Softball vs. lsu -SEC tournament

[AU64 10,122]

8 hours ago, wildling said:

It's down 10 points per the SEC website.

AU down from .317 to .272 this season.....a big drop  and opponents hitting the same this year and last year... .225 or so.

[OlderWhiskey 954]

16 hours ago, wildling said:

 

Jordan imo got a fair shot and is just not good enough to play anywhere unfortunately - she started almost every game last year (her best year) and batted .228 with an OBP of .320 and a SLG% of .411, and was much much worse this year in 44 ABs (.114/.220/.295), and her fielding percentage this year is .813!!! Podany at least draws a ton of walks, and is also batting about a hundred points higher.

I do feel bad that Waldrop never really got a shot in her 4 years here, hopefully she knew that was likely coming in. At this point Myers probably figures it's smarter to give youngers players the experience.

I agree re: Jenna Abbott, I think she can probably a little more hitting value than Shea.

It looks like we have 2 legit middle infielders coming in in addition to Taylon Snow (Makenna Dowell (Suwanee, Ga./North Gwinnett), Mackenzie Nutt (Madison, Ala./Sparkman) ). My guess is Tannon at 3rd, Taylon at SS, Nutt at 2nd and Veach at 1st. Draper, Rivera and incoming freshman Livy Schiele in the OF.

I pretty much agree about Jordan, sadly.  Early last year, she was ripping the cover off the ball, but struggled to hit SEC pitching.  Still, she finished up better than she has been this year.  These are young women.  Perhaps there are physiological changes that account for changes in a year's time.  Waldrop may be a walk-on who wanted to be a part of it, and proved she could contribute with pinch running.  I've never seen her look glum on the bench.

Regarding next year, I hope you are right that several incoming freshmen will be able to start; but I think this year's freshmen were pretty highly regarded also.  Is there a reason to think that (other than Taylon Snow) next year's freshmen will be better?

 

 

 

[doc4aday 1,887]

I just started keeping up with softball this season, and enjoyed watching this team very much. I would like to know what those of you in the know beyond my limited knowledge of our team, think about 2018?

Do you think we have the potential to be better and go the distance again like 2016? I say distance in that we were so close to winning it all. I am now hooked on our softball program and look forward to maybe getting back to the world series as our playoff game unfolds. It would be so sweet to win it all and spank Lsu in the process. I am sick of Lsu and wish they would leave for the Big 12 altogether from the SEC. I would trade them for Univ. of Texas in a NY minute!

[OlderWhiskey 954]

I haven't been following much longer than you, but know that we've graduated some bigtime bats over the past two years.  From 2015,we lost Morgan Estell (CF), who hit .367 or so, and had some power, and Branndi Melero (RF), who had double-digit homers and hit over .300.  From 2016, we lost Carosone (2B), Jade Rhodes (1B), and Tiffany Howard (LF).  You can go to the website and look at the stats, but Carosone and Rhodes had about 35 homers between them.  Now we have Draper in CF and Rivera in right.  Draper sort of replaces Howard at the plate, but doesn't have quite the hitting strength or extra-base capability.  Rivera probably has a better average than Melero, but not the homers.  Nobody at second comes close to replacing Carosone at the plate.  Veach is maybe three-fourths of the way to replacing Rhodes as a hitter.  So we have this shortfall existing, plus we lose Cooper and Fagan this year.  One positive thing that's happened,batwise, from 2015 is that Carlee Wallace has gotten better.

So it seems to me that we need about five really strong bats to step up, whether they come from present players or new recruits.  Our pitching should be even better next year.

All this is JMO.  Florida seems to do it mostly with pitching; but that isn't how we did it the past two years.  And CCM doesn't recruit strikeout pitchers like Barnhill and Gourley.

[wildling 35]

9 hours ago, OlderWhiskey said:

Regarding next year, I hope you are right that several incoming freshmen will be able to start; but I think this year's freshmen were pretty highly regarded also.  Is there a reason to think that (other than Taylon Snow) next year's freshmen will be better?

The new freshman should be a lot better this upcoming season - #2 class vs a vague top 10 for this season. 4 all-americans [Snow (SS), Kara Bilodeau (P), Mackenzie Nutt (2b/SS), Livy Schiele [OF] vs 1 Swindle.

[tgr4lfe 220]

On 5/16/2017 at 11:27 PM, OlderWhiskey said:

I haven't been following much longer than you, but know that we've graduated some bigtime bats over the past two years.  From 2015,we lost Morgan Estell (CF), who hit .367 or so, and had some power, and Branndi Melero (RF), who had double-digit homers and hit over .300.  From 2016, we lost Carosone (2B), Jade Rhodes (1B), and Tiffany Howard (LF).  You can go to the website and look at the stats, but Carosone and Rhodes had about 35 homers between them.  Now we have Draper in CF and Rivera in right.  Draper sort of replaces Howard at the plate, but doesn't have quite the hitting strength or extra-base capability.  Rivera probably has a better average than Melero, but not the homers.  Nobody at second comes close to replacing Carosone at the plate.  Veach is maybe three-fourths of the way to replacing Rhodes as a hitter.  So we have this shortfall existing, plus we lose Cooper and Fagan this year.  One positive thing that's happened,batwise, from 2015 is that Carlee Wallace has gotten better.

So it seems to me that we need about five really strong bats to step up, whether they come from present players or new recruits.  Our pitching should be even better next year.

All this is JMO.  Florida seems to do it mostly with pitching; but that isn't how we did it the past two years.  And CCM doesn't recruit strikeout pitchers like Barnhill and Gourley.

I think pitching will be/could be better as AU could be back to having some quality depth with Carlson, Martin, Swindle, Bilodeau, Nemeth, hopefully 2 of those last 3 can work into a regular starter/relief, just for depth.  

If the 2018 can overcome having a lot of young players, the talent looks to definitely be there.  There will be filling at least 3-4 starting spots, so lots of new faces on the field, but arguably one of most talented softball classes EVER coming in this summer.