Softball vs Arkansas

[blakem 296]

Pathetic 

[Jad0003 405]

I was a big fan of the Dean hire. I understand he inherited a tough situation - both from a team chemistry and talent level standpoint. He has recruited well, and we have two more top classes coming into the program. 

With that being said, there needs to be some personnel changes on the field after this series and there needs to be some staff changes after this year. If I am Dean, I am getting my young players as many reps in SEC play as possible to start building. Our fifth year players have not shown any consistency or promise this year, while the top team’s fifth year seniors are performing very well. Cox, Dowell, and King would be the only guarantees in the lineup at this point. I’d figure out who is hitting the best and figure out where they can play in the field afterwards. Lowe, Penta, Yarbrough, and Dismukes will figure out the rest for the circle. 

I know Dean and Lenti are friends, but I’d go out and hire a new hitting coach after this year. The defense has looked impressive at times early in the season, but they have made more mistakes as of recently with people shuffling in and out. Hopefully Carasone can figure out the fielding with a consistent lineup. 

I am hopeful Dean will get us on the right track next year and the year after, but if they are still struggling at the end of that year, his time should be up.

[blakem 296]

He did not inherit a lack a talent. Myers had great recruiting classes coming in but they all left. Other players knew what was coming and transferred out.  Examples: Kelley Lynch, Livy Schiele, Taylon Snow, Chardonnay Harris, Carmyn Greenwood, KK Crocker, Jenna Olzewski, etc.

[blakem 296]

I will say he was left in a bad place team chemistry wise but the talent was there and coming.

[tigers23 648]

Dean has to go

[Jad0003 405]

17 hours ago, blakem said:

He did not inherit a lack a talent. Myers had great recruiting classes coming in but they all left. Other players knew what was coming and transferred out.  Examples: Kelley Lynch, Livy Schiele, Taylon Snow, Chardonnay Harris, Carmyn Greenwood, KK Crocker, Jenna Olzewski, etc.

This is laughable at best. Dean did not inherit the same level of talent Clint did.

Myers inherited Carasone, Estell, Melero, and Howard who were all .300+ hitters before Myers. Rhodes had a rough freshman season then steadily improved under Myers, especially power numbers. I’ll give him her improvement. 

Cooper was recruited by Deese, but we will never know what she would have been without Myers. She did  have her own struggles her senior year though.

Myers convinced Wallace to change her verbal to Auburn from Arizona State, but she decided to transfer before any of the scandal came to light. 

Shea was committed to Missouri then changed to Auburn once Myers was hired due to her dad’s connections with Corey at the Thunderbolts.

Both Shea, Veach, and McCrackin had their best years under Dean. I imagine Veach probably worked with Myers after he left due to family friendships.

To compare any of the players above to your list is hilarious. Taylon and Greenwood are the only players on your list who are hitting above .300. They are doing so against worse competition than what Auburn is currently facing. Lynch has good power numbers, but her average is below .300 against below average competition. She would 4th on our team in ERA too - again, against below average competition. Schiele does not start at Washington. Crocker and Olzewski are both sub .300 hitters against UAB competition, plus are being coached by Woodard who was on staff at Auburn. Harris is taking the year off, but she had 4.00 ERA last year without Dean.

Out of the players, listed I would gladly take Taylon, Greenwood, and Lynch, but it’s not like they are lighting it up against great competition so far. 

[blakem 296]

3 minutes ago, Jad0003 said:

This is laughable at best. Dean did not inherit the same level of talent Clint did.

Myers inherited Carasone, Estell, Melero, and Howard who were all .300+ hitters before Myers. Rhodes had a rough freshman season then steadily improved under Myers, especially power numbers. I’ll give him her improvement. 

Cooper was recruited by Deese, but we will never know what she would have been without Myers. She did  have her own struggles her senior year though, which Myers was not able to correct.

Myers convinced Wallace to change her verbal to Auburn from Arizona State, but she decided to transfer before any of the scandal came to light. 

Shea was committed to Missouri then changed to Auburn once Myers was hired due to her dad’s connections with Corey at the Thunderbolts.

