Softball vs. Kennesaw State

[80Tiger 899]

7 hours ago, Mikey said:

I thought mid-week games were the ones in which your younger pitchers got their chance and the SEC games were for the top guns? I'm not with the team at practice or in the dugout but unless there were strange circumstances, pitching the young 'uns vs. Ole Miss and using the aces in this one defies logic.

Anybody got any ideas?

Pretty sure I read we have the lowest batting average in the SEC, which means just about every game is going to be close no matter the opponent. If we hover around .500 for conference play, then we cannot afford to drop to many midweek games.

[Mikey 16,575]

7 minutes ago, 80Tiger said:

Pretty sure I read we have the lowest batting average in the SEC, which means just about every game is going to be close no matter the opponent. If we hover around .500 for conference play, then we cannot afford to drop to many midweek games.

No, but isn't a conference win more important than beating Kennesaw State? What I don't understand is using the babies to pitch vs. Ol' Miss and the vets vs. K-State.

[AU64 10,122]

2 minutes ago, Mikey said:

No, but isn't a conference win more important than beating Kennesaw State? What I don't understand is using the babies to pitch vs. Ol' Miss and the vets vs. K-State.

Some us say that using babies against OM probably cost us a game. Maybe change of strategy now ?

We are in position that we need to win every game possible now... and probably a loss to Kennesaw would hurt more than the OM loss. 

Until the bats come back, every game will be a pitching duel.

[Mikey 16,575]

5 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Some us say that using babies against OM probably cost us a game. Maybe change of strategy now ?

We are in position that we need to win every game possible now... and probably a loss to Kennesaw would hurt more than the OM loss. 

Until the bats come back, every game will be a pitching duel.

I don't understand the lack of hitting. Surely the Meyers son that was the hitting coach wasn't all that much of a genius?

In any case, I ride horses pretty regularly. Sometimes you can get just a little way away from the barn on one and you can tell something "just ain't right". This team has a rock in its hoof, a loose girth, or whatever. Something's not the way we have come to know it over these past few, happy years.

[AUatHeart 624]

56 minutes ago, Mikey said:

I don't understand the lack of hitting. Surely the Meyers son that was the hitting coach wasn't all that much of a genius?

In any case, I ride horses pretty regularly. Sometimes you can get just a little way away from the barn on one and you can tell something "just ain't right". This team has a rock in its hoof, a loose girth, or whatever. Something's not the way we have come to know it over these past few, happy years.

I'll agree with you on that.  Also, this poor hitting team was recruited by Myers, which kinda has me scratching my head a little bit.

[AU64 10,122]

43 minutes ago, Mikey said:

I don't understand the lack of hitting. Surely the Meyers son that was the hitting coach wasn't all that much of a genius?

In any case, I ride horses pretty regularly. Sometimes you can get just a little way away from the barn on one and you can tell something "just ain't right". This team has a rock in its hoof, a loose girth, or whatever. Something's not the way we have come to know it over these past few, happy years.

Yep....kind of have that feeling but not close enough to know anything ......but maybe just the process of adjusting  to a new coach with a new way of dealing with players.

Feel bad complaining about a nationally ranked team but as you noted,  sometimes you see things that make you know that they are not hitting on all cylinders.   .    

[slot canyon 1,333]

I went back and looked at some of the ESPN replay and I was mistaken.....Perry was in dug out. did not want to be guilty of starting any unfounded rumors. My wife told me she saw her so I knew I was probably wrong.

[OlderWhiskey 953]

I'm no expert, but the Cutting girl who pitched against us last night was All Conference (ASUN) as a freshman last year.  She's had a couple of double-digit strikeout games already this year.  As I remarked earlier, I think Dean's scouting apparatus told him that we weren't likely to score many runs against this girl, so he accordingly threw a pitcher whom he felt could hold down the Owls.  They lost to Georgia, the best hitting team in the SEC, only 4-1 last week.   

[AUatHeart 624]

I'm not taking anything away from the Owls (heck even took my daughter there on a recruiting trip) but our girls have to start hitting better.  I noticed a lot of first pitch strikes being thrown by Cutting that we'd just watch go on by.  If you get behind in the count against a good pitcher it usually turns out badly for you.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

1 hour ago, slot canyon said:

I went back and looked at some of the ESPN replay and I was mistaken.....Perry was in dug out. did not want to be guilty of starting any unfounded rumors. My wife told me she saw her so I knew I was probably wrong.

You were wrong even if you were right.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

Whatever the hitting coach is teaching, it is not working.

