Auburn Wins First Fall Ball Game

[OlderWhiskey 953]

7-1 in an 8-inning game with Wallace State.  Lowe pitched 5 and Dismukes finished.  Tigers had 16 hits, including two dingers by Godwin, an ITP by Packer, and doubles by Majors, McCondichie, Cooper, and McNemar.

[AU1947 157]

32 minutes ago, OlderWhiskey said:

7-1 in an 8-inning game with Wallace State.  Lowe pitched 5 and Dismukes finished.  Tigers had 16 hits, including two dingers by Godwin, an ITP by Packer, and doubles by Majors, McCondichie, Cooper, and McNemar.

Not bad playing a JUCO with sub-par mid level talent.... Auburn should have dealt them an old fashioned wood shed beating... we still can't hit!!!

[OlderWhiskey 953]

Lineup for the second game vs. Andrews.

 

[OlderWhiskey 953]

Our girls win the second game 19-0 with 20 hits, including homers from Ellis and Blaine.  Penta and Yarbrough gave up 2 hits.

[tigerman1186 537]

Can we save some of those runs and hits when we go against bama???

[RHN1975 302]

3 hours ago, AU1947 said:

Not bad playing a JUCO with sub-par mid level talent.... Auburn should have dealt them an old fashioned wood shed beating... we still can't hit!!!  

Hit decent. Wallace has some pretty good arms in the circle. Either Wallace is going to have a hell of a defense or AU has to pick it up on the base paths. Had a couple caught stealing. Two thrown out at third and another at the plate. These weren’t close. 

It was tough for me. First time ever in Auburn and actually cheering against them. I can tell you a lot more about how this AU team stacks up after WS plays Miss St, JSU, Samford, and Bama.

[slot canyon 1,328]

10 hours ago, RHN1975 said:

Hit decent. Wallace has some pretty good arms in the circle. Either Wallace is going to have a hell of a defense or AU has to pick it up on the base paths. Had a couple caught stealing. Two thrown out at third and another at the plate. These weren’t close. 

It was tough for me. First time ever in Auburn and actually cheering against them. I can tell you a lot more about how this AU team stacks up after WS plays Miss St, JSU, Samford, and Bama.

Wallace State appears to be a well coached team and good fan following.  I agree, I thought their pitchers did a good job.  Also agree regarding some of the attempted steals which has been an area of contention for many AU fans.  I believe it was in 1st inning McCondichie got on base with a double (line drive through middle infield) and later she was easily thrown out on attempted steal at 3rd.  I believe later he sent a runner from 3rd to home on an infield grounder and clearly thrown out.  It was not a situation where she had to advance.   I will mention here that Abbey Smith showed she may be a threat on the base paths.  In the second game she beat out a bunt to get on 1st, stole 2nd and then stole 3rd.  RHN1975 it appears you have some interesting games this fall......should keep you busy..good luck.

[slot canyon 1,328]

I will attempt to reconstruct from memory and notes players who played infield positions.  I will begin by saying that I feel like we have 3 capable catchers.  My wife commented that she liked the way Lisenby seemed to “take charge”.  Godwin of course has lots of experience and Blaine seemed very comfortable.  She has been a long time favorite of mine ever since she committed …military family, good basketball player and an animal in the weight room. You have to love what she says is her favorite quote: “If you aren’t prepared to put the team first, turn around.”  Moving to first base I know Majors and Ellis played there and I believe EngelKes.  At second of course Cox played efficiently and had a couple of good “knockdowns” where she went to the ground for the ball.  One stopped the ball from going into CF but not able to make throw and the other she went to her knees and made the out on throw to 1^st.  Roach also played at 2^nd and made a good back hand stop moving to her right and made the throw to get the runner.  At SS I know that Peralta, Garcia, and Roach played.  Garcia had the only fielding error of the day on a ground ball she was charging.  Peralta is likely a strong contender for one of the infield positions.  Third base was Garcia, McNemar and Peralta.  I am sure there were some positions played by individuals that I missed/forgot. 

Some other plays that caught my attention.  Riley McNemar had an at bat where she fouled off about 5 pitches and then hit a double down left field line.  Reena Falisi (soph) is listed at 5’ and is towered over by 5’3’’ Sydney Cox.  (Carlee Wallace was listed at 5’2”) She plays outfield and I believe she was in LF for some part of the game.  She is a slapper and hit a soft slap to left infield and showed great hustle beating the throw to first base.  She was born in Russia and is adopted so interesting story.   In the outfield,  with runners on 1^st and 2^nd, a fly ball was hit left CF.  Packer ran to her right, caught the ball and threw to 2^nd base to force the runner attempting to return.  I believe Cox had come over to cover. 

That’s my limit for now.

[RHN1975 302]

I think your defensive assessment is dead on. I was impressed by the fact they played really well together even though they had not been on the field this fall. I think there will definitely be some improvement by the end of the fall and next season there should definitely be a better product on the field. 

 

I was also impressed by the support. Wallace had a good crowd come down but there were AU fans there for all three games. I think a lot of us are excited to get things going. 

 

My only negative was the base running which I mentioned previously. Maybe he was taking more chances to see what he has on the bases this year. Well also Coach Dean's choice of headwear. That hat is a cross between something Crocodile Dundee and Ronny Van Zant would wear. 

Edited September 28, 2021 by RHN1975

[slot canyon 1,328]

RHN1975 said: "My only negative was the base running which I mentioned previously"

Dean has always stated that he likes to be aggressive on the bases.  We had the 3rd most attempted steals in the conference last year but the lowest team batting average.  I don't know if he was trying to compensate for the poor hitting by attempted steals and aggressive base running in order to manufacture runs.  Something I forget to mention in my earlier post was when Packer hit her drive down the RF line.  My wife and I were sitting behind home and as soon as I saw the ball was going to go to the wall and knowing Packers speed it was clear that it would be at least a triple.  When she reached 2nd, CMD was already giving the signal to go home which she made easily.  You don't get to see that very often so it is fun when it happens with your team.  

[Jad0003 404]

16 hours ago, slot canyon said:

RHN1975 said: "My only negative was the base running which I mentioned previously"

Dean has always stated that he likes to be aggressive on the bases.  We had the 3rd most attempted steals in the conference last year but the lowest team batting average.  I don't know if he was trying to compensate for the poor hitting by attempted steals and aggressive base running in order to manufacture runs.

I don’t mind being aggressive on the base paths, but I also think Dean has been a little too aggressive at times to over compensate for the lack of run production. It is frustrating when we are thrown out on a steal with two outs. I’d prefer us try to hit the ball and move runners most of the time. 

Packer, Smith, and Geraghty are the only players we have with enough speed to steal against good catchers. There are a few other players who can steal against not as good catchers. Otherwise, I would prefer not see us steal us there is a passed ball.