slot canyon

Seems the spring games are very informal with no official starting lineup or scoring. Just opportunity to play some outside competition.

What can you say.......PENTA, PENTA, PENTA! Thought Blaine did good job behind the plate in later innings after Godwin got dinged. Good catch at the fence by Packer. Interesting we are working in some other players in these games.

On the bunt by Peralta, I don't know how deep the corners were playing but it would need to be near perfect placement for her to beat the throw. It would be a surprise but very little margin for error. You never know when a couple of misplayed balls will lose the game for you. It appears to me that Shelby is not able to get movement on her pitches which had made her so effective in the past. Really feel for her. Penta was very good as her usual but without more help from her offense, you could sense the eventual outcome when we got into extra innings. I suspect the Gator speed on the bases is going to be a continued issue for us going forward. They are 12-14 SB in SEC play and 64-68 for the season.

Ken Brooke, the volunteer assistant, is part of the input for hitting. You can read his bio on the coaching staff area also. Just looking at HR's, Unlikely we make it to last years 86 total. Interestingly, I looked at the current SEC numbers today and our batting average was 7th but we were #2 in HR's with 45 but well behind Georgia's 61. Florida and Georgia lead the conference BA both at .338 compared to AU at .299.

Agree, at least two occasions we did not run with effort on infield ground ball. Also, Bryant should know better ; way to obvious. I expect to see some combination of Lowe/Penta tomorrow. Seems that Widra now being used exclusively as a pitcher which makes me think Lowe may be very limited.

good pickup......I totally missed it. Likewise, I always liked Whitney and the way she transitioned from outfield to shortstop when she was called on to fill the position.

OlderWhiskey asked... "Fun game to watch, wondering if Slot made it to the game". Did not attend the game this year but did attend the last one in 2016. Because of that experience I know it would be "overflow" as the Samford staff and students have priority on the seating and no reserved seating with the price of admission (I think $10). In any event, wife and I decided to settle for home comfort rather than lug around chairs/blankets. Noticed quite a crowd behind the outfield fence which had been covered by tarp in 2016. In 2016 AU won 18-1 and Rachael Walters pitched no hitter I believe. The Samford run was unearned. Samford used 4 pitchers. Cooper had a HR and Rhodes had bases loaded HR. Whitney Jordan had what I call a Victoria Draper style catch with associated dislodged sunglasses. Might enjoy this historical view and the memories of some recent past players.

Play Wednesday, 3/29 at Samford 6 PM. TV ESPN+. Their record is 14 - 18. Many of the losses by less than 3 runs except for 2 game losses to Georgia by 8 and 9 runs. In February, they lost to both UAB and Alabama by a score of 2 - 3. They defeated Ole Miss 3 - 0 in Oxford. The new HC at Samford, Kimball Cassady, played college softball at AU 1998 - 2001. Played 3rd base. She had successful coaching career at Birmingham Southern prior to arriving at Samford July of 2021. Brought her pitching coach with her (Gillespie). They have shown tremendous improvement since her arrival. Their website shows tickets available but they have very limited seating and seating first come type deal; otherwise standing or "lawn seating". Their top pitcher (Newcomb) has pitched almost 3 times the innings of the next most used pitcher. Her ERA 1.57 and was SoCon pitcher of the week this past week. Appears to have the potential to be a very competitive game. link to article about Coach Cassady: https://cahabasun.com/sports/samford-hires-cassady-to-lead-softball-program/

Missouri appears to have good fielding which shows up in the SEC team stats; currently #2 in that category. Ironic that a throwing error was their downfall in game two. Their player at 1st base made a good play off the AU dugout and made the play at home plate a close one. I would like AU to clean up their fielding play as we rank in the bottom half and have problems with throws across the infield.

Well, we get to say that we made it to Oklahoma City.........just don't mention that it was in March.

Oklahoma defeated Northwestern 2 - 1 last night. I thought they would have been more dominant. They run ruled Weber State.

Our game #2 vs South Alabama promises to be a challenge also. Their "#2" pitcher, Olivia Lackie, has ERA 1.92 and won-loss 6 -3. Better strike out % than Hardy with 70 SO facing 187 AB. She has surrendered only 13 BB and opponents have only been able to tag her for just 2 HR.

I have decided to upgrade my opinion about the team. We had a good record and good stats (fielding could use some improvement but appears to recently improved) but I felt the level our opposition was not adequate enough to get my hopes up that we might really be a good team. The Troy game has shifted my thinking in that direction. Troy has a couple of good, tested pitchers. Johnson has ERA 1.08 and Cato 2.66. They recently played FSU and lost 1-2 at FSU. They had something like a 9 - 5 record. Our pitching (Penta especially has been amazing) held them to 1 hit and 1 walk while recording 13 SO while we recorded 9 hits, 3 walks and struck out 5 times. Of course a number of our hits were for extra bases and included a 3 run HR. I feel we should do well in the Jane B Moore Memorial beginning this Friday. I see the 2 games against South Alabama as the most challenging. They are 9-6 but have played Northwestern and two games vs Mississippi state. Scores would indicate they were competitive games. The week after that the rubber hits the road with a game vs Georgia Tech and then beginning of conference play vs Georgia. I will re-evaluate my confidence meter after that and see how I am feeling prior to our departure out to Oklahoma.

