2017 Softball Discussion, 2018 Look-Ahead

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Good year but obviously not the result we as fans, nor the ladies wanted. Young team, we should Improve. What ya think? 

[TigerTennis80 343]

I'd be glad to hear some comments from those who know about our recruiting class. I know how highly ranked it is. Seems to me that we need hitters, a LF, hitters, a 3rd baseman, SS, hitters, 2nd baseman, & hitters. So, I'd love to hear someone's take on how the class might meet our needs. I'd also like to hear what some of you might think about the development of our young players. Is Greenwood  capable of being a solid contributor? Perry? Crocker? Those are the freshman who played the most besides Rivera. At times they looked overmatched. Is that just being freshman, or is that not good news? Thanks for sharing insights.

[jared52 4,354]

Well 2017 just ended for AU and I'm sure many have thoughts on the season. Mine are mixed like most. We expected an offensive drop off and we got it. It was enough to keep AU from returning to the WCWS for the second year, but enough to keep AU relevant on the national scene. 

I wish Coop's senior year had gone better for her, but she's been a true Tiger and a fortress at 3rd. She will be missed for sure. Same for Fagan at SS. If both hit a bit better, it might have been a different season though.  

There were a lot of distractions that we expected to derail this team but they held up until the end. Kudos to the coaches and team leaders who didn't allow those issues to cause more harm than they did. I'm not sure many teams could do that.  

There is talent coming back and talent coming in. I'm thrilled that AU has a fun program to follow and I hope Coach Myers stays long enough for us to enjoy that for a good while.

War Eagle!

 

[jared52 4,354]

2 minutes ago, TigerTennis80 said:

I'd be glad to hear some comments from those who know about our recruiting class. I know how highly ranked it is. Seems to me that we need hitters, a LF, hitters, a 3rd baseman, SS, hitters, 2nd baseman, & hitters. So, I'd love to hear someone's take on how the class might meet our needs. I'd also like to hear what some of you might think about the development of our young players. Is Greenwood  capable of being a solid contributor? Perry? Crocker? Those are the freshman who played the most besides Rivera. At times they looked overmatched. Is that just being freshman, or is that not good news? Thanks for sharing insights.

I have my doubts about Perry and Greenwood but Crocker contributed and I think she will be a good 2B. The others certainly have time to improve though. 

[AUTiger2012 84]

Sucks we lost but we didn't seem to have the fire power at the plate we had last season. But its hard to complain about a team that did this well three years in a row.

[AUBwins 10,064]

Fantastic season. Proud of how the girls made it to host a super regional.  That is a big accomplishment. All this without the firepower from last season.  I thought some of the young ones got better as year progressed.  I think the others just need the PT. With the seniors we are losing, opportunities will be there. I am impressed with the record and how for so many games this year, we found a way to win.  I think if Snow would have been able to play this year, we would have made it back to the final 8. We almost did it anyways.  Great season girls and thanks for the joy you have provided me watching you play. 

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Even though I enjoy watching the lady Tigers, I'm getting tired of watching them play so good during the season but then they fall apart towards the end. We lost the WS to Oklahoma last year, and I just knew if we ever played them again, we were gonna pay them big time.

[ellitor 33,062]

1 hour ago, tigerbrotha12 said:

Good year but obviously not the result we as fans, nor the ladies wanted.

True but after all the talent we lost last year if you told me we'd be a national seed but lose in the Supers I would have been and am pleased.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

No matter if it's women's softball or men's baseball, we should never, ever get swepted at home. There's never a good reason to allow that to happen.

[ellitor 33,062]

11 minutes ago, auburn4ever said:

No matter if it's women's softball or men's baseball, we should never, ever get swepted at home. There's never a good reason to allow that to happen.

Yup. The girls just allowed it to happen. It's not like OU is an elite team or anything.

[WarTiger 3,896]

27 minutes ago, auburn4ever said:

Even though I enjoy watching the lady Tigers, I'm getting tired of watching them play so good during the season but then they fall apart towards the end. We lost the WS to Oklahoma last year, and I just knew if we ever played them again, we were gonna pay them big time.

This team under Clint Myers has NEVER once "fallen apart towards the end.  NOT EVEN CLOSE.    We lost to an ELITE team in the final step to Oklahoma City.  That's not even remotely close to falling apart.    That's just asinine to even think that if you ever even watched a game (which I doubt).

[jared52 4,354]

This team didn't fall apart. They exceeded expectations. Maybe not some unrealistic expectations, but from what they lost to what they had, they did better than I expected for sure. 

