2020 Softball Season

Discussion in 'Softball' started by Ellis21d, Jun 12, 2019.

  1. Vol Horn 4 Life

    Vol Horn 4 Life Good Bye To All The Rest!

    Nelly is a great pitcher. She had a three hit shutout in her first appearance for CSU.
     
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  2. Vol Horn 4 Life

    Vol Horn 4 Life Good Bye To All The Rest!

    Wow, as of right now thru 4 games and a couple innings the Longhorns have outscored the field 56-5 with every game called on a run rule. Say what you want about the competition but that's impressive. I've been around here a long time and I've never seen a Texas team this dominant.
     
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  3. NBhornfan

    NBhornfan 250+ Posts

    Our bats are alive this year. Haven't seen too many bad at bats compared to the Clark years which is nice. The freshman came ready to take positions away. I love it!
     
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  4. Jacob Johnson

    Jacob Johnson 2,500+ Posts

    Idk.... after watching Oklahoma they just don't seem to have that fire they used to have. Meanwhile Texas is looking like the best team in the country right now!!! Let's just keep that momentum and carry it into each game.
     
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  5. old65horn

    old65horn 1,000+ Posts

    So glad the softball season has started.

    Choice yesterday, softball or men's hoops.

    Chose softball and didn't even bother to record Men's hoops.
     
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  6. Jacob Johnson

    Jacob Johnson 2,500+ Posts

    Yeah I am over basketball. I am tired of getting my hopes up and being let down. Softball on the other hand is on another level and I watch every game faithfully
     
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  7. Ellis21d

    Ellis21d JediHorn

    Unfortunately that is the state of the men’s team! I am beginning to feel the same way about the girls team. They play super one game and then so sloppy in the next. Hope we make changes in the head Coach of both teams! CDC’s picks so far have been amazing! Track and Softball are fun to follow now! I’m loving this softball team!
     
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  8. Run Pincher

    Run Pincher 2,500+ Posts

    This team is fun to watch. We'll know more when they start facing some real pitching, but it's been impressive so far. Even if they lose it's going to be fun watching a well coached, sound, disciplined team, unlike our basketball teams.

    The freshmen have been impressive, especially Courtney Day & the Knights.
     
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  9. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Last year, I posted offensive or defensive number comparisons every 3-4 games to see what the "Mike White" effect would be. Not sure if anyone thought they were annoying or not, but since it's only us 5-6 that talk on this subject, ehh, why not?

    In celebration to the Run-Rule tournament we had, here are some offensive comparisons compared to last year:
    [​IMG]
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    [​IMG]
    I'll comment later about conversations I had with parents of players over the weekend.
     
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  10. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    This year, because of the construction on one side of the stadium, the home bench has been flipped to the other side that typically holds the visitors and their fans. One side effect that I hadn't foreseen is that many of the parents of the players gravitate to that side of the stadium. As a result, some of the parents sat near or around us during the tournament.

    I got a chance to talk about their kids and the program with them. I won't get into specifics about recruiting, because that might cross the line into their privacy, but I think I can in generalities.

    I asked if it was true that the pitcher coming in next year, Ryleigh White from New Jersey, really plays her club softball on a California team. Yes, indeed she flies cross-country to participate in club softball. [Wow]. The parent went on to say that there are several non-Californians who do that as well since CA club softball is very, very competitive.

    [Well I typed up 2 tidbits on recruiting but decided it was probably inappropriate - and deleted them. Not trying to be coy, but trying to keep their identities private.]

    One parent said that the players "love, love, love" Steve Singleton, the new hitting coach.

    Can I say that I "love, love, love" the new hitting coach as well?

    :)

    Geez, Elish is turning into Samantha Show++
     
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  11. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Three more tidbits:
    1) The parents aren't aware ahead of time if their kid will be starting a particular game. One was surprised to see his daughter starting and was calling relatives to tell them to turn on LHN to see her play.

    2) Corona's dad said that she grew up hitting right handed. But when she joined a serious club (Bombers), her coach said, "You know, she's a really fast runner. Maybe you might consider turning her into a lefty so that she can slap and get to first faster?" So they did and that's how she turned into a lefty batter.

    3) He also confirmed that Popelka is the fastest player on the team, with his daughter second fastest.
    (remember long ago when Tuesday was the fastest on the team?)
     
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  12. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Anyone have or has had a FloSoftball account? I want to buy one month's subscription in order to watch the Puerta Vallarta and Judy Garmin tournaments without purchasing an entire year's subscription. I read the details and they say they offer monthly or yearly subscriptions, but on the page where I have to enter my credit card, it seems to only offer the yearly subscription. I had to hit "enter" in hopes of finding the monthly/yearly option and find out there is no monthly option after that.
     
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  13. Ellis21d

    Ellis21d JediHorn

    I always enjoy your posts Racer and would love to read your tidbits on the recruiting. My first take on Coach White's 2019 recruiting class was mediocre at best. It was his first year and he got in late on the recruiting cycle but wow has my opinion changed. Although the competition of the Texas classic was not strong and it's hard to get a clear take on the class, but they initially looked Great. Courtney Day alone appears to be a super pick up. Considering Coach White found her at the Texas hitting camp and she was committed to San Houston. She even looked good as a pitcher. I was able to go to the Saturday games and gosh was it fun. Great crowd as well. Like 1600. CDC needs to get this same Coaching mentality for the UT basketball teams. And Elish is much better that Samantha Show!
     
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  14. Jacob Johnson

    Jacob Johnson 2,500+ Posts

    There prices are absolutely ridiculous. I want to watch the games but flosports in general charges wayyyyy to much. They really need a weekend pass or a 3 day pass because nobody is going to keep a subscription for months but to answer your question when I subscribed last year there was no monthly fee it charged me for an entire year subscription so I don't know what's going on with them.
     
  15. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Booo! Okay, thanks for the confirmation. They indicate you can purchase game-by-game, but I never could find something close to that on their web page.
     
  16. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    @Ellis21d I went back and grabbed a summation you made for the 2019 class - Mike's first after his hiring:
    Camille Corona - Infield/Utility, Dripping Springs
    Only player from Connie Clark's original recruiting class
    Grace Greene - Pitcher, Birdville HS, North Richland Hills
    Originally committed to Oregon. Flipped her commitment after Mike White went to Texas
    Alyssa Popelka - Infielder/Utility, Westwood HS, Austin
    Originally committed to Boston University (where her sister goes).
    Courtney Day - Pitcher, Pearland Dawson, Pearland
    Originally committed to SFA.
    London Marder - Catcher/Utility, Atascocita HS, Humble
    Was not committed to any school. Was holding an offer from U of Houston
    Because of the large leads we had, we were able to see all these players and often. You were right, Mike scrambled to build his first class by swiping a couple of players committed to other schools.

    Thoughts on these players after seeing them play recently:
    Green - How can such a short gal hit the ball so long?
    Greene - Whew. She's going to have to get some coaching up from Mike. I understand maybe her nerves were showing being in her first game, but that outing was rough. But, she can hit!
    Popelka - She can bunt/slap and race to first for sure. Unsure about long hitting, yet.
    Day - Wow. In the 2019 recruiting thread, there's a twitter video of her hitting a home run. Now the first time I saw that video, I thought, "Ummm, that could be anyone because the it was night game and you could see anyone other than a large player". But the first time I her the SMACK from the bat hitting the ball at her first at-bat, that caught my eye. She's got enough consistent control and velocity to maybe inch up to be the #3 pitcher. I can see why Mike has a true freshman penciled in as DP. Can't leave that bat on the bench.
    Marder - Still haven't seen enough at-bats to know how to judge her as a player.

    So far the steal of that class was Day.
     
  17. ViperHorn

    ViperHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Dion needs to negotiate a package for us to watch on a game by game (softball) and meet by meet (track) basis. (Perhaps he can use the revenue that is generated by the HornFans Search Committee to pay Flosports.) :smile1:
     
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  18. Jacob Johnson

    Jacob Johnson 2,500+ Posts

    Lol your not lying. I have no Idea why no track meets are on tv. I only see Texas run at the Texas relays and indoor/outdoor championships. Flosports has really lost it with there prices though.
     