To compare any of the players above to your list is hilarious. Taylon and Greenwood are the only players on your list who are hitting above .300. They are doing so against worse competition than what Auburn is currently facing. Lynch has good power numbers, but her average is below .300 against below average competition. She would 4th on our team in ERA too - again, against below average competition. Schiele does not start at Washington. Crocker and Olzewski are both sub .300 hitters against UAB competition, plus are being coached by Woodard who was on staff at Auburn. Harris is taking the year off, but she had 4.00 ERA last year without Dean.

Out of the players, listed I would gladly take Taylon, Greenwood, and Lynch, but it’s not like they are lighting it up against great competition so far. 

I would take the majority of those players over what we have now. I also wouldn’t call the PAC-12 lesser competition.

[Jad0003 405]

3 minutes ago, blakem said:

I would take the majority of those players over what we have now. I also wouldn’t call the PAC-12 lesser competition.

Washington played an easy pre-season schedule, and they relied on Gabby Plain in the circle to get them through it. 

The biggest difference I’ve seen between Dean and Myers is Myers hardly ever allowed teams to take advantage of mistakes, especially in the field. Auburn hit .277 in 2017, so the team was already taking a step back. 

I don’t think Myers was a bad recruiter, but recruiting evolved during Myers tenure. Myers only brought one or two verbals from Arizona State, and on top of that, coaches were getting verbals from 6th graders and 7th graders. Myers did not have time to really recruit before he “retired.” Dean has done well with the changes in the recruiting rules and has continued success on the trail. He has lost a few difference makers, but it is bound to happen during a coaching change. 

[blakem 296]

10 minutes ago, Jad0003 said:

Washington played an easy pre-season schedule, and they relied on Gabby Plain in the circle to get them through it. 

The biggest difference I’ve seen between Dean and Myers is Myers hardly ever allowed teams to take advantage of mistakes, especially in the field. Auburn hit .277 in 2017, so the team was already taking a step back. 

I don’t think Myers was a bad recruiter, but recruiting evolved during Myers tenure. Myers only brought one or two verbals from Arizona State, and on top of that, coaches were getting verbals from 6th graders and 7th graders. Myers did not have time to really recruit before he “retired.” Dean has done well with the changes in the recruiting rules and has continued success on the trail. He has lost a few difference makers, but it is bound to happen during a coaching change. 

Myers began to work on those earlier verbals. We had verbals from Aubrey Barnhart, Sarah Willis, and Macy Simmons. All are now going to or are currently at top 15 schools. Aubrey stuck with her commitment for a little while but then decided to commit to Alabama. Dean had a top 5 commit in 2022 that decomitted because of us struggling and the in and out of coaches and players.

[Jad0003 405]

7 minutes ago, blakem said:

Myers began to work on those earlier verbals. We had verbals from Aubrey Barnhart, Sarah Willis, and Macy Simmons. All are now going to or are currently at top 15 schools. Aubrey stuck with her commitment for a little while but then decided to commit to Alabama. Dean had a top 5 commit in 2022 that decomitted because of us struggling and the in and out of coaches and players.

Sarah Willis decommitted while Myers was still coaching at Auburn. Simmons decommitted during rumblings of the Myers saga. Barnhart initially stuck with her commitment, but after the rule change around communication, she did de-commit. I guess the 2022 recruit you are referring to is Taylor Pannell. She decommitted after the communication changes. Pannell was the only recruit who committed to Dean who has decommitted at this time. We have also benefitted from this rule change with a few commits of our own.

Again, I never said Myers was a bad recruiter. He never got to coach the good players he recruited. He filled a few recruiting classes with the Bolts teams Corey coached - Veach, Podany, Fornis, Swindle, Perry, Crocker, Greenwood, and Olzewski, plus others who left the team. We are still suffering from this stop gap to fill spots with the 5th year of eligibility.

Myers was a great coach. He had good recruits coming to Auburn. He also “retired” at a time when his program might have struggled. We will never know though. He seems to be a better in-game coach than Dean. Again, he never let his team’s mistakes snowball into a bad situation, which is something we’ve seen a lot this year. 

[wde2021 16]

"I thought our approach at the plate was much better through the first five innings," said head coach Mickey Dean. 

Are you serious? After that horrible series and final game this is what he has to say about the hitting. The approach at the plate was bad all weekend with no adjustments being made. If he thinks Sunday was an improvement, well, it's going to be a long rest of the season. 

[Hspoprn 199]

Game preparation and performance is always the responsibility of the coaches. Great coaches accept that responsibility and own it.