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

1 hour ago, ellitor said:

True but after all the talent we lost last year if you told me we'd be a national seed but lose in the Supers I would have been and am pleased.

I agree, I'm just saying once we were in the supers, we obviously wanted to win that so not the result we hoped for. War eagle 

[autigeremt 6,569]

1 hour ago, auburn4ever said:

No matter if it's women's softball or men's baseball, we should never, ever get swepted at home. There's never a good reason to allow that to happen.

Fools live among us. 

[AU64 10,122]

Interesting to me that going into the tournament there were comments about the SEC dominating the WCWS but starting to look like other that the games with a "forced choice"....the SEC might have fewer teams that expected.  AU and Ole Miss already out and LSU and UK fighting to stay in the hunt.

As for AU...the weaknesses exposed by Oklahoma have been evident since the beginning of the season...and just my observations but most ballplayers don't learn to hit or make big improvements in their hitting skills during the season.  

[WarTiger 3,896]

4 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Interesting to me that going into the tournament there were comments about the SEC dominating the WCWS but starting to look like other that the games with a "forced choice"....the SEC might have fewer teams that expected.  AU and Ole Miss already out and LSU and UK fighting to stay in the hunt.

As for AU...the weaknesses exposed by Oklahoma have been evident since the beginning of the season...and just my observations but most ballplayers don't learn to hit or make big improvements in their hitting skills during the season.  

Well, I will disagree to a certain extent.  The younger players don't adjust to hitting Division 1 pitching in practice.  IMO, It takes game action to see different styles of pitchers and learn how to handle those styles.   Alyssa Rivera is a great example of that.  She didn't even make the trip to Gainesville when we played Florida but ended up being the starter in right and batted over .300.  She (like a lot of others) just need to work on consistency.   The only way you do that is facing different styles of pitchers and that is only accomplished during the season.  Casey McCrackin ended the season hitting fairly well (including the HR today).  She's getting there and it wouldn't surprise me (if she's in the lineup next year) if her average is significantly higher in 2018. 

[saminbama 740]

There will be a lot of questions for next season.

Who will replace Corey Myers?  I vote for Taryne Mowatt from Ole Miss.

Does Veach move to third or stay at first? I vote she stays at first.

Who plays SS?  I vote for giving McCrackin a shot at it.

Who plays LF?  Maybe Talon Snow?

Will Tannon Snow be able to play?

McCrackin got hot late in the season and showed power.  She has speed to burn and is an excellent bunter.  I think it will be hard to keep her off the field.

We have all 3 of our top pitchers back next year.  If we can get consistency from the younger hitters, it will be exciting on The Plains.

[AU64 10,122]

42 minutes ago, WarTiger said:

Well, I will disagree to a certain extent.  The younger players don't adjust to hitting Division 1 pitching in practice.  IMO, It takes game action to see different styles of pitchers and learn how to handle those styles.   Alyssa Rivera is a great example of that.  She didn't even make the trip to Gainesville when we played Florida but ended up being the starter in right and batted over .300.  She (like a lot of others) just need to work on consistency.   The only way you do that is facing different styles of pitchers and that is only accomplished during the season.  Casey McCrackin ended the season hitting fairly well (including the HR today).  She's getting there and it wouldn't surprise me (if she's in the lineup next year) if her average is significantly higher in 2018. 

Rivera is an interesting case IMO...came out of no where and immediately was a threat with her bat....which makes me think that because she was a freshman there was some intent to bring her along slowly....but  got pressed into service when some older players were having trouble with the bat.   I'm guessing she was a pretty good hitter from day one at AU...Otherwise, some of the players have just not made much progress this season...or in comparison to last season.  ....not gonna mention names but you can compare the stats from this year and last for several of them.   

[1913-14 263]

Oklahoma is a young team too...oops

[ellitor 33,062]

45 minutes ago, saminbama said:

Does Veach move to third or stay at first? I vote she stays at first.

3rd

45 minutes ago, saminbama said:

Who plays SS?

Freshman sensation Taylon Snow. SS & 2nd are her natural positions.

45 minutes ago, saminbama said:

Who plays LF?  Maybe Talon Snow?

1. Great question. 2. Unlikely. See above. The current outfielders will have their chance & there will be opportunities for signees Livy Schiele & Jenna Olszewski too.

45 minutes ago, saminbama said:

Will Tannon Snow be able to play?

If she stays healthy. All nuggets I have seen is her treatment since going back to Cali has gone well. If she stays healthy she will be at 1st.

45 minutes ago, saminbama said:

McCrackin got hot late in the season and showed power.  She has speed to burn and is an excellent bunter.  I think it will be hard to keep her off the field.

