OlderWhiskey

On 5/5/2024 at 10:21 AM, Mikey said:

Pat Dye, Bruce Pearl, Butch Thompson, Shug Jordan, Tommy Tuberville. I could go on and on. Every successful coach at AU could have gone elsewhere at some point in their career. They didn't.

Head basketball coach Joel Eaves left to become AD at Georgia, 1963 I believe.  I may be the only one old enough to remember that.  He supplanted the infamous Wally Butts, the subject (along with Bear Bryant) of a Saturday Evening Post article concerning the "fixing" of the 1962 Alabama-Georgia football game.

Couldn't find an article.  Does one need to be a subscriber, or has it been removed?

10 hours ago, Mikey said:

Point was I think Widra should have had more pitching opportunities, particularly in the early non-conference games. Having a trusted 3rd pitcher would have been great this last third of the season.

After reviewing the pitching stats, I think your point is well taken.  I didn't watch nearly all the games, and my impression of Widra's results was skewed.  She entered yesterday's game with an ERA of 3.59, compared to 1.82 for Penta and 2.59 for Lowe.  Her most impressive stat:  35 Ks and 3 walks, almost 12:1 ratio.  Way better than either Penta or Lowe.  My counterpoint was that she hadn't displayed pitching like yesterday until yesterday.  I still agree she should have had more innings.  Good talk. 

8 hours ago, Mikey said:

Widra, while not a power pitcher, appears to be very effective. She was recruited partly as a pitcher. Why did we wear Penta out. It was worse while Lowe was injured.

I'm probably misunderstanding your point, but today was far and away the best outing that Widra has had.  She has pretty much been the #3 pitcher the past two years, but hasn't produced a result like today previously.  Really glad her hair was on fire today. 

1 hour ago, TD1 said:

At one point in the game, they mentioned that we left 9 or 10 players on base. 

We wound up with 13 and Ole Miss with 14.  We did have 10 hits in this game.  Tresvik and McCrary had 6 of those. 

Widra with a 2-out, bases loaded single in top 4 to score two; then she and Elkins worked the double steal for a run.  Nice effort by the Tigers.  Lowe looked like the 2021 Lowe.

We upset LSU in Baton Rouge.  Scratched out 3 runs in 3d, 6th, and 7th with small ball.  Wohlers had a couple doubles.  Lowe gave up a 2-run HR to put LSU up 2-1, but we kept getting runners on base, and Milanowski beat out an infield hit to score the tying run.  Then LSU infield botched one to let us score the go-ahead in the 7th.  Lowe pitched 4 1/3, Widra 2/3, and Penta the last two.  Dean had inserted Milanowski at first after we got a 1-0 lead; I figured for defense, but she turned out to be important at the plate.  Fun to watch.  Happy for the girls to get that satisfying W.  Miss. St. run-ruled UT in Starkville.

Nice comeback win for the girls after shaky 1st inning by Penta.  Encouraging to see the continued development of the younger Penta.

Here are some other names I picked up from Ultimate College Softball; I don't even know who they all are.  Ashley Waters, Kristi Bredbenner, Clarissa Crowell (Penn St.), Kirin Kumar.  The betting favorite still seems to be D'Amour. 

This is an opportunity for Auburn softball to move forward again. We were glad to get Dean back in the fall of 2017 when Myers resigned. He had, at least, taken James Madison to a Super Regional. And to be fair, he has done a decent job recruiting. However, I've never had much regard for his softball acumen since his second SEC game, when he pitched to LSU's best hitter with their fastest player on second in bot 7 of a tied game, with first base open.

Arkansas is a little better than we are on paper.  They're hitting .308 as a team, with OPS of .903 and 29 homers (Ellis has 8).  Our comparable numbers are .275, .839, and 20.  Of course, they haven't batted against Maddie Penta yet.  They did, however, bat against Wishnowski of Northern Iowa in their last game.  She pitched a 7-inning game against us in their 4-2 win, gave up 6 hits.  Arkansas touched her for 7 hits and 7 runs in 2 innings.  Arky won 9-0 in 6.

We can beat Arkansas, but we need the kind of hitting we showed in the 3d game against Mizzou.  

Lech's second homer was waaay up the road.  Glad to see Abbey Smith get the start.  She went 2 for 3 and scored the first run.

Auburn leading Virginia 2-1 going to the 5th.  Myers on the hill for us.  We strung together some singles and walks to harvest a run in the 4th, sending their SP to the showers.  Had bases loaded with 2 out, but grounded into a force play.