Preview from the Troy athletic site. We will have our hands full. Game on ESPN+. https://troytrojans.com/news/2023/2/28/softball-hosts-no-19-auburn-wednesday-night.aspx

The suicide squeeze bunt by Tresvik in the bottom of 3rd that scored Garcia was a thing of beauty. Squeeze Bunt (Suicide Squeeze) One of our favorite plays is the squeeze bunt, or suicide squeeze. This play is a good option when the team has a fast runner on third base and a good bunter at the plate. Some of our best bunters have also been power hitters, and the defense is usually caught off guard when a power hitter executes a squeeze bunt. Running a squeeze play certainly involves an element of risk, because the runner on third is heading home on the pitch; the batter must get the bunt down or foul it off in order to avoid forcing the runner at third into an easy out. A coach has to be willing to take that risk, and knowing the team and their ability to execute the play will minimize the risk. Technique The suicide squeeze technique is the same as that for a sacrifice bunt. The only difference is that the batter may need to wait a little longer to show bunt in order to deceive the infield defense. However, the batter must not wait so long that she is unable to get the barrel on the ball and get the bunt down. Timing is critical on this play. Batters will need a lot of practice to get the timing perfected to where they have confidence in their ability to successfully execute the squeeze bunt. Remember, the batter does not have the option of bunting or not bunting the ball as she does in a sacrifice situation. She must attempt to bunt the ball no matter where the pitch is located. Even if the pitch is over her head or rolling on the ground, she must at least foul it off. The runner is leaving third without hesitation when the pitch is released and will run into a catcher's tag if the batter doesn't make contact with the ball.

Games now listed as TV on SECN+. At 3 PM North Dakota State with record 4 - 6. I give 'em credit for their schedule which includes losses to Oregon, Ole Miss and Tennessee. The 5:30 game is vs Merrimack.

Won – Loss records of teams we have played to date: St Johns 1-8 Fordham 2-7 Pittsburg 6-3 Indiana 3-6 Illinois 5-4 Austin Peay 3-6 Villanova 4-6 Dayton 5-5 UAB 7-5 Total 36-50 Currently in the SEC rankings, LSU and Florida are the leaders with AU at #3. Batting: Florida, Auburn, TAM Pitching: AU, TAM, Tenn. Fielding: Florida, Ole Miss, TAM (AU #11) Florida seems often rank high in this area but an area of weakness for AU. Thought it was interesting that Tresvik has 16 at bats with 4 HR. 25% not bad.

I believe you are thinking of Jimmy Kolantis who was an assistant coach at Oregon for 5 years prior to leaving to take the head coach job at UAB and stayed 2 years prior to departing for Arizona State July 2020. I believe he was highly regarded as a potential HC at AU when Myers departed.

I took a glance at their schedule. They play a 3 game series with the Florida Gators and later with Arkansas. They also play a home and home series with Alabama. Their new coach was very successful in 6 seasons at Wallace State.

Based on the first game, we may have expected to run rule Austin Peay but the starting pitcher (Benefiel) had not pitched in the first game. She is by far their #1 with ERA 2.9 compared to first game pitchers Miener at 11.16 and Martin at 5.48. This season, Benefiel has pitched 3X the innings of the next most active pitcher. I thought she was fairly effective and their hitters did a good job of making contact. Maybe not Pentas best stuff but mama said there would be days like this. Looking at the brief game review on the AU Softball site I believe the Blaine "HR" actually went over/behind the glove of the outfielder, hit in the crack and angled off sharply to her left. Very good all out effort by Blaine. Looking at a couple of plays at 1st base (tried to freeze the action), they were very close, and we may have been fortunate to get the call. Not saying they were wrong, but to me they could have gone either way. The 1st base coach did not appear to disagree with the call.

Widra is able to be in the batting order in many ways; when she pitches, playing infield, as DP or even as sub. I would say our main options as DP have been Blaine, Goodwin and Widra. You could have all three in the game for hitting with Widra (P), Goodwin (C) and Blaine (DP). Also, we have had fielding issues at 3rd base (Bryant and Roach have been snake bit). Cox has better fielding numbers but less of a hitter than Widra who can also play 3rd. I feel Widra will help us in the circle but we know who the #1 and # 2 are at this point.

I believe rule was changed late last year: "11.2.5 Legal Position in the Batter’s Box: At the moment of bat-ball contact, the batter may not contact the pitch when any part of her body is touching the ground outside the lines of the batter’s box. EFFECT – Delayed dead ball is signaled. The coach of the defensive team shall choose either the result of the play or the standard effect for illegal contact, which is a strike on the batter and all base runners must return to the base legally occupied at the time of the pitch. If it is the third strike, the batter is declared out. I believe this happened in one of our earlier games with McCondichie and she was safe at 1st but had stepped on the batter box line and was called back to plate with a strike. I like this better than the severity of the older rule.

https://auburnwire.usatoday.com/lists/auburn-softball-tv-channel-tiger-invitational-preview-dayton-villanova-austin-peay-mickey-dean/

This seems to be a generous article by Phillip Marshall at this point in the season. I hope coach is correct. The teams we played this weekend came out of the tournament with the following records. 2022 all game win % in parentheses. St Johns 1 - 3 (.255) Fordham 1 - 4 (.577) Pittsburg 3 - 1 (lost to Indiana) (.341) Indiana 3 - 1 (.551) Illinois 2 - 3 (.607)

In terms of new players, Widra and McCrary have impressed me. Being transfers, they arrived with college softball experience. Both are very versatile.