Softball vs. ole miss game 3

[Mikey 16,566]

2 minutes ago, WarTiger said:

Perry squares to bunt, doesn't offer it and they have the runner hung up between 2nd and 3rd, throw home is bobbled and gets away but the player backing it up catches and fields and applies the tag.   Dean was furious wanting obstruction there but not called.   2 outs.  Runner on 3rd now.

Two miscues on that one. The batter has to at least look like there's a bunt attempt, even on a bad pitch. The runner has to be alert. You cannot assume that a bunt attempt will put the ball in play!

[WarTiger 3,901]

Draper chops it up the middle, fielded, Perry rounds 3rd but clearly doesn't have the speed to get there and is tagged as the throw comes home and that ends the top of the 7th.  But, Auburn gets a run and ties it up.  2-2

[WarTiger 3,901]

I don't send Perry in that situation.  She doesn't have the speed needed to score there.  He should have had her round 3rd to draw a throw but not go.  If the throw gets by the catcher then go.    Would rather have my 2nd place hitter up with bases loaded than to risk that.

[OlderWhiskey 953]

Looked like Perry defied Dean's instructions to hold at 3d.  If true, don't like that.  Also, someone screwed up on the squeeze play - either Perry or rivera.

[WarTiger 3,901]

2 2 out singles from ole miss but Swindle shuts the door.     2-2 game after 7 complete.    McCrackin, Shea and Veach coming up.   Let's take the lead here.

[WarTiger 3,901]

McCrackin strikes out swinging.   1 out.  Shea up.

[WarTiger 3,901]

Murphy on ITAT said Perry ran through the stop sign put up by Dean on the Draper chopper.      Shea grounds to short.  2 outs.    Kendall Veach coming up

[WarTiger 3,901]

Veach slow roller to 2nd to end the top 8th.    2-2 game

[WarTiger 3,901]

crap.  solo homer for ole miss and Auburn falls 3-2 in 8 innings.   DAMN IT.

[AUGoo 2,659]

AAAUUUUGGGHHHH!

Two out, walk off homer for Ole Miss

[OlderWhiskey 953]

Would it be a thought to walk that girl and pitch to the slapper Cox, with two outs?  Cox not going to hit a homer, so you should have at least two tries to get the third out between Cox and the 8 hole hitter.

Overall not a bad result to get a series win on the road, plus some valuable experience for Harris and Swindle in this game.  But, this was a winnable game,IMO.

[Mikey 16,566]

Softball coaches do some things I don't understand. Softball is different from baseball in more ways than what it appears. Since pitch count doesn't matter, I'd have started one of my two aces in this game.

Another for instance: In that last game vs. UAT that AU won, the bammer coach Murphy did some things that, had he been AU's coach, I'd have accused him of being paid to lose the game. But whatever, on to bigger and better things. War Eagle!

[around4ever 4,139]

2 hours ago, OlderWhiskey said:

Would it be a thought to walk that girl and pitch to the slapper Cox, with two outs?  Cox not going to hit a homer, so you should have at least two tries to get the third out between Cox and the 8 hole hitter.

Overall not a bad result to get a series win on the road, plus some valuable experience for Harris and Swindle in this game.  But, this was a winnable game,IMO.

Not a bad strategy.  Ideally though you don't dig yourself a 3-1 hole where you have to throw a strike or walk her.  I agree though, with a 3-1 count, I'm walking her. 

[OlderWhiskey 953]

I actually liked the decision to start Harris. We already had two wins; thus the third isn't as important. Dean could afford to reduce hs winning chances in exchange for some good SEC experience for Harris and Swindle. Carlson is a senior, and we have to pitch somebody next year. What I didn't like were some signs that Dean doesn't have total control of the team. Fornis attempted to steal second in the 5th or 6th and was thrown out. Dean's reaction indicated he hadn't signalled her to steal. Then there was Perry blowing through his stop sign, and Making the final out, with McCrackin coming up. She would have had the bases loaded.

