Jad0003

We’ll see how they respond today. This Missouri team is not the same one we swept last year. I’ve been a little bit of a Dean apologist, but I’ve always thought this season was the one to truly assess the trajectory of the program. There are rumors Dean plans to retire, and I’m not sure what that means for the other coaches. I’ll wait and see what happens with the season and the staff’s coaching plans before I start sharing my thoughts.

I expect this weekend to tell us a lot about this year’s team and how we will perform in the SEC and postseason.

Virginia Tech beat Georgia last night. Wichita State also beat Arkansas last night. Should be good for our RPI.

I like this lineup the more I look at it. The only changed I’d make is move Peralta 2nd and Wohlers to 3rd to break up the lefty bats in the lineup. I’m not sure if Smith isn’t getting on base at a high enough percentage to be in the lineup or if Dean wants Roberts or Clemmons for power bats, but we need to figure out ways to manufacture more runs.

We struggled to get a timely hit against Utah, but I’ve liked our approach at the plate in Puerto Vallarta. The team has been more patient, resulting in more walks and a higher OBP%, but they’ll need to more aggressive when there are runners on base in order to score more runs. I’d like to see this order for the Clemson game: 1. Peralta (SS) 2. McCrary (LF) 3. Wohlers (3B) 4. Lech (1B) 5. Tresvik (RF) 6. Elkins (C) 7. Roberts / Clemmons / Smith (DP) 8. Packer (CF) 9. Roach (2B)

It’s going to be a long year if we continue to strikeout at this rate.

I’ll give a projected lineup a shot. I have not added Stroud or Mariah Penta as options since they were injured in the Fall. 1. Smith (RF): She hit over 0.400 in the FGCL this summer and performed well this fall. It would greatly benefit the team’s run production if she can carry this success into season, especially with her speed on the base paths. 2. Packer (CF): She hit .350 with 10 HRs before she got hurt her sophomore year, and she seems to finally be healthy again. Smith and Packer’s speed on the base path at the same time would be a nightmare for opponents. 3. Peralta (SS): She hit over .350 before her hand injury last year, and she can move into a run producer role rather than leading off for the team. 4. Lech (1B): She hit 16 HRs for Maryland last year with a 0.286 average. Hopeful she can improve her average, but she has the power for the 4 spot. 5. Wohlers (3B): She hit 0.364 with 12 HRs in 2023 at DePaul. I’m not sure if she will carry those numbers into the SEC, but she is a solid left-handed bat in the middle of the lineup. She might catch some too if Lisenby needs a break. 6. Tresvik (RF): She showed power with 10 HRs in 2023, and I am hopeful she can improve her average in 2024 and build on her All-SEC Tournament Team performance in 2023. There are other options if she is not fully healthy headed in 2024 as mentioned by Dean in some interviews. 7. TBD (DP): I think there a lot of options with McCrary, Widra, Roberts, Martin, Milanowski, Clemmons, and McNemar. All these players will get shots at other places in the field if someone does not perform. 8. Lisenby (C): She hit between .230 - .250 in her first two years, and I am hopeful she can raise her average. She manages our staff really well behind the plate regardless of her average. 9. Roach (2B): She performed really well at the end of the year and earned All-SEC Tournament Team. Hopeful she can build on this success.

No, neither revealed their sources, but both said they were close to the program. The main point of disagreement centered around whether or not he was on the hot seat. One poster thinks is on the hot seat, and the other poster claimed it didn’t matter because he was retiring within the next year or two. I tend to lean towards the latter at this point. The list of candidates was similar to the ones mentioned above.

Lots of discussion on Robocoach about Dean’s retirement at the end of this year or next year. His contract runs through the end of 2026 season, so it’ll be interesting to see if he decides to retire early. I think the job will be more attractive than it was in 2017 because the overall timing of the change and the perception around the required “clean up” following the Myers’ scandal.

I used to think Kenny would be a great option, but the Maxwell transfer changed my perception of him. He’s also made questionable assistant coaching decisions recently, so I’m interested to see how they do this year. Deifel at Arkansas or Lombardi at Oregon would be my first calls. D’Amour would be high on my list too, but I’d want to understand his role on the Missouri staff when the head coach was fired for abuse. From the non-power 5, I’d look at Glasco at Louisiana or Ball-Malone at UCF. If you go after an assistant, Malveaux from Tennessee or one of the Gasso brothers would be my top choices.

