2025 SEC Softball Tournament

[OldUmp]

Leaving Kennedy in after the 3rd inning was a mistake that will (hopefully) come back to bite A&M in rear tomorrow.

Speaking of which, there was debate which team to root for? I said that, for the first time ever, I would root for A&M (and I went to grad school there!). My wife said NEVER. I WILL NEVER ROOT FOR OU.

IF I knew which result would help keep our RPI at 8, then that would help.

Obviously, I can't sleep. Dangerous thoughts occur when you are in bed thinking. Here goes. Our offence always struggles against great pitching. Witness Sam Landry. Emily Kennedy. Karlyn Pickens. Can't really change the offence but the defense. My thoughts. Left field has been an enigma so let's solve it. Put Scott in left. She has played it off and on. Mitchell's words to the announcers prior to the A&M game sealed it for me. She said something to the effect of "My first position is 3rd, as far as first I am learning it." Put the ACC all conference 3rd baseman back at 3rd and put the steady Katie Cimutz at first. Lineup:
Maloney RF
Henry CF
Scott LF
Atwood C
Stewart SS
Mitchell 3rd
Cimutz 1st
Quiroga DP
Goode 2nd
May be the best defensive team we can put on the field. Back to sleep.

 

[OldUmp]

Obviously, I can't sleep. Dangerous thoughts occur when you are in bed thinking. Here goes. Our offence always struggles against great pitching. Witness Sam Landry. Emily Kennedy. Karlyn Pickens. Can't really change the offence but the defense. My thoughts. Left field has been an enigma so let's solve it. Put Scott in left. She has played it off and on. Mitchell's words to the announcers prior to the A&M g

Obviously, I can't sleep. Dangerous thoughts occur when you are in bed thinking. Here goes. Our offence always struggles against great pitching. Witness Sam Landry. Emily Kennedy. Karlyn Pickens. Can't really change the offence but the defense. My thoughts. Left field has been an enigma so let's solve it. Put Scott in left. She has played it off and on. Mitchell's words to the announcers prior to the A&M game sealed it for me. She said something to the effect of "My first position is 3rd, as far as first I am learning it." Put the ACC all conference 3rd baseman back at 3rd and put the steady Katie Cimutz at first. Lineup:
Maloney RF
Henry CF
Scott LF
Atwood C
Stewart SS
Mitchell 3rd
Cimutz 1st
Quiroga DP
Goode 2nd
May be the best defensive team we can put on the field. Back to sleep.

ame sealed it for me. She said something to the effect of "My first position is 3rd, as far as first I am learning it." Put the ACC all conference 3rd baseman back at 3rd and put the steady Katie Cimutz at first. Lineup:
Maloney RF
Henry CF
Scott LF
Atwood C
Stewart SS
Mitchell 3rd
Cimutz 1st
Quiroga DP
Goode 2nd
May be the best defensive team we can put on the field. Back to sleep.

 

[OldUmp]

One more thing about our offence....
Did some checking.
RPG Season over 7.4
RPG SEC 6.04
RPG against elite pitching (Canady, Pickens, Kennedy, Landry and LSU's Heavener) 1.4 Like MW says elite pitching will always win out against elite hitting.

 

[txhorn_et]

I’m calling for an investigation by the sec to look into allegations of the possible hacking of Longhorn pitchers electronic communicators.
There are way too many hard hit balls, especially by non-homerun hitters, time and time again in this last month.
This isn’t close to the MLB banging of buckets or drums or whatever, but it’s getting there.
I don’t have any other explanation.

Of course I’m not being serious. We need to regroup asap and get back to our winning ways.

HORNS UP!!

 

[OldUmp]

I’m calling for an investigation by the sec to look into allegations of the possible hacking of Longhorn pitchers electronic communicators.
There are way too many hard hit balls, especially by non-homerun hitters, time and time again in this last month.
This isn’t close to the MLB banging of buckets or drums or whatever, but it’s getting there.
I don’t have any other explanation.

Of course I’m not being serious. We need to regroup asap and get back to our winning ways.

HORNS UP!!

Needed to smile this AM. Thanks.

 

[mscfn01]

I’m calling for an investigation by the sec to look into allegations of the possible hacking of Longhorn pitchers electronic communicators.
There are way too many hard hit balls, especially by non-homerun hitters, time and time again in this last month.
This isn’t close to the MLB banging of buckets or drums or whatever, but it’s getting there.
I don’t have any other explanation.

Of course I’m not being serious. We need to regroup asap and get back to our winning ways.

