Alabama vs Auburn Game 3

[AU1947 157]

Can we pull off the upset today?

[AUBwins 10,071]

32 minutes ago, AU1947 said:

Can we pull off the upset today?

Not if we can’t hit it in a spot where they aren’t. Uncanny the few solid swings have been hit right at people. 11 singles in this series. Nothing extra base. Maddie looks more confident today. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

12 minutes ago, AUBwins said:

Not if we can’t hit it in a spot where they aren’t. Uncanny the few solid swings have been hit right at people. 11 singles in this series. Nothing extra base. Maddie looks more confident today. 

Thats' the tough part.

To only get singles indicates we are not hitting the ball real well. Or Alabama pitchers are just locating pitches perfectly...

To be playing at home, and in 2+ games not have an extra base hit is really tough...

[AUBwins 10,071]

That’s how you do it ladies!

[AUBwins 10,071]

Great hit by Rivera. Maybe that can get her going. 

[AUBwins 10,071]

Good half inning. Maddie finally can pitch with a lead. 2-0 Auburn. 

[AUBwins 10,071]

Packer has not been solid fielding and throwing the ball in. Maddie needs an out to keep the 2-0 lead

[AUBwins 10,071]

Freaking kidding me. 3 run homer takes the lead

[AUBwins 10,071]

Crap, she was rolling until 3 straight hitters take the lead away. 

[AU1947 157]

Penta is good for about 3 innings or one time through the line up with SEC competition.... he should have pulled her sooner... got to score another run!!

[Hspoprn 199]

No power against premier pitching, no small ball game. Gave extra outs on errors to a top rated team today. We appear to be stuck in the middle this year. Hoping the freshmen develop rapidly as the season progresses. I think we made some progress in this series.

Rivera's bat seems to be waking up. Any ideas regarding Perry's inefficiency at the plate ?

[blakem 296]

I’m so tired of the fall from excellence that we’ve had over the last few years. Dean was hired as a top notch coach who could continue our success but he has let us down immensely.

[99TGR 26]

I’ve mentioned this before, but our offense isn’t designed this year to put up big numbers against SEC pitching. We have very few hitters that can hit the long ball. Schmit and Rivera have a swing that can hit SEC HRs, but neither seem to be swinging better as the season goes on. IMO we will do well against the bottom half of the SEC but the top will sweep us or take 2/3. Just wish we had more bats in the lineup. No doubles or HRs, only singles against top programs is a recipe for losses.  

[steeleagle 2,945]

14 minutes ago, blakem said:

I’m so tired of the fall from excellence that we’ve had over the last few years. Dean was hired as a top notch coach who could continue our success but he has let us down immensely.

It’s a little early to write Dean off. 
he took over a program basically shut down bc of the Meyer drama. Players left and a negative cloud hung over even as Dean basically started from scratch. 
last year w pandemic was cut short and he’s had to replace his coaches over last 3 years. 
 

let’s see how this very young hitting and pitching develops over the year. 
 

to play the #4 team in country and your biggest rival is a tough start. I am sure players started pressing as inning after inning didn’t produce runs. 
 

Baffling parts are the lack of production from most experienced players (perry rivera) and some shoddy defense. 

[AUBwins 10,071]

27 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

Baffling parts are the lack of production from most experienced players (perry rivera) and some shoddy defense. 

This right here.  The little things like not airmailing a throw from the outfield.  We have been way off target on those throws in this series.  We really have not seen much benefit from the Super Seniors other than maybe Perry play in the field at first.  Penta looked better today but it doesn't take much for Bama to rally.  A hit up the middle by Hemphill started it all.  Maddie lost her composure a bit after.  Anyways, Bama looks pretty solid and will likely be at the WCWS. We hung with them a while in just about every game, but the lack of bats couldn't keep pressure on Bama.  We would fall apart mid way through.  Learning experience.  Maybe playing then later would have given us a better shot. 

[slot canyon 1,332]

1 hour ago, AU1947 said:

Penta is good for about 3 innings or one time through the line up with SEC competition.... he should have pulled her sooner... got to score another run!!

 

41 minutes ago, 99TGR said:

I’ve mentioned this before, but our offense isn’t designed this year to put up big numbers against SEC pitching. We have very few hitters that can hit the long ball. Schmit and Rivera have a swing that can hit SEC HRs, but neither seem to be swinging better as the season goes on. IMO we will do well against the bottom half of the SEC but the top will sweep us or take 2/3. Just wish we had more bats in the lineup. No doubles or HRs, only singles against top programs is a recipe for losses.  

When the first 2 bitters got on base and Penta threw a first pitch ball to Dowling I believe Penta had thrown roughly 100 pitches and I told my wife "we need to change pitchers".  Not that I know anything about softball but when she started to fade a bit and you have a lead and a couple of good pitchers to go the last innings I would think a change would be good.  BAMA is a good hitting team and they were going through their lineup for I believe the 3rd time.  Amazing how much bat they get on the ball compared to AU.  I don't think we hit a single ball anywhere near the wall and the few that were hits were mainly on the ground.  I do think we are a bit more selective than we have been in the past but need a lot of improvement there.  Also, BAMA had more team speed than I expected as well as some very  good infield play.   Credit where credit due.