[gulftiger66 166]

10 minutes ago, OlderWhiskey said:

I actually liked the decision to start Harris. We already had two wins; thus the third isn't as important. Dean could afford to reduce hs winning chances in exchange for some good SEC experience for Harris and Swindle. Carlson is a senior, and we have to pitch somebody next year. What I didn't like were some signs that Dean doesn't have total control of the team. Fornis attempted to steal second in the 5th or 6th and was thrown out. Dean's reaction indicated he hadn't signalled her to steal. Then there was Perry blowing through his stop sign, and Making the final out, with McCrackin coming up. She would have had the bases loaded.

Since CMD is relatively new at AU I'll give him a pass and expect that he will get the base running straightened out.  He appears to me to be a "no nonsense" coach who will control things.  I like his emphasis on aggressiveness so the ladies are going to have to buy into the program.....and they will.

[Mikey 16,566]

3 hours ago, OlderWhiskey said:

I actually liked the decision to start Harris. We already had two wins; thus the third isn't as important. Dean could afford to reduce hs winning chances in exchange for some good SEC experience for Harris and Swindle. Carlson is a senior, and we have to pitch somebody next year. What I didn't like were some signs that Dean doesn't have total control of the team. Fornis attempted to steal second in the 5th or 6th and was thrown out. Dean's reaction indicated he hadn't signalled her to steal. Then there was Perry blowing through his stop sign, and Making the final out, with McCrackin coming up. She would have had the bases loaded.

We aren't looking at this the same. As far as SEC standings are concerned, go 2-1 in the series and gain one game over .500 on the weekend. Sweep it and go three games over .500 on the weekend. I see that as a huge difference.

As far as getting younger pitchers ready, Kennesaw State will be in here Wednesday. Let them gain some experience in that one. Then, they've got all summer to develop. I think SEC games are too important to mess around with.

[OlderWhiskey 953]

Nothing wrong with two reasonable people looking at things differently. To amplify my view:  Dean isn't too concerned with SEC standings.  We've already lost too many conference games to win the conference regular season title.  Florida's going to win that, in all likelihood.  What Dean is mostly concerned with is our RPI at the end of the year, which pretty much dictates where we're seeded in the NCAAs; and developing a pitcher (and the team) for next year.  Pitching against Kennesaw State isn't like pitching in the SEC.  The 3 and 4 pitchers need some innings in SEC play to help get them ready.  That's why Harris started the 3d game against Kentucky and the game today.  Dean accepted a reduced chance of winning in exchange for getting his backup pitchers some SEC time.  Had we lost one of the first two games, Carlson would have pitched today.  If we go up 2-0 in another SEC series, I would expect to see Harris (or possibly Swindle) start the 3d game.

[WarTiger 3,901]

6 hours ago, OlderWhiskey said:

Nothing wrong with two reasonable people looking at things differently. To amplify my view:  Dean isn't too concerned with SEC standings.  We've already lost too many conference games to win the conference regular season title.  Florida's going to win that, in all likelihood.  What Dean is mostly concerned with is our RPI at the end of the year, which pretty much dictates where we're seeded in the NCAAs; and developing a pitcher (and the team) for next year.  Pitching against Kennesaw State isn't like pitching in the SEC.  The 3 and 4 pitchers need some innings in SEC play to help get them ready.  That's why Harris started the 3d game against Kentucky and the game today.  Dean accepted a reduced chance of winning in exchange for getting his backup pitchers some SEC time.  Had we lost one of the first two games, Carlson would have pitched today.  If we go up 2-0 in another SEC series, I would expect to see Harris (or possibly Swindle) start the 3d game.

Lot's of speculation in this post but that bolded part just doesn't wash.   I guarantee you Dean was not looking at this as accepting a reduced chance of winning to get a player experience.   To me, that's just completely ridiculous.   Dean expects his offense to score every game.  We lost game 3 because we couldn't get the big hit when we had opportunities to score. 

[AU64 10,122]

1 hour ago, WarTiger said:

Lot's of speculation in this post but that bolded part just doesn't wash.   I guarantee you Dean was not looking at this as accepting a reduced chance of winning to get a player experience.   To me, that's just completely ridiculous.   Dean expects his offense to score every game.  We lost game 3 because we couldn't get the big hit when we had opportunities to score. 

