Fall Ball

Discussion in 'Softball' started by MajesticII, Oct 22, 2019.

  1. MajesticII

    MajesticII 1,000+ Posts

    Anyone know how the scrimmage/game with LSU came out last Friday ?
     
  2. longhorn47

    longhorn47 500+ Posts

    7-6 LSU, I believe....
     
  3. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Scan the 2020 season softball thread. Last page. Posted a summation from softball's twitter feed.
     
  4. Jacob Johnson

    Jacob Johnson 2,500+ Posts

    Yes it was 7-6 lsu we were doing pretty good until lsu hit a base clearing double with bases loaded off of o'Leary. From what I watched are batting looked much improved and the freshman can HIT! Also freshman pitcher grace green has an eye for the strike zone so I expect her to get a couple starts and relieves this upcoming season
     
  5. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Well double-header this Saturday! Looking forward to it!
     
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  6. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Went to the double-header today and only stayed for the first game. The weather was perfect, but the sun got us sleepy and we went home for naps and to rage when watching glimpses of our football team. Took some notes.

    First there is construction going on. So the Horns were camped out on the usually visitor's side since it has an actual bullpen. Tarleton State had to warm up their pitchers on this funky square mound with a red stripe. I wonder if it's going to be a tripping hazard eventually:
    [​IMG]

    And then mounted on our "old" dugout are two silver boxes. Discussion among the fanbase agreed that they hold cameras that are filming the spin and movement of the ball during fall ball for hitting/pitching analysis?
    [​IMG]
    And then, it looks like Miranda is talking to wearing a pitching mask
    [​IMG]
    This is fall ball, so the lineup can be funky. In fact, when they were listing the starting lineup, I could have sworn I heard them announce Designated Player twice. Really? Must be my imagination. But then when were were piling on the points in the second inning, at one point the announcer said, "And batting in 10th place..." Okay, I guess they agreed to 2 DPs.

    Starting lineup:
    Catcher - Colleen Sullivan
    First Base - Washington
    Second - Jefferson
    SS - Parker
    Third - Iakopo
    Left Field - Hathaway
    Center Field - Rhodes
    Right Field - Burke
    DP - Courtney Day
    DP - Ellsworth

    Rhodes was doing your usual "reaching" for balls away from her outside the strike zone - leading to a direct hit to the first baseman. Then , she later hit a nice ball between outfield and second. And then later, a 2 run homer.

    Saw something I've never seen before, but the people in front of us have on rare occasion. Burke was hitting a ball, batting left handed. She hit a grounder that left the bat on the left side of the field outside the foul line. Then as it was rolling it curled inward inside the line (infield) and the ump immediately pointed FAIR and then the third baseman moved a few feet towards it, fielded it in fair territory and then threw it to first to get Burke out.

    We happen to be sitting behind Mike White's wife and I think her two daughters and someone asked them about that. They explained why it's fair - as long as it's in fair territory before it reaches 3rd base and the player fields it.

    Sullivan had two passed balls resulting in players advancing in the same inning. Hmmm. But she fielded a ball thrown from Burke in right field and tagged out a runner coming home from second (another runner had already scored from third).

    Speaking of Burke, she scored first when she was sitting on third and a grounder was hit towards second baseman who picked it up and threw it home. Burke basically ran over the catcher and the catcher dropped the ball. Safe!

    Final score was 10-6. Texas was leading 10-1 in the top of the 7th inning. Adams came in relief in the top of the 5th. She got 6 out with no issue. In the 7th inning she got one out. Then she started throwing balls. She loaded the bases, then hit a batter. 10-2. Then she had a girl 0-2 and fouling, fouling, fouling and finally gave up a grand slam. Man, she did not want to be on the mound. But Mike was making her play through it and finish.

    First game took 2.5 hours. Second game started at 3:00 be we headed out.
     
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  7. MajesticII

    MajesticII 1,000+ Posts

    Racer, You might want to look up and read the rules of softball before the season starts.
     
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  8. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Observations from the game against St. Edwards today:
    1. I was wondering out loud if our hitting had improved with the hiring of Steve Singleton and someone nearby nodded her head and said, "Mmm-hmmm, absolutely"
    2. Thinking about it, yeah...last couple of years our hitters were hitting grounders straight into play by the infield. Maddening. Today, many balls were hit into the air. A couple were soft infield pop-ups, as if the ball caught the bat at the wrong part (resulting in easy fielding). But thinking about it, even last Fall ball season balls were not getting much air. Yes, they were hit hard, but still grounders. I like this year's hitting!
    3. There were two plays that were very interesting. Slow ball hit along first base line. Sullivan charges it and then turns around and fires it toward second base getting the lead runner from first out. A few innings later, a grounder goes towards the mound and the pitcher (relief pitcher Day) fields it and then pivots to second and gets the runner from first out. Interesting that they're getting firm instructions to get out the lead runner and not make it a fielder's choice. In both cases, a quick flip to first would have been so much easier.
    4. And along those lines, the fact that there was a shortstop covering second base ready to get the ball. In fact both the short and second baseman were ready to catch the ball. Better infield defensive moves so far (compared to last year)
    5. No bobble-the-ball or confused where-should-I-go-next looks from 3rd base or SS. No errors!
    6. Aggressive base running, last last year. Got extra bases when St. Edwards thought Texas would just take one base on a hit.
    7. Ellsworth back to good hitting form.
    8. Day is interesting pitcher, in the form of an "early Miranda"
     
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  9. Jacob Johnson

    Jacob Johnson 2,500+ Posts

    Who stood out most to you? In terms of who do you think showed the most promise and someone we can look to rely on for the upcoming season. Also what was the score because the Texas softball Twitter account provided no updates or said anything about the two games?
     
  10. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Sorry, I figured by now that Softball would have updated their site with the score and I don't see anything yet.

    Texas beat St. Edwards 8-0. The scoring went like this, by inning:
    2-4-0-0-0-2-0
    I think it was Shannon Rhodes who got a two run homer very quickly in the first inning.

    As far as new stars, Mike just has the same starters from last year starting the first inning, as described in last week's lineup I gave. As the game goes on, he starts substituting one or two freshmen into the lineup. The second game of each double-header is when he seems (I don't know since I didn't attend the second game) to put out a more freshman lineup.

    Any interesting players to look forward to? Unsure since it's mostly last year's players, except Colleen Sullivan who played at 1st this last game while Taylor manned the plate.

    I can say that Ellsworth's power hitting is back as she hit the ball hard and up.

    And.....Day took over pitching in the 6th? Inning? Sorry, wasn't taking notes on my phone this time. And with that, Elish got to bat. I think she hit a double and got an RBI.

    The wackiest inning was in the 2nd when one of the players bunted and with 2 errors by St. Edwards the batter (who I can't remember) ended up on 3rd, scoring 2 players.
     
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  11. Hardballer

    Hardballer 25+ Posts

    Didn't see Jana Roberts on the bench today and sure enough she is no longer listed on the roster. I understand she is a very good student and probably now is just focusing on studies. Bur I've not read anything on this, just surmising.
     
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  12. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Wow, but maybe not that big of a surprise. Thanks for the update, I would have missed it for a few weeks.
     

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