HORNS UP!!

This is ironic cause i saw someone on twitter saying trisha ford “had to be stealing” pitch calls on the tenn series. either way, funny nonetheless

 

[racerx5908]

When I saw the catcher interference from Atwood, I was exasperated. This is the second one I've seen in her 3 year career as a Longhorn and I can't even understand why there has even been one. In the replay it shows her moving her mitt forward into the batter's swing zone to try to "pick the ball sooner?" WTF? In what world does that help your team? Are you trying to "frame" the pitch?

My appreciation of Reese, as a catcher, has started dropping every year she's been a starter. She's a star as a hitter, but I don't understand how she got named to the SEC defensive team.

And don't get me started on Joley's "oh you're going to throw the ball to first?" error. It doesn't matter that you're natural position is 3rd. The ball is in play, you've already put your foot on the bag, now raise your mitt up!

 

[racerx5908]

Do we have some good recruits on the way?

Yeah, thinking about the lack of hitting from 7-9 and the cratering of our supposedly stacked pitching room, I had to go back to 2026 Recruiting - Softball

and remind myself what help is coming.

1. Madelyn ‘Madi’ Doty, P, Grandview, TX
2. Anabela Abdullah, SS/2B, Hollywood, FL
3. Mia Clemmer, C/1B, Coahoma, TX
4. Jordynn Booe, SS/UT, Pflugerville, TX
5. Josie Busceme, OF, Austin, TX
6. Stevie South, UT, Magnolia, TX

We lose two pitchers, gain one. So we'll need to find a transfer pitcher. Of course you could say we only had 3.5 pitchers this year.

I was going to start up a 2026 season thread, but as they say, "Too bro, too soon."

 

[mscfn01]

Yeah, thinking about the lack of hitting from 7-9 and the cratering of our supposedly stacked pitching room, I had to go back to 2026 Recruiting - Softball

and remind myself what help is coming.

1. Madelyn ‘Madi’ Doty, P, Grandview, TX
2. Anabela Abdullah, SS/2B, Hollywood, FL
3. Mia Clemmer, C/1B, Coahoma, TX
4. Jordynn Booe, SS/UT, Pflugerville, TX
5. Josie Busceme, OF, Austin, TX
6. Stevie South, UT, Magnolia, TX

We lose two pitchers, gain one. So we'll need to find a transfer pitcher. Of course you could say we only had 3.5 pitchers this year.

I was going to start up a 2026 season thread, but as they say, "Too bro, too soon."

Yeah, thinking about the lack of hitting from 7-9 and the cratering of our supposedly stacked pitching room, I had to go back to 2026 Recruiting - Softball

and remind myself what help is coming.

1. Madelyn ‘Madi’ Doty, P, Grandview, TX
2. Anabela Abdullah, SS/2B, Hollywood, FL
3. Mia Clemmer, C/1B, Coahoma, TX
4. Jordynn Booe, SS/UT, Pflugerville, TX
5. Josie Busceme, OF, Austin, TX
6. Stevie South, UT, Magnolia, TX

We lose two pitchers, gain one. So we'll need to find a transfer pitcher. Of course you could say we only had 3.5 pitchers this year.

I was going to start up a 2026 season thread, but as they say, "Too bro, too soon."

We don’t get these players till the 2027 season

 

[cnb]

When I saw the catcher interference from Atwood, I was exasperated. This is the second one I've seen in her 3 year career as a Longhorn and I can't even understand why there has even been one. In the replay it shows her moving her mitt forward into the batter's swing zone to try to "pick the ball sooner?" WTF? In what world does that help your team? Are you trying to "frame" the pitch?

My appreciation of Reese, as a catcher, has started dropping every year she's been a starter. She's a star as a hitter, but I don't understand how she got named to the SEC defensive team.

And don't get me started on Joley's "oh you're going to throw the ball to first?" error. It doesn't matter that you're natural position is 3rd. The ball is in play, you've already put your foot on the bag, now raise your mitt up!

Coaching.

 

[racerx5908]

We don’t get these players till the 2027 season

DOH!!!!

 

[OldUmp]

Coaching.

Yes we will have the above list the year after next. But next year we have 7 great recruits coming in. Google 2025 Longhorn softball recruits and you can see the list. Anne Wallace, Caigan Crabtree, Ma'taia Lawson, Alissa Sneed, Jaycie Nichols, Drea Wilson and one pitcher Hannah Wells. They will bring speed and power to the team.
three play middle infield, One plays 3rd, one catches, one is a stud outfielder and Wells pitches. None of this changes my thoughts of searching the portal for another pitcher. We cannot simply go with the three returning plus an incoming freshman. Need help. The demands of the season and conference warrants it.