[steeleagle 2,945]

One reason for the weak hitting was probably mostly due to very strong seasoned pitchers. 
Our freshmen pitchers just couldn’t consistently stand toe to toe w their veteran pitchers. 
 

it is tough and a question to be asked that in 3 games we hit only 1 extra base hit. I know we are playing 3-4 freshmen or sophs in the lineup but as someone else added our super seniors have not carried the young ones and now are being moved down the lineup or not even starting as much. 
 

but Alabama in the first SEC series is the toughest one to gauge this team by.  I want to see how we do against another top SEC to see if we have progressed. 

[PUB78 1,357]

Now, Auburn is 0-10 against Bammer in athletic events in the 2020-2021 season.

[tigerman1186 537]

Women's tennis won last week....but it was a good weekend for bama....BB championship...swept us in softball....won a series in baseball and Justin Thomas won The Players....as for softball, we need some heavy body hitters like they do...I feel good with our pitching staff....experience will make them better and with a lot of freshman, I see us being better next year...

[blakem 296]

2 hours ago, steeleagle said:

It’s a little early to write Dean off. 
he took over a program basically shut down bc of the Meyer drama. Players left and a negative cloud hung over even as Dean basically started from scratch. 
last year w pandemic was cut short and he’s had to replace his coaches over last 3 years. 
 

let’s see how this very young hitting and pitching develops over the year. 
 

to play the #4 team in country and your biggest rival is a tough start. I am sure players started pressing as inning after inning didn’t produce runs. 
 

Baffling parts are the lack of production from most experienced players (perry rivera) and some shoddy defense. 

I’m not writing home off, but it’s clear we’ve really not gotten better with him here. Hitting and defense have been subpar since he got here. The pitching has been alright but has been inconsistent. He’s recruited fairly well but that speaks to the lack of development when we recruit at such a high level and get beat by teams of lesser talent. I also question some of the base running moves he pulls. I just think he should get another one more season after this year and if we don’t improve we gotta go find someone else.

[AU1947 157]

4 hours ago, slot canyon said:

 

When the first 2 bitters got on base and Penta threw a first pitch ball to Dowling I believe Penta had thrown roughly 100 pitches and I told my wife "we need to change pitchers".  Not that I know anything about softball but when she started to fade a bit and you have a lead and a couple of good pitchers to go the last innings I would think a change would be good.  BAMA is a good hitting team and they were going through their lineup for I believe the 3rd time.  Amazing how much bat they get on the ball compared to AU.  I don't think we hit a single ball anywhere near the wall and the few that were hits were mainly on the ground.  I do think we are a bit more selective than we have been in the past but need a lot of improvement there.  Also, BAMA had more team speed than I expected as well as some very  good infield play.   Credit where credit due.

Was I the only one that saw Penta's "you have got to be F........g kidding me" comment right before she got.pulled. the commentators commented on it as well. That was embarrassing...

[steeleagle 2,945]

2 hours ago, blakem said:

I’m not writing home off, but it’s clear we’ve really not gotten better with him here. Hitting and defense have been subpar since he got here. The pitching has been alright but has been inconsistent. He’s recruited fairly well but that speaks to the lack of development when we recruit at such a high level and get beat by teams of lesser talent. I also question some of the base running moves he pulls. I just think he should get another one more season after this year and if we don’t improve we gotta go find someone else.

I can agree we need to see 2 things:

1. Improvement in hitting especially as the season progresses for our young players. 
2. By end of year a team that now compete w better teams and get into NCAAs. 
 

and if this happens then next year HAS to be then a team that can win the SEC and go far into the playoffs. 
 

if this doesn’t happen then Deans future is in doubt as coach. We would have given him 5 years to make us highly competitive. 

[slot canyon 1,332]

Another point regarding the game was that a dropped pop fly by our catcher would have represented the 3rd out in the 5th inning prior to the 3 run home run.  When that happened I had a bad feeling.  Those plays can be difficult for a catcher.

[blakem 296]

9 hours ago, steeleagle said:

I can agree we need to see 2 things:

1. Improvement in hitting especially as the season progresses for our young players. 
2. By end of year a team that now compete w better teams and get into NCAAs. 
 

and if this happens then next year HAS to be then a team that can win the SEC and go far into the playoffs. 
 

if this doesn’t happen then Deans future is in doubt as coach. We would have given him 5 years to make us highly competitive. 

100% agree. We’ve gotta be able to compete by the end of this season and have a really good year next year for his seat not to be burning hot.

[steeleagle 2,945]

1 hour ago, slot canyon said:

Another point regarding the game was that a dropped pop fly by our catcher would have represented the 3rd out in the 5th inning prior to the 3 run home run.  When that happened I had a bad feeling.  Those plays can be difficult for a catcher.

Ouch. If that truly happened, then that is an omen of bad things to come. In any sport I have watched it is amazing that when your team didn't secure an out, make that play, then something bad is about to happen...