Yup. Hopefully she locks down 2nd.

45 minutes ago, saminbama said:

We have all 3 of our top pitchers back next year.  If we can get consistency from the younger hitters, it will be exciting on The Plains.

Yup & are adding 2 pitchers. Both seem to be power pitchers. Woodard says righty Kara Bilodeau is a power pitcher & Chardonnay Harris is a lanky lefty who gets a lot of Ks, 1.5 per inning.

If things turn out well LF could be our only question mark next season.

[ellitor 33,062]

3 minutes ago, 1913-14 said:

Oklahoma is a young team too...oops

They were young last year & had almost everybody back. No matter the grade level, the contributors on the OU team are anything but young at this point in terms of softball played.

[Mikey 16,550]

Today's game was a microcosm of the season. Very good but something's just a little off. That mess between CF and LF that let runs in should never happen. Wallace's throw on the cutoff/stealing play COULD have been 12 inches to the right. McCrackin COULD have been a half-step to her right when the play started. Either would have worked, but we did neither.

I think McCrackin plays somewhere in the middle infield next year. She's too good of an all around defensive player to ride the bench, plus she's got some power at the plate.

Veach is a fine defender. 1st or 3rd next year will depend on who else is available and what their strengths might be.

I think Coach Meyers will get the ship completely righted in the off season. We weren't bad this year, just a little "off" when we needed to be on. Maybe he'll set a rule in place that every time there's a called 3rd strike, the whole team runs stadiums. That's where I would start.

[OlderWhiskey 953]

Enjoyed reading everyone's comments.  Special thanks to the seniors who put in the time and effort to build this team:  Abbott, Cooper, Fagan, Gipson, Jordan, and Waldrop.  Gipson and Jordan have eligibility left; with her injuries, Gipson probably won't use hers.  I will be somewhat surprised if Jordan does.  Looking forward to getting Tannon Snow back to see if her bat is a big help. Most seem to think it will be, but she only hit .225 or so at Washington.  It also seems to be generally conceded that Taylon Snow will play short.  Hope she's that good.  I'm excited to see what the new players can do.  Can't remember all the names offhand, but Ellitor mentioned Bilodeau and Harris as pitchers, plus Livy Schiele in the outfield.  I also remember Mackenzie Nutt is coming in as an infielder.  Agree with Mikey that McCrackin will not be rudely shoved aside in the infield.  She's hit 3 homers in the last month.

I really believe that Greenwood is the best fielder of the left fielders we've tried this season. Sorry, but Podany caused that fracas in the 6th that opened the door for the two runs.  And what is a "power pitcher"?  Are we talking Barnhill-Osorio-Parker here?  And will CCM let her (them) pitch that way?  Mostly, I just want to see the team batting average go up at least 30 points.  Nice chatting with y'all.

[wildling 35]

1 hour ago, OlderWhiskey said:

I really believe that Greenwood is the best fielder of the left fielders we've tried this season. Sorry, but Podany caused that fracas in the 6th that opened the door for the two runs.  And what is a "power pitcher"?  Are we talking Barnhill-Osorio-Parker here?  And will CCM let her (them) pitch that way?  Mostly, I just want to see the team batting average go up at least 30 points.  Nice chatting with y'all.

I just rewatched it, didn't look like Draper (or Podany) called it so I'm not sure why you put the blame solely on Podany. Draper wasn't actually going to catch it before the collision either. It's a tough play in softball because you don't have much time to be sure you're going to catch it and call the ball. Plus Greenwood actually has an error (tough to do as an outfielder with softball scorers), while Podany doesn't, so I don't give your opinion much weight personally.

[Mikey 16,550]

6 hours ago, wildling said:

I just rewatched it, didn't look like Draper (or Podany) called it so I'm not sure why you put the blame solely on Podany. Draper wasn't actually going to catch it before the collision either. It's a tough play in softball because you don't have much time to be sure you're going to catch it and call the ball. Plus Greenwood actually has an error (tough to do as an outfielder with softball scorers), while Podany doesn't, so I don't give your opinion much weight personally.

Speaking to that play, the ball was in Draper's glove when Podany ran into her arm, knocking the ball loose. It would have been an out. The unwritten rule on every team I've played on, coached or managed is that CF has right of way. If nobody calls it (which, unfortunately, does happen) then the other fielder gives way to CF. If there's a collision, it's NEVER the fault of CF. Think about it, that's how it has to be.

As to who should start there next season, I'd hope we can identify one of them that will hit .275 or better. Either improvement by current players or a new face, I don't care how it works out but we need some offense from LF.