 

[HornsSoftballFan]

Yes we will have the above list the year after next. But next year we have 7 great recruits coming in. Google 2025 Longhorn softball recruits and you can see the list. Anne Wallace, Caigan Crabtree, Ma'taia Lawson, Alissa Sneed, Jaycie Nichols, Drea Wilson and one pitcher Hannah Wells. They will bring speed and power to the team.
three play middle infield, One plays 3rd, one catches, one is a stud outfielder and Wells pitches. None of this changes my thoughts of searching the portal for another pitcher. We cannot simply go with the three returning plus an incoming freshman. Need help. The demands of the season and conference warrants it.

Is Maloney coming back next year? She's a redshirt jr but academically graduated this year

 

[racerx5908]

Thanks. I'm a visual learner so I like to see what's going on. I didn't slot the newcomers into position to imply they would take that player's place. Just easier on the spreadsheet.

I remember when an old (pitching) coach said, upon Connie Clark signing a 5th pitcher (remember when 3 freshmen came in the same year?), "No team has ever gone to the WCWS with 5 pitchers". He and Connie had a falling out so he was grumbling about her.

 

[OldUmp]

Thanks. I'm a visual learner so I like to see what's going on. I didn't slot the newcomers into position to imply they would take that player's place. Just easier on the spreadsheet.

I remember when an old (pitching) coach said, upon Connie Clark signing a 5th pitcher (remember when 3 freshmen came in the same year?), "No team has ever gone to the WCWS with 5 pitchers". He and Connie had a falling out so he was grumbling about her.

First of all nice job here racer. I do think Maloney is coming back. The numbers say that some will seek the portal with this new group coming in. Too many players. Sneed is a
heckuva outfielder rated # 4 I believe. Reminds me of Bella Dayton. Crabtree is the #1-3 best SS, part of Melissa HS #1 ranked team. Wilson and Lawson are highly rated infielders with big bats. Wallace has some highlight reels at catcher. Remember Stewart can play a great first base so there potentially is Mitchell's replacement. It is fun to look ahead but we have unfinished business this year.

 

[mscfn01]

First of all nice job here racer. I do think Maloney is coming back. The numbers say that some will seek the portal with this new group coming in. Too many players. Sneed is a
heckuva outfielder rated # 4 I believe. Reminds me of Bella Dayton. Crabtree is the #1-3 best SS, part of Melissa HS #1 ranked team. Wilson and Lawson are highly rated infielders with big bats. Wallace has some highlight reels at catcher. Remember Stewart can play a great first base so there potentially is Mitchell's replacement. It is fun to look ahead but we have unfinished business this year.

First of all nice job here racer. I do think Maloney is coming back. The numbers say that some will seek the portal with this new group coming in. Too many players. Sneed is a
heckuva outfielder rated # 4 I believe. Reminds me of Bella Dayton. Crabtree is the #1-3 best SS, part of Melissa HS #1 ranked team. Wilson and Lawson are highly rated infielders with big bats. Wallace has some highlight reels at catcher. Remember Stewart can play a great first base so there potentially is Mitchell's replacement. It is fun to look ahead but we have unfinished business this year.

I have my bets on Lawson Crabtree and Sneed cracking the lineup next year. The first two in particular are huge bats that’ll make our offense more lethal

 

[UTSUgrad]

OU and Ags declared co-champs, due to rain out. Correct decision for the safety of players, I am sure. Well, taking solace in the fact that they both are happier to beat Texas than to win a championship ...

 

[Malcom]

I’m calling for an investigation by the sec to look into allegations of the possible hacking of Longhorn pitchers electronic communicators.
There are way too many hard hit balls, especially by non-homerun hitters, time and time again in this last month.
This isn’t close to the MLB banging of buckets or drums or whatever, but it’s getting there.
I don’t have any other explanation.

Of course I’m not being serious. We need to regroup asap and get back to our winning ways.

HORNS UP!!

I know you are just being facetious but I have seriously thought that. I thought it was just my imagination getting the best of me but....
I even floated the idea of maybe our pitchers were maybe, unbeknownst to themselves, giving signals of the pitch before...
We just were not being hit buy so many 7,8,9 hitters like now.
Have you ever thought about breaking up the top of the lineup to strengthen our bottom half...
Please don't take any of this too serious, it's just my passion for Texas Softball.