 

[steeleagle 2,945]

1 hour ago, wde2021 said:

"I thought our approach at the plate was much better through the first five innings," said head coach Mickey Dean. 

Are you serious? After that horrible series and final game this is what he has to say about the hitting. The approach at the plate was bad all weekend with no adjustments being made. If he thinks Sunday was an improvement, well, it's going to be a long rest of the season. 

This is typical coach speak, when a team is not performing, and getting positive results. Kind of like "We had a solid year" type of comment. 

Even with a new hitting coach, and new players, it is disappointing, these ladies, can't squeeze base hits in these innings. I don't know their hitting philosophy, but when I watch highlights of other SEC teams, I see good at bats, where batters just try to meet the ball, when they are up against a powerful pitcher, and just try to scoot it up the middle or between infielders. I don't know what our hitting approach is. If others on here know it, or see it, please explain it to me. 

It just seems that we are getting shut out way too much, and just not getting even seeing eye hits. For a team that is not a power team, then why are these ladies not just single's hitters. Dean says we are young. We are now have had 3 SEC series, and in this one at home, our hitting was still very weak. 

[AU1947 157]

Saw where Coach Annie Smith that left Auburn was coaching 1st base for Arkansas. 

[EagleEye67 1,939]

On 4/1/2021 at 6:56 PM, AU1947 said:

I got to go to the game tonight and they looked dead. No life and no energy. Arkansas was quite the opposite though.  Very frustrating 😕 we had 1 hit until the bottom of 7!!!

I attended this game (first time this year I won the 'ticket lottery').   One of the quietest games Ive ever seen - team and stadium were in a coma...even Aubie looked bored.  Penta looked good until the 4th, then the wheels flew off.   We couldn't hit Haff at all (she's really good, though).   A rather gloomy time was had by all.

 

 

[EagleEye67 1,939]

I would think that Dean's seat should be getting a little warm by now.

[blakem 296]

2 minutes ago, EagleEye67 said:

I would think that Dean's seat should be getting a little warm by now.

I feel like warm would be an understatement. I’m thinking Alabama summer asphalt hot.

[steeleagle 2,945]

2 hours ago, blakem said:

I feel like warm would be an understatement. I’m thinking Alabama summer asphalt hot.

Should be, but what's probably going to happen is he knows or is going to know after the season that he needs to bring in a hitting coach that understands how to approach hitting within the SEC and these SEC pitchers.

His team's hitting avgs and production whether it's the players he is inheriting or the new ones he brought in, are not scoring runs. He's putting all the pressure on the pitchers, and this year it is 2 true freshman. That's a lot to put on them. 

I've have also heard Dean's in game strategy and managing has cost them scoring opportunities, but I haven't seen them so couldn't verify that...

[blakem 296]

36 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

Should be, but what's probably going to happen is he knows or is going to know after the season that he needs to bring in a hitting coach that understands how to approach hitting within the SEC and these SEC pitchers.

His team's hitting avgs and production whether it's the players he is inheriting or the new ones he brought in, are not scoring runs. He's putting all the pressure on the pitchers, and this year it is 2 true freshman. That's a lot to put on them. 

I've have also heard Dean's in game strategy and managing has cost them scoring opportunities, but I haven't seen them so couldn't verify that...

Yeah the hitting seems to be getting worse and worse. I don’t know much about his “strategy” other than I’ve never seen so many base runners thrown out in my life. We are so predictable on stealing and get thrown out a ton at the plate.

[Hspoprn 199]

When Dean arrived, I adopted a wait-and-see attitude towards him. No doubt he can coach pitchers.

There was a time when 1-0 games in D1 softball were kind of the norm. Not anymore. Yes, you need really good pitching, but you also need really good hitting these days (check out some top-rated SEC batting high-lights). Seems like base running speed has been replaced by the speed of the ball going over the fence.

Since he has recruited the pitching, maybe he will recruit some power hitters for next season. 

[OlderWhiskey 953]

Hitting .194 in conference games. Leader is Sydney Cox at .296; she's a player. Rivera is at .240, but Perry is .143. Veteran catcher Godwin is hitting .071 in conference games. We've scored 13 runs in 9 games, and 9 of those came against Missouri. 2 home runs in conference play. To be fair, we have played two of the best teams in the conference, and the road should be downhill. Kentucky won their series vs. Alabama, though.