[mustache eagle 2,397]

If I recall, we brought the Meyers boy back to coach hitting and I recall thinking he was changing their approach right before the season started last year?

then everything went bonkers last year which makes me wonder how much coaching they really got, we get a new head coach at an odd time, a new hitting coach who soon leaves and then another new hitting coach. On top of that, there has been some of y’all who know more than I, have questioned what Dean is doing in general ... he is a pitching guy first right?  Makes me wonder if Dean hasn’t established a philosophy for hitting on top of all the other stuff.

a recipe for bad results, but some of these kids are talented enough to do better than they are.

we are facing quality pitching at BP I’d assume?

[AUatHeart 624]

1 hour ago, mustache eagle said:

If I recall, we brought the Meyers boy back to coach hitting and I recall thinking he was changing their approach right before the season started last year?

then everything went bonkers last year which makes me wonder how much coaching they really got, we get a new head coach at an odd time, a new hitting coach who soon leaves and then another new hitting coach. On top of that, there has been some of y’all who know more than I, have questioned what Dean is doing in general ... he is a pitching guy first right?  Makes me wonder if Dean hasn’t established a philosophy for hitting on top of all the other stuff.

a recipe for bad results, but some of these kids are talented enough to do better than they are.

we are facing quality pitching at BP I’d assume?

You make a good point about the different hitting coaches they've had in such a short period of time.  Last year my oldest daughter and youngest started hitting with a really good coach.  He would do lessons at the school on Saturdays and made my life a little easier.  Well, for the oldest who had been using a different coach, it sent her into a huge slump.  And the puzzling part is that he wasn't changing anything major, but what he was trying to tweak and change got in her head and it affected her each time she got in the box.  The youngest that hadn't had any other hitting coaches took to it and is doing great.

[Hspoprn 199]

Pretty sure players at this level have had multiple hitting coaches over the course of their softball days. At this stage, good hitting coaches do not try to change the mechanics of the swing, they focus on scouting opposing pitchers in order to develop a hitting plan, getting the player to anticipate and swing at good pitches based upon the scouting,, seeing the barrel through the ball, and hitting those outside corner pitches to the opposite field. I agree that something is "off" with our offense. I suspect that someone has been screwing around with "swing mechanics".

That being said, there are some amazing pitchers around these days.

[OlderWhiskey 953]

Here's what CMD and Courtney Shea had to say about it :  http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2018/04/auburn_softball_looking_for_an.html#incart_river_index

[saminbama 740]

Speaking of Miss Shea, congratulations on her engagement to Braden Smith.  Wishing them many years of happiness.  Now back to the topic.  Rivera makes an interesting comment about how they are being coached on hitting in this article:  http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2018/04/alyssa_rivera_homers_in_taylon.html

She mentions Ketelhut wants them to be aggressive.  I think it's difficult for the players who were in the Myers' system to shake off old habits and teaching.  The Myers preached taking pitches to get higher pitch counts and now they're being told to swing at the first strike.  Hitting is 80% between the ears.  They just have to concentrate and play.

[wildling 35]

When the strike zone is the size of a dime being aggressive is highly overrated. Look at 2017 - we were basically tied with Georgia in runs per game (5.48 vs 5.52) despite a BA that was 2nd last in the conference (Georgia was first) because we took a ton of walks.

 

Reviewing the first 14 batters of G3 vs Ole Miss (4 innings), 7 swung at the first pitch, all 7 hit the ball poorly, with McCrackin getting the only hit on a bloop single. This ump had a small zone as well, they probably could have had a .400 OBP if they went up there with no bat.

[AU64 10,122]

Situational hitting......the big problem .  Zero for whatever with bases loaded which should be a time when better has the advantage.

[4WDE 89]

On 4/5/2018 at 5:42 PM, saminbama said:

Speaking of Miss Shea, congratulations on her engagement to Braden Smith.  Wishing them many years of happiness.  Now back to the topic.  Rivera makes an interesting comment about how they are being coached on hitting in this article:  http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2018/04/alyssa_rivera_homers_in_taylon.html

She mentions Ketelhut wants them to be aggressive.  I think it's difficult for the players who were in the Myers' system to shake off old habits and teaching.  The Myers preached taking pitches to get higher pitch counts and now they're being told to swing at the first strike.  Hitting is 80% between the ears.  They just have to concentrate and play.

There is a misconception that Meyers taught taking pitches all the time.  That is not true.  There were a handful of pitchers that had control issues and no longevity where the chance for success was higher as long as you didn't swing at pitches out of the zone where they took until they got a strike.  Most of the time they used a split plate approach until two. A byproduct of that is taking more strikes and running pitch counts up, but that was not the original intent.