Virginia tied it in the 5th.  Armstrong relieved Myers, now Herberholz has relieved him.  In top 6, Cavs have a runner on 2d with one out.

Virginia got another run in T6 and now lead 3-2 going to T7, as we did nothing in B6. 

It's now 4-3 the wrong way going to T8.  Bauman replacing Herberholz.  I have to go make dinner.  Go Tigers! 

 

Penta had a no-no, but faced 23 batters.  Earlier baserunner got on via a Peralta error.  11Ks for Penta, 10 for the UNI pitchers.  The pitcher who started today (Heyer) is not the pitcher from yesterday (Wishnowski).  Damn, they have some good pitching.  Auburn had two hits on the day (Tresvik and Packer).

Following through Sidearm Stats.  Click on the bar graph.

Going to top 6, still 1-0.  Tresvik, Wohlers, and Lech will be due up in our half.

McDermott came in to pitch for UNI.  She walked two, but struck out Packer and Peralta.  Going to top 7.  Smith playing left as of top 6.  3 outs needed.

Auburn leads UNI 1-0 going to bot 4 in the Sunday game.  Heyer pitching for UNI, Penta for us.  Each has 6 Ks.  In the 2d, Packer singled, stole second, took 3d on a PB, and scored on a bunt from Peralta. 

Had runners on 2d and 3d  with one out in bot 4, but Peralta struck out, and Penta popped out.

And Northern Iowa beat us today.  Bad 4th inning.  Peralta uses poor technique and allows a run in, Wohlers throws one away, Lech misjudges a pop fly at first.  6 hits for Auburn and 2 for UNI, but they win 4-2.  They looked better than us the whole game.

Well, we wanted tougher scheduling and we got it.  As Big Fat said above, it was a lot closer game than the score.  I was surprised that Roach didn't play.  She was the first sub in the infield all last year.  I also expected to see Smith, but maybe her bat isn't strong enough.  The batting outlook is gloomy, though.  Belmont got more hits than we did.  Consider that we lost Ellis, Garcia, and Denver Bryant, plus McCondichie.  I will be very surprised if we do as well as last year.

6 hours ago, Big Fat Barner said:

No word on a third team? Pretty strange that there are only two other teams coming for a tournament 

Not a tournament.  Each SEC team has an off week during the SEC season, during which they play out-of-conference opposition.  Last year we went to Oklahoma for the "Classic" with them, Northwestern, and Weber State, but it wasn't really a tournament.  Sometimes, a team may play SEC opposition on a non-conference basis.  In 2017, we had a game scheduled with UT in Columbia, TN (later cancelled by weather).  One year under Myers, we played a 3-game series vs. Longwood.

Just for accuracy's sake, James Madison took a game from LSU in the Harrisonburg Super Regional in 2016.

It may be that CMD regards Tresvik as an inked-in starter, and has played McCrary and Smith this fall  for evaluation purposes.  But surely Packer is a starter, so why wouldn't Tresvik share time with Packer in center?   

Well, I meant to put in the "Thanks" emoji, but I guess "Love" doesn't hurt anything.  It will be interesting to see what the starting lineup looks like in February, especially in the outfield.  One name that hasn't been mentioned much this fall is Icess Tresvik.  Packer is almost certainly the starter in center.  McCrary and Tresvik both showed some bat prowess during the 2023 season, but Smith had a great fall, and is a great fielder with burning speed.

Abby Smith had a really good fall.  Lisenby started one of the games today.  Lots of rotation among the position players.  I think Smith and McCrary might be the only players who started every game.  Happy we could win all 8 games, mostly by shutout, without using our top two pitchers.

Auburn gets a slower start in the 2d game.  Clemons with a 2-run double in the first, and it stays that way until the 5th, when we put up 4 behind Peralta's bases-clearing double.  In the 6th, Widra and Wohlers go yard to stoke a 7-run inning for the final margin of 13-0.  Widra and Elkins were the starting battery, with Clemons, McNemar, Roach and Milanowski  composing the infield.  The standard 3 in the outfield; Dean isn't messing with that much.

Softball played Coastal Alabama in the first game today, and led 25-1 going to top 5.  Homers from Packer, McNemar, Tamborra, Elkins, and Lech (slammer).  Bunch of doubles as well.  Scored 11 in the first and 10 in the 4th.  Rolfe and Wohlers were the battery, with Lech at first, Roach at 2d, Widra at third, Peralta at ss.   Smith, Packer, and McCrary in the outfield.  Pinch hitting going on, as Clemons and Roberts credited with doubles.

Second game vs. Enterprise St. starting about now.