 

[LonghornsFan1234]

OU and Ags declared co-champs, due to rain out. Correct decision for the safety of players, I am sure. Well, taking solace in the fact that they both are happier to beat Texas than to win a championship ...

If that is true, then Oklahoma would have not accepted the championship trophy and just give it to the Longhorns so that is a pretty stupid comment to make

 

[Run Pincher]

Thanks. I'm a visual learner so I like to see what's going on. I didn't slot the newcomers into position to imply they would take that player's place. Just easier on the spreadsheet.

I remember when an old (pitching) coach said, upon Connie Clark signing a 5th pitcher (remember when 3 freshmen came in the same year?), "No team has ever gone to the WCWS with 5 pitchers". He and Connie had a falling out so he was grumbling about her.

Does anyone besides me fear pitchers hitting the portal? I just have this fear of a, "the hell with the SEC, why pitch here when I can go to the ACC, B10 and have an ERA less than 2, maybe less than 1.5 and have more wins" mentality.

Life in the SEC is very tough. Some coulda also have the same mentality when it comes to batting. Just some , not all. Some want better numbers, some relish the challenge.

 

[Run Pincher]

And I have to add, the coaching absolutely has to step up. I'm sick and tired of seeing MW get schooled by Gasso & Ford. I don't know if they're stealing signals, but they seem to know everything that's coming. He even seems clueless in some of the interviews.

MW seems a lot like Mack Brown, just out talent the other team. Well guess what Mike, Cat II isn't walking through the door.

 

[OldUmp]

And I have to add, the coaching absolutely has to step up. I'm sick and tired of seeing MW get schooled by Gasso & Ford. I don't know if they're stealing signals, but they seem to know everything that's coming. He even seems clueless in some of the interviews.

MW seems a lot like Mack Brown, just out talent the other team. Well guess what Mike, Cat II isn't walking through the door.

Certain patterns again have emerged:
Pitching seems to be in a funk. Hitting against elite pitchers is absent (I spent a lot on this above}. The team feels sometimes entitled; that won't cut it in the SEC. Ford and Gasso use the portal exquisitely. MW does not. Many of OU's hitters are portal transfers and good ones. Same with A&M. Their hitting coaches are supreme. And I DO think they are picking out subtle signs of pitches to come. Coaching folks. To bring us out of this funk, you need great coaching. I personally think some will transfer and while we have a great class coming in--we need a solid pitcher from the portal. That's how Gasso got Landry, etc.

 

[Benny P]

And I have to add, the coaching absolutely has to step up. I'm sick and tired of seeing MW get schooled by Gasso & Ford. I don't know if they're stealing signals, but they seem to know everything that's coming. He even seems clueless in some of the interviews.

MW seems a lot like Mack Brown, just out talent the other team. Well guess what Mike, Cat II isn't walking through the door.

I hear you. But just to be fair, before MW, the Longhorns softball team was not even a top 25 team the entire year for years. Coach Ford just now beat MW for the first time as an Aggie. They tied last fall ball. Unless you are adding when Ford was at ASU. But I have not checked history on that of ASU and Oregon Ducks. No one has been successful against Gasso for years. This year though, for the first time, Sooner softball was probably its most vulnerable year. We still have the NCAA tournament coming up. Just a few years ago, I never did think the Longhorns would beat Washington, OK State & Arkansas to make it to the finals. To your first comment on the "Coaching", yes I definitely agree with you. MW even made that comment to the ESPN commentator. Their coaching needed to step up. On your last sentence, instead of a Mack Brown comparison, I was thinking more of a Sark second half or 4th quarter meltdown after keeping the lead the entire game.

 

[racerx5908]

I've been wondering the last couple of years that the longer a pitcher is "with" MW, their effectiveness seems to be trending downwards. Examples would be Simpson, Morgan, Gutierrez. But maybe...it's that they've got more tape on these players than the younger ones? Went to NCAA stats and pulled out the spreadsheet. Yellow is previous school and orange is MW hiding the pitcher from pitching. Parenthesis is the number of innings pitched.

Maybe it isn't MW and it's the tape? Yeah PG runs circles around us when it comes to pitching, but most of the time they get one-year lease transfers from other schools. i.e. Landry, Maxwell, Trautwein

 

[Benny P]

I've been wondering the last couple of years that the longer a pitcher is "with" MW, their effectiveness seems to be trending downwards. Examples would be Simpