Golden Eagle

For lack of a better place to put this, Kasey Cooper spoke to Auburn women athletes this week.  She will graduate from UAB med school this week spring and begin a residency in ophthalmology in Milwaukee this summer.  Have also read that Tiffany Howard will graduate from AU Vet school and Kaylee Carlson will graduate from AU Pharmacy school this spring.  Former softball stars continue to shine!

https://auburntigers.com/news/2023/3/23/auburnyou-auburn-softballs-kasey-cooper-mentors-at-wings-event.aspx

This Week in Auburn Softball - March 22

AUBURN, Ala. - Returning to Jane B. Moore Field for the first time in two weeks, No. 21 Auburn softball prepares to host Missouri for the first SEC series on the Plains. Head Coach Mickey Dean joins Brit Bowen to breakdown lessons learned during the Tigers' two-week road trip, progress of Shelby Lowe's return to form, scouting Missouri and more on This Week in Auburn Softball.

https://audioboom.com/posts/8268371-this-week-in-auburn-sb-week-7

(audio is 8 min, 15 sec)

The 3-game series will be played at Jane B Moore Field.  Schedule as follows:

Game 1:  Saturday, March 25 at 2:00 pm.  No indication yet whether Looks like it will be streamed on SEC+.

Game 2:  Saturday, March 25 at 6:00 pm.  Game will be streamed on SEC+

Game 2:  Sunday, March 26 at 5:00 pm.  Game will be broadcast on SEC network.

Game 3:  Monday, March 27 at 6:00 pm.  Game will be broadcast on SEC network.

Auburn is currently 22-9 overall and 1-2 in conference play.  Currently ranked #21 in USA Today/Coaches poll.

Missouri is currently 20-11 overall and 1-5 in conference play.  Currently unranked in USA Today/Coaches poll.

NOTE:  Saturday am:  Due to rain forecast for Sunday, what was Game 2 has been moved to Saturday at 2:00 pm.

Anna could do for AU Women's Golf what Suni did for AU gymnastics.  Really hope she comes to Auburn.  With her talent, the decision may not be an easy one...but experiencing college life (bonding with a school/place, making new friends, supporting other sports, etc), and hopefully earning a degree, is life-changing.  Plenty of time to spend on the pro tour after college.

14 hours ago, Jad0003 said:

I don’t see Cohen firing Dean with 3 years left on his current contract, but I hope Dean is willing to make the necessary changes if the hitting does not show any improvement by the end of the year. I’m not sure Dean will hire someone out of his comfort zone though, but DJ Gasso at Utah would be my first call. He spent two years on staff at Oklahoma, so he knows how a successful program is run. He stepped away from the talent at Oklahoma, and his players have shown improvement. Not to mention, he has a direct line to Patty and DJ.

I don't see anything magically changing between now and the end of the season - we've been on this trajectory for a loooooong while now.

I was aware that DT Gasso (I think you mean DT at the end of your paragraph above) was an assistant at OU but didn't know about DJ.  I looked at his bio and agree he would be an intriguing hire for Auburn.  Coaching changes need to happen sooner rather than later!  I'm very concerned what another mediocre season is doing to future recruiting.  Sad to say this, but it's hard to understand why a top recruit would be attracted to Auburn with this coaching staff.

Emily Carosone was an outstanding batter as a player.  I understand that being able to do something yourself doesn't mean you can effectively teach someone else.  But her staff bio says she works with the infielders and catchers.  For the rest of this season, why not switch Carosone and Lenti?  He has been ineffective.  Give Emily a shot.

3 hours ago, ellitor said:

I heard Remi and at least 1 other quit the team before the season was over.

Why did they quit?

Don't know if this is new info, but it was to me.  Per Reuters, Mitchell initially evaded the police, driving 141 mph.  Police later spotted the car again and made the arrest.

A top football recruit at the University of Alabama has admitted to fleeing cops in Florida ahead of his arrest last week on possession of marijuana charges, according to a new report. The vehicle driven by freshman defensive back Tony Mitchell hit a speed of 141 mph after police first attempted to pull it over, according to AL.com, which cited a police report. Police then lost sight of the vehicle and called off their pursuit, but an officer spotted it later and Mitchell finally pulled over. The freshman football star is said to have admitted to cops that he tried to evade law enforcement, “claiming [his passenger] told him to ‘punch it,’” the report notes. More than $7,000 in cash and 226 grams of marijuana were subsequently found in the car, and both Mitchell and his passenger were charged with marijuana possession. Mitchell, a four-star recruit, was suspended by the team over his arrest and got a public dressing down from coach Nick Saban on Monday. “There’s no such thing as the wrong place at the wrong time. It is what it is, but there is cause and effect when you make choices and decisions that put you in bad situations,” Saban said at a press conference.

52 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

Zep Jasper stood in front of his locker Saturday night, his eyes still bloodshot after brimming with tears minutes earlier, and paused for a moment before he removed his No. 12 Auburn jersey.

It was the last time Jasper will don that jersey. Reality was setting in for the Tigers’ sixth-year seniors, whose extended college career ended with an 81-64 loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“It hurts me so bad on the inside that I won’t be able to be in this locker room,” Jasper said. “…It’s just one of those things, it hurts me so much, and I really appreciate BP so much. He done changed my life.”

 

“The way Zep is as a person, the way he is trying to be an Auburn man, I could hardly wait to begin to go to work and start to our donor base and our alums,” Pearl said. “If Zep is playing his last game and decides he wants to do something else, the Auburn family is going to line up to hire that kid. Line up to hire him. Because he’s a winner. He’s a hard worker; he’s loyal; he’s everything — you know how you, you know, you bring somebody into your organization, your team, your family, you make statements when you bring somebody in like Zep Jasper.”

 

“Auburn’s going to be written across my chest for life,” Jasper said. “You never know what the future holds, so maybe in a couple years you might see me on the coaching staff one time. You just never know; I might be coaching one day and I’m going to have Auburn on my chest.”

If you love Auburn, Auburn will love you back.  I hope Zep feels the love for the rest of his life.  🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙

Game 5 vs Oklahoma - Oklahoma wins 7-1 in 6.5 innings.  Auburn goes 1-4 over the weekend.

Auburn wasn't run-ruled today but it was a tough outing nonetheless. They are now 22-9 on the season.

Auburn had 1 run on 2 hits with 1 error and 3 batters left on base.  They walked 2 times and struck out 13 times.  Peralta's lead-off HR was the only score.

Oklahoma had 7 runs on 12 hits with 0 errors and 7 batters left on base.  They walked 1 time and struck out 6 times.  Oklahoma had 3  2-run HRs.

Penta pitched the first 4 1/3 innings and is tagged for the loss bringing her to 11-4 on the season.  Lowe pitched 2/3 of an inning and Rolfe pitched the last inning.

They face Missouri in Auburn next weekend for a Saturday, Sunday, Monday series.

6 hours ago, AUBwins said:

Pretty sad to make that trip for only 1 win for the weekend if it holds up as it likely will. What time do we lose today? 

Game is at 2:00 pm today on ESPN+.   Or, if you don't pay for the ESPN+ subscription, you can listen to it on auburntigers.com like I'll be doing.

It has been a pretty bad weekend for Auburn sports.  Basketball lost to Houston last night after after playing lights out in the first half.  Baseball lost big to Arkansas both Friday and Saturday.  The final game of that series is on SEC+ today at 2:00 pm.  Suni Lee did not compete (due to injury) for the 3rd weekend in a row as Auburn scored what I think is their lowest overall score of the year (197.10) at the SEC gymnastics championship.  They ended up in 5th place behind Florida, Alabama, LSU, and Kentucky.  And, of course, Suni wasn't available to compete for any of the individual titles or the overall title.  Bummer.  Cassie Stevens was our biggest star with strong performances across the board - and she tied for the vault individual champion.  And, finally, we're 1-3 in softball heading into this afternoon's finale against Oklahoma. 

Game 4 vs Oklahoma:  Oklahoma run-ruled Auburn 14 - 0 in 4.5 innings

Oklahoma scored 4 runs in the first inning, 5 in the third, and 5 in the 4th.  They hit 5 home runs, 3 of them in the first inning.  Auburn had a total of 4 hits and left 5 runners on base.  At the plate they were 0-7 with runners on base and 0-5 with runners in scoring position.  They were also charged with 1 error.

Widra pitched the first 2 2/3  innings.  Tresvik pitched the final 1 1/3 innings and Milanowski/Roach/Smith subbed in as well so they got some (reality check) playing time.