That game is more on the hitters than the pitcher though the idea of not worrying about the SEC wins..?   gotta wonder about that. ..losses like Sunday can be the difference between playing tournament games in Auburn....or Athens or Columbia.. 

Harris pitched well enough to win but Swindle was knocked around quite a bit and been through their batting order twice I think....once the game was tied it might have been good to give OM a different look.  JMO.

[slot canyon 1,332]

In a March 30 video on the AU Athletics site Coach Dean stated a goal of working toward a 3 pitcher rotation.  Also, in the post game radio broadcast after game 1 he indicated Carlson was not feeling good but did not go into specifics.  That could have factored into the rotation we saw.  We may need some experienced depth going forward; especially if there were to be an injury to Carlson or Martin.  

[Mikey 16,566]

30 minutes ago, AU64 said:

That game is more on the hitters than the pitcher though the idea of not worrying about the SEC wins..?   gotta wonder about that. ..losses like Sunday can be the difference between playing tournament games in Auburn....or Athens or Columbia..

Harris pitched well enough to win but Swindle was knocked around quite a bit and been through their batting order twice I think....once the game was tied it might have been good to give OM a different look.  JMO.

Exactly!

[Mikey 16,566]

28 minutes ago, slot canyon said:

In a March 30 video on the AU Athletics site Coach Dean stated a goal of working toward a 3 pitcher rotation.  Also, in the post game radio broadcast after game 1 he indicated Carlson was not feeling good but did not go into specifics.  That could have factored into the rotation we saw.  We may need some experienced depth going forward; especially if there were to be an injury to Carlson or Martin.  

I think we should cross the "possible injury" bridge when/if we get to it. I'd let that third pitcher shut out some mid-week opponents before I risked an SEC game just to build experience.

[slot canyon 1,332]

1 hour ago, slot canyon said:

In a March 30 video on the AU Athletics site Coach Dean stated a goal of working toward a 3 pitcher rotation.  Also, in the post game radio broadcast after game 1 he indicated Carlson was not feeling good but did not go into specifics.  That could have factored into the rotation we saw.  We may need some experienced depth going forward; especially if there were to be an injury to Carlson or Martin.  

I wanted to correct myself...this was from AL.com. and not the post game radio interview. 

"Kaylee wasn't feeling well tonight," Dean said. "She was hurting a little bit and she really battled. I was really proud of her." 

I don't know if this had anything to do with her not pitching in game 3.  

[saminbama 740]

I hope the reason for Carlson not getting in Sunday's game was some type of illness.  I can live with getting younger players experience, but not late in the game.  Swindle has improved, but she still tends to give up the long ball.  In the late innings, when the game is in doubt, it's time to bring in the big gun.  My biggest concern with our hitting is we look at way too many good pitches and are constantly getting in 1-2 or 0-2 counts.  When you're facing a senior pitcher, that gives her total control.  I wish our hitting coach could teach our hitters how to go with the pitch and hit to the opposite field.  Lee spent the entire day on the outside corner and we just watched them go by.  When you were swept in the first series and you have an opportunity to sweep your second series in a row, you gotta jump on it.  Winning 2 out of 3 ain't enough and the going will be significantly tougher this weekend.

[autan 737]

8 hours ago, WarTiger said:

Lot's of speculation in this post but that bolded part just doesn't wash.   I guarantee you Dean was not looking at this as accepting a reduced chance of winning to get a player experience.   To me, that's just completely ridiculous.   Dean expects his offense to score every game.  We lost game 3 because we couldn't get the big hit when we had opportunities to score. 

I agree WarT.  Three runs in 8 innings is not bad pitching and defense. I'll take that almost any time.  We have to score more runs than two against the Rebs.  CMD mistakes account for some of the blame in this loss.  Walkoff HR is as much his fault as Swindles.  Obviously Martin and Carlson have the experience to handle that kind of situation without being micromanaged.  Hopefully a learning experience for coaches and players.