Where do you see Widra fit in when not pitching? Based on the articles released following Fall Ball, she performed well at the plate.

Northern Iowa has us their schedule, so I think Longwood tagged Northern Illinois instead of Northern Iowa.

Auburn to play UAB on February 28 and April 10 according to UAB’s schedule.

Auburn will have two games against Georgia Tech and two games against Louisiana Tech the weekend of April 5 - 7. It is our off weekend in the SEC.

The weekend of March 1 - 3 Northwestern, North Texas, and USC Upstate will come to Auburn according to USC Upstate’s 2024 schedule. We will play two games against USC Upstate (Friday and Sunday) but no other games confirmed against the others Northwestern lost 4 group of seniors who made it to Supers in 2023 and the WCWS in 2022, including their best pitcher and two top hitters. North Texas beat Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech last year.

I think I remembering reading somewhere Tresvik has a shoulder issue. She showed a lot of power and consistency at the plate towards the end of the season, so I imagine Dean will want to preserve her bat with the Widra, Rolfe, Clemmons, and Tamborra showing promise in the circle. I’d imagine we’ll see Smith, Packer, and Tresvik in the outfield with McCrary subbing in and out depending on Tresvik’s health. Peralta seems to be the only lock in the infield at this time, so I’m interested to see who wins out at the other spots. Roach performed really towards the end of the season, and Widra also performed really well this fall. I can’t imagine we signed Lech and Wohlers to sit either. Im excited to see what happens in February.

EIS went back to ties, but here are our 3 recruits for 2024:

I could not find her on the EIS rankings list. She seems to be a prospect who improved significantly over the past year. She played for the 18U Tampa Mustangs - Rene this past summer as a sophomore. The team placed well at some big time tournaments, and she seems to be one of, if not the, primary pitcher. For high school, the only thing I could find was she beat 2024 UGA pitching commit Ella Trout in 10 innings 1-0 with 17 strikeouts. Trout visited Auburn before committing to UGA last year. One area where I trust Dean is identifying pitchers and getting the most out of them. The only other 2025 pitching prospect I see him following is Sage Soares, a LHP from the Northeast.

Picked up pitcher Charley Butler out of Tampa, Florida.

I’m happy to see Bri doing so well. I’d feel a lot more comfortable if we still had her in our lineup, especially with another bat like Lech or Wohlers to protect her. We will definitely need a few players to take a step forward this year. It was great to see Packer hitting homeruns again in the first Fall Games. I forget she was a .360 hitter before her abdominal injury in her sophomore campaign. Hopefully we can find some consistency at the plate this year.

Oh definitely! The 2025 rankings were a bit of a mess this year because there was a sorting error. They also opted to do a true Top 100 rather than tie 5 people for each ranking. This change coupled with the error left many high ranking players off the list. As a result, they were forced to do a second with ties, but they did not adjust the original list, only added players to the list, which still left players off the list. We lose a lot of pitching after the 2024 season and lose a lot of players after the 2025 season. Assuming no transfers, the next two recruiting classes, plus the current sophomore and freshman, should provide a solid lineup. Hopefully Rolfe, Tamborra, Clemmons and Godfrey (2024) develop well, and we can pick up a good pitcher in the 2025 class. Based on the past two years, I hope to see the coaches continue to search for good players out of the transfer portal, like Lech, Wohlers, and Tresvik, who perform well but aren’t transferring from powerhouse softball schools. Widra is the exception as she was a highly rated player transferring from a well known softball school.

Picked up another commit, Melania Luostari, from Wisconsin. She moved up to play for the 18U Beverly Bandits - Conroy team and is a power hitting corner infielder. I couldn’t find her in the EIS rankings, but she made the EIS 2023 16U All Summer team (summary below).

Delaney Aumua also committed to Auburn yesterday. I think she might be the first high school recruit from California during Dean’s tenure.

Abbie Sars committed yesterday. Based on her name, I’d assume she is the daughter of the coach for Carolina Cardinals - Sars. She is also the teammate of 2025 Auburn commit, Julia Morici.

Three players left the team since school started, four players transferred after last season, and one former player blasted the coaches over the summer. I’m not well informed of the inner workings of the team or coaches, but it does not look good from the outside.