I realize Oklahoma is the number 1 team in the country but this was a beat-down.  Auburn is mediocre on both offense and defense against good teams.  Would love for them to prove me wrong tomorrow afternoon in their final game of the weekend against Oklahoma but I'm not holding my breath.

Well below our highest score for the year - surprised it was enough to win the session.  Lower than average scores for all 4 teams.  Dang it, definitely missing Suni.  Will be interesting to see if other session(s) are judged just as strictly...

Cassie's vault was amazing.  I agree with comments above - what the heck did the judges deduct for?

Game 3 vs Northwestern:  Northwestern walks it off with a 2-run homerun.  Northwestern 6 - Auburn 5

Same old/same old.

Guessing Auburn will be clobbered by Oklahoma tonight.

1 hour ago, slot canyon said:

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

Wow, that IS a surprising result.  Northwestern may well end up back in the top 25 after this weekend - maybe at the expense of Auburn.  

Very interested to see if Auburn can hang with Oklahoma tonight; hope springs eternal.

Not their best effort today...disappointing.  Hope they perform better tomorrow.

16 hours ago, AUBwins said:

Love that lineup setup.  We need a slapper or two in the lineup.  Used to have Tiffany Howard and Draper etc.  I like having a slapper that is a triple threat at plate.  Howard especially is a perfect leadoff in softball.  Can hit for power, slap, or bunt. 

Abbie Smith and Carlee McCondichie can both slap and bunt (and Carlee can swing away)...but both have been penalized more than once this year for being out of the batter's box when they made contact with the ball.  Batters used to get away with that quite a bit in the past but the officials started calling it more consistently last year.  The rule about contact out of the box also changed.  Now, instead of an automatic out, the opposing team gets to decide whether to penalize the batter with a strike or take the result of the play.  Obviously if the batter was thrown out, they'll choose the out.  If the batter already has 2 strikes, the penalty strike results in them being called out.  If the batter made it to first safely and had less than two outs strikes, the opposing team will choose to penalize the batter with a strike and send them back to the batter's box to try again.  I wonder if teams will move away from slapping if they get called frequently for being out of the box...you can't move much and still be in.  That being said, do you really need to take a few steps before contact to slam the ball into the dirt and get a high bounce?  Very rarely see Auburn do that but it can be very effective.

Game 2 vs Northwestern:

Another maddeningly frustrating game.  Northwestern wins 2-1.

Observations:  Maddie Penta pitched the entire game and struck out 12.  However, she threw 124 pitches (not sure if/how that will affect her for the rest of the weekend).  NW scored 2 runs on 4 hits while AU scored 1 run on 5 hits.  Can't string together hits or hit when it matters.  Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the 7th, Godwin had a base hit, then Packer had a base hit...and then, with 2 on base and no outs...Bryant struck out swinging, Blaine flied out, and Peralta popped up.

It's beyond comprehension that we see this same pattern year after year under CMD and nothing changes...

Game 1 vs Weber St:

Auburn won game 1 against Weber St 4-2.  I only saw the last couple of innings.  Looks like Widra pitched the first 2 innings and then Shelby Lowe took over. 

The positives:  Lowe was effective.  Auburn struck out 12 Weber St batters.  Denver Bryant hit her first home run of the season (with the bases empty) in the top of the 7th with 2 outs.

The not-so-positives:  Auburn only had 3 hits to Weber St's 6 hits.  Looks like Auburn lined out and flied out a lot and struck out 6 times.  Also, Abbie Smith was called out after what looked like a base hit for being out of the batters box when she made contact with the ball.  That has happened several times this year.  Offensive woes continue.

#19 Auburn is playing in a tournament in Oklahoma City this weekend with Weber State, Northwestern, and  #1 Oklahoma.

Auburn's games:

Friday   11:00 am vs Weber St

              1:45 pm vs Northwestern

Saturday 1:30 pm vs Northwestern

                6:30 pm vs Oklahoma

Sunday   2:00 pm vs Oklahoma

The games vs Weber St and Northwestern can be viewed (without any audio) at this web site:

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball/Events/2023/March/17/Omni-Hall-of-Fame-Classic/Live-Streaming

Audio for all Auburn games available on auburntigers.com

The games vs Oklahoma can be streamed on ESPN+

Edit:  Northwestern was ranked #24 last week.  They fell out of the top 25 this week.

4 hours ago, woodford said:

I'm doing that stupid thing where I'm drinking the kool-aid and thinking my initial analysis of Auburn basketball was too harsh. Somebody stop me because now I think they win tomorrow.

ESPN's Jay Bilas thinks Iowa will win:

https://hawkeyeswire.usatoday.com/lists/iowa-basketball-espn-jay-bilas-picks-hawkeyes-ncaa-tournament-auburn-tigers/

36 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

Wait, if I'm understanding the sessions right, if we win Thursday, they combine the 4 teams remaining into the same session on Saturday. So we would have a ton of Bammers rooting against us in the hypothetical Houston game, no?

I believe you are correct.  It looks like you buy 'session' tickets, not individual game tickets.  This makes sense as there surely isn't time to clear the arena and parking lots and fill them back up again between games within a session.  Following info is from the BJCC web site:

Experience March Madness® in Birmingham March 16 & 18, 2023 at Legacy Arena! The Southeastern Conference hosts the First and Second Rounds of the NCAA ® Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

All-Session Tickets for First & Second Rounds Include:
Session 1 | March 16 | 2 Games
Session 2 | March 16 | 2 Games 
Session 3 | March 18 | 2 Games

Purchase all-session tickets today

22 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

Are we in the same session as Alabama? Is there a chance that Bama packs the BJCC and turn into Iowa fans?

Here's the schedule for Thursday at BJCC:

• 11:15 a.m.: Maryland vs. West Virginia (CBS)
• 1:45 p.m. Alabama vs. TAMU-CC/SEMU (CBS)
• 5:50 p.m.: Auburn vs. Iowa (TNT)
• 8:20 p.m.: N. Kentucky vs. Houston (TNT)

After the disappointing outing against GA Tech on Wednesday it was a relief to see the Auburn women swinging the bats tonight - a great road win!   Shelby Lowe hasn't (yet) pitched as well this season as she did her freshman year.  Hope she's just a little rusty and will snap back soon; otherwise it may be a long season.  Looks like we're depending on Penta, Lowe and Widra this year.  Both Tresvik and Rolfe have pitched a few innings but it appears they need some additional time to develop so not sure how much of them we'll see going forward (assuming Penta, Lowe and Widra stay healthy).

TV for tomorrow:  1st game on SEC network at 11:00 CST.  Second game will stream on SEC+  approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game 1.

32 minutes ago, AUreo said:

 

When you shared last Saturday that she was in a boot and limping I wondered if there was any way she could compete this week..didn't seem likely.  Hope this isn't the end of her Auburn career.

The hat is fine.  He's fair-skinned and the job requires him to be in midday sun a lot so a hat with a wide brim is appropriate.  The issue is softball.  CMD has been fairly successful in recruiting talented players, and finding some hidden gems like Tresvik,  but his teams have under-performed at Auburn.   As others have stated, we should play at least a few highly-ranked teams very early in the season - well before the start of SEC play - to get a true assessment of the team's strengths and weaknesses.  And then addresses the weaknesses.  What I don't understand is why they can't seem to adjust to great pitchers the second time through the lineup (like great teams do) and HIT THE BALL.  Like GA Tech did against Maddie Penta.  When they do get on base, they (or CMD) make bad base-running decisions that result in outs and compound our offensive woes.  If a catcher has demonstrated that they have a strong, accurate arm and an ability to throw out a runner...maybe don't keep trying to steal bases unless there's a passed ball or some other circumstance that increases the odds of success.

I've read/seen multiple interviews with Kasey Cooper, Emily Carosone, Tiffany Howard, etc, over the years about how Clint Myers came in and told the team he inherited that they were going to OKC.  He didn't say that AU would go to OKC in 4-5 years once he brought in his own players.  He told the team he inherited.  They thought he was delusional.  But he made them believe in themselves, made them work hard, and delivered results no one could have anticipated.  Too bad he covered for his wayward son, created a very bad situation for the team and the university, and tanked the program.   Emily Carosone - a superstar on those teams - is now on CMD's staff.  I know it won't happen, but would really like to hear her perspective on what's different with this team/coaching staff and why they can't seem to achieve greatness like she experienced with Myers.