[slot canyon 1,333]

11 hours ago, OlderWhiskey said:

Hitting .194 in conference games. Leader is Sydney Cox at .296; she's a player. Rivera is at .240, but Perry is .143. Veteran catcher Godwin is hitting .071 in conference games. We've scored 13 runs in 9 games, and 9 of those came against Missouri. 2 home runs in conference play. To be fair, we have played two of the best teams in the conference, and the road should be downhill. Kentucky won their series vs. Alabama, though.

Agree about Cox.  Have felt for some time that she has the best hitting form of our players (confession...I do not any background in playing or coaching softball).  She keeps her head down on the ball and has feet on ground when she swings.  We have players who literally jump at the ball when they swing and lose power from lack of ground contact.  

[saminbama 740]

 

12 hours ago, OlderWhiskey said:

To be fair, we have played two of the best teams in the conference, and the road should be downhill. Kentucky won their series vs. Alabama, though.

I watched 2 of the games in the UK vs UA series and UK is a very good team.  They have very good pitching and hitting.  They put a lot of pressure on your defense and that  doesn't work in our favor.  Before that series Kilfoyle was 10-0 and she lost 2 games against UK.  Baily Hemphill made a truly boneheaded play that cost UA the last game.  I was shocked at what she did.  Really unexpected from a senior that seems like she has been there for 15 years.  No, the schedule doesn't get easier with UK, UT and LSU.  TAMU's defense is suspect.  If we can put pressure on them, they will crack.  Maybe win 2 games.  Ole Miss is where we need to may hay.  In the 2 series with UT and LSU, it will be tough to win at least 1 game.  Those are 2 more very strong teams.  Seems the only strong team in the SEC we're not playing this year is Florida.  We gotta hit to have any chance against anyone.  1 run in 3 games is really disappointing.

[Jad0003 405]

16 hours ago, steeleagle said:

Should be, but what's probably going to happen is he knows or is going to know after the season that he needs to bring in a hitting coach that understands how to approach hitting within the SEC and these SEC pitchers.

His team's hitting avgs and production whether it's the players he is inheriting or the new ones he brought in, are not scoring runs. He's putting all the pressure on the pitchers, and this year it is 2 true freshman. That's a lot to put on them. 

I've have also heard Dean's in game strategy and managing has cost them scoring opportunities, but I haven't seen them so couldn't verify that...

I feel like if the hitting doesn’t approve by the end of the year, he will have no choice but to bring in another hitting coach. I don’t know much about Dean’s strategy either, but it is not working. I don’t mind stealing bases and forcing the other team to make the play, but as @blakem mentioned above, it’s predictable at this point. The bunt with no outs and a runner on first is also predictable. I know we aren’t the best hitting team, but I rather see a player go for the hit rather than a sac bunt, especially in early innings when the game is 0-0.

We have the pitching to compete against top teams. Both Lowe and Penta have shown they can be dominant if the defense can hold up. It seems once one mistake is made, either an error in the field or numerous bad at-bats, we start to unravel and things snowball out of control. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

1 hour ago, saminbama said:

 

I watched 2 of the games in the UK vs UA series and UK is a very good team.  They have very good pitching and hitting.  They put a lot of pressure on your defense and that  doesn't work in our favor.  Before that series Kilfoyle was 10-0 and she lost 2 games against UK.  Baily Hemphill made a truly boneheaded play that cost UA the last game.  I was shocked at what she did.  Really unexpected from a senior that seems like she has been there for 15 years.  No, the schedule doesn't get easier with UK, UT and LSU.  TAMU's defense is suspect.  If we can put pressure on them, they will crack.  Maybe win 2 games.  Ole Miss is where we need to may hay.  In the 2 series with UT and LSU, it will be tough to win at least 1 game.  Those are 2 more very strong teams.  Seems the only strong team in the SEC we're not playing this year is Florida.  We gotta hit to have any chance against anyone.  1 run in 3 games is really disappointing.

Tam has good hitters, and is up there in HRs too, but their defense and pitching is worse than ours, so we have a chance. Most of our hitters simply can't find ways to hit the better pitchers. I also noticed we are last in base on balls, which tells me we are swinging at in many cases not very good pitches. And being last in HRs and RBIs tells me that we don't have good at bats w RISP, which looks like not many games...

It's also putting more pressure on these ladies as they have not won a home game yet either...in the SEC.