielding all the way to the World Series. Surprised AU finished as “high” as they did based on above. I mentioned other metrics within these 3 broad categories and a look at the BA for Alabama may be an illustration. Even though their BA was #4 in terms of HR’s #2, Slg% #2, BB clear #1 and fewest SO #2. For this next season, having lost our top 2 pitchers and pitching being a question mark, we are going to need to be a much improved hitting team and good fielding team. If we could get what I would term “middle of the pack” pitching I believe we would be a better team than this past season. Obviously. The loss of your #1 pitcher at beginning of SEC play has a big impact.

Another Madison Penta article from May 30, 2019. https://www.cecildaily.com/spotlight/bo-manor-s-madison-penta-named-gatorade-maryland-player-of/article_f80e1370-2db7-5098-a033-1efa47f2e92c.html There is also some stuff on YouTube.

Since I found this recent article about one of our 2020 committed (not signed) players I thought I would create this topic and add information about players as we go forward. https://www.flosoftball.com/articles/6528467-rising-star-why-auburn-commit-madison-penta-sings-for-strikeouts

May be of interest to some. This was a post on a site Midwest Fastpitch. The poster in this case is Bill Conroy who was founder and coached the Beverly Bandits and I believe now is in a high position with Premier Girls Fastpitch the sanctioning body of travel ball. There is also some continuation of talk about Coach Dean and Eddie Ketelhut. Re: Eugene Lenti Posted by Bill Conroy on June 7, 2019, 4:55 am, in reply to "Re: Eugene Lenti" @Just Saying - I agree with all of your comments. I will add that I realize that Eugene has his share of detractors, mainly because of his style of coaching, which is loud, and laced with sarcasm. His departing DePaul was unfitting a Hall of Fame coach that had taken a team from the inner city to the WCWS five times. I'm certainly not defending the action of what took place, look up, look down, flipping of the nose, which ultimately was his demise. I'm not sure the punishment fit the crime but that's not up to me. I will say, I hired Eugene and Mickey when I started the Chicago Bandits, the players loved both coaches and we had a league best 41-7 record. I have sent many players to DePaul over the years and they all loved playing for him. I also can name plenty of former Bandit players and current college coaches, such as Tracie Adix, Yvette Healy, Liz Bouck, Kirsten Verdun and many others that were and still are big advocates for Eugene. I can only wish that I had the same level of support from my former players. As far as the comments regarding Mickeys duration, not sure the poster is aware of the length of the contract or the guarantees included. Rest assured, Coach Dean is just starting his journey with his first true recruiting class coming in next year. Finished the year making the top 25 once again, with his top pitcher being injured in first SEC game and his top recruit, going to another school and subsequently now in the portal. I understand that today, everyone wants instant results but it takes time to build things the way you want and never a certainty that you'll get to the top of the mountain. It took the Beverly Bandits 3 years to win their first national championship in 2002, not sure that in todays world, I would of been given enough time to put the pieces together to complete the mission. Eddy is a terrific coach and I can never give him enough credit for managing a group of great players and winning a PGF National Championship. I realize he might of had the most talented group of athletes that have ever won a national championship for the Bandits but that's what made it so difficult. It's incredibly challenging to manage a group of players and parents that all believe they're all Chiefs and no Indians. I could never do it and I tip my hat to him and anyone else that can. As good of a coach as Eddy is, he's an even better husband, father and family man and needed to get back home with his wife and kids.

“One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothing can beat teamwork.” ― Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang

Timetable for baseball, softball facilities uncertain The plans are still in place to build player development facilities for baseball and softball. The question is when construction will start. It apparently won’t be all that soon. That’s difficult for coaches who have used those plans in recruiting. I am convinced that, whether it’s on athletics director Allen Greene (I don’t believe it is) or the Board of Trustees or whomever, the promise made to Butch Thompson to start building the baseball development facility after the season should not have been delayed when 80 percent of the money has already been raised. The same is true for softball. Coaches not happy with cuts Though it’s about reallocating resources, some Auburn coaches in sports other than football and basketball have been asked to make significant cuts, and a lot of them are not happy about it at all. The above from a portion of an article by Phillip Marshall/Auburn Undercover :Phillip's unhinged thoughts: Bonds, a very good year and more

She had committed to the previous staff I believe in the Fall of 2016. Good player. Notice one of her teammates just committed to Florida; don't know if that means anything. There are two other good pitchers committed to AU in the 2020 class; Lowe and Penta if my list is up to date.

An article I read said he received a custom made Harley in place of a financial bonus after winning a championship with the Chicago Bandits. Apparently he had a prior history with motor cycles and felt it was a good deal. That was in 2008. If he is scouting or recruiting maybe he can write off his annual trips on his tax return.

Your next to last sentence includes a couple of things that are on the front burner of my anticipation list. When I have seen Tissier in the past she has seemed so anxious to learn and I thought she had made excellent strides last fall prior to her injury. I remember her freshman year watching a practice and she and another catcher were getting instructions from Courtney. Tissier was totally locked in and soaking it up. I hope she is fully recovered. Likewise look forward to see how Lenti's stated simple philosophy works with our gals. Sounds like his players enjoy playing for him.

It is my understanding that Makayla is not eligible but there is an appeal?

Maybe getting ahead of myself but we can add info as it becomes available. This year Fall classes begin August 19. Last year, practice started August 24. The fall schedule was released August 15. We played 8 games last fall from 9/21 - 10 /18. There were open tryouts on 9/12. We will have a chance to get a look at a lot of new players this fall and get some idea what position they seem best suited. I believe there is some good talent arriving in the ladies who have signed.