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  19. MajesticII

    MajesticII 1,000+ Posts

    Popelka needs to check those feet. She was out of the box when she got her first hit vs Tx A&M-CC. She got away with it as the ump was blind......She slaps like that Bama girl who constantly got called out for being out of the box on contact. They will call that when we play OU or OSU for sure.
    Green was terrible. Poor kid...Worst Freshman debut in Texas sports history. The good thing is there is nowhere to go but up from here for her as a pitcher.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2020
  20. MajesticII

    MajesticII 1,000+ Posts

    Just hope this team doesn't peak too early, because they sure look like they have great potential at the plate. Maybe the baseball team needs to borrow that hitting coach. WOW.....
    Last year our weak link was third base, now it looks like SS. Hope White can leave Jefferson at 2nd. Maybe Corona could play SS.... Hope Ellsworth doesn't play the injury bug again. We need her talent for depth.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2020
  21. Jacob Johnson

    Jacob Johnson 2,500+ Posts

    Ellsworth is fine. Her injury was a minor injury which was probably a bone bruise or something and Texas is taking extra caution because she tends to get the hit with the injury stick alot. You think SS is weak??? I think slack looks good, of course there are some things she can improve but I think she looks much better than last season. I also don't think this team will peak to early because there is such a good mixture in the lineup that pitchers would have to adjust nearly every other batter because you have players like Jefferson who will get hits but not alot of power then you have elish, day, Sullivan, Iakopo who have that power
     
  22. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Three weakest links last year, in order of weakest first:
    1) Shortstop - Mike toggled between Slack and Parker. Giving each a chance and then pulling them after another muffed play. Errors on the year:
    Slack - 6
    Parker - 9​
    2) Third base - Ahhh, Shannon Rhodes. She was originally an OF at Oregon. Played out of position. Number of errors at 3rd - 13
    3) Catcher - While catcher is Mary's natural position, catching all but two games for the entire year (one caught by Ellsworth another by Burke) just wore her out. Number of errors at catcher - 9
    And then....looking at the stats for 2019 (2019 Softball Cumulative Statistics - University of Texas Athletics), Schattle had 6 errors at 1st.

    This year, it's obvious that 3rd had to be fixed up. And Mary does have a powerful arm when throwing from 3rd to 1st. You just have to hope she doesn't launch it past the short-ish 1sts we've got playing there now (K-Wash and Sully).

    And having 3 catchers should really help out Mary when she catches. But, I've been extremely excited with Sullivan. Twice she correctly took off her mask, rotated and found very high foul pop-ups to catch for outs. And her glove work as 1st baseman was really impressive as well (she's just short and has to stretch out for those balls).

    Jenae had 5 errors at 2nd last year. I'm all for her or Corona getting a shot.

    Oh and so far in 2020? Slack with 1 error at short and Parker with 2 for all 3 of the errors on the team in 6 games.
     
  23. xdxmmxchxxl

    xdxmmxchxxl 250+ Posts

    Stats for our transfers out through the first weekend of play.

    Romero(Cal): 3 App, 4.2 IP, 0-1, 9.00ERA, gave up 6ER to *Michigan State*

    Espinosa(Utah): 1BB, no official at-bats through 5 games.

    Hoelker(UTA): DNP through 5 games.

    Not to mention Roberts or Schattle who aren’t playing anymore. Truly our would-be 5 weakest players. This team is stacked; ready for the weekend!
     
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  24. ViperHorn

    ViperHorn 10,000+ Posts

    I agree the team petered out last season because the bench strength was not there. While this first set of games gives signs of hope, we will not really know until the latter half of the season.
     
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  25. NBhornfan

    NBhornfan 250+ Posts

    I think the one thing that will help our SS situation is if when Miranda is pitching, we let her hit, and we can DP for SS. I always wondered why Mike White never did this last year, but think it was because Miranda would have to play in the field. We finally did it in the Colorado State game. This year he has the luxury of another hitting pitcher in Day who could just be the DP and first relief. So think we will see that more with Slack because she is the better defensively.
     
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  26. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    Ya think!?
     
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  27. xdxmmxchxxl

    xdxmmxchxxl 250+ Posts



    Many more to come
     
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  28. MajesticII

    MajesticII 1,000+ Posts

    Announcers said SS was a weak spot right after Slack misplayed a ball vs CSU ( I think it was CSU )....
     
  29. MajesticII

    MajesticII 1,000+ Posts

    Freshman from Hallettsville, Texas threw a no-hitter against FSU for Florida. We need to trade Green for her. She needs to jump into the portal so her family and friends can watch her play in person.
     
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  30. Jacob Johnson

    Jacob Johnson 2,500+ Posts

    Courtney day has done a hell of a job in the circle. I think she will be the #3 instead of adams. Adams is no lousy pitcher neither so having her come in for relief will be good. As far as green I hope it was just first game nerves because that was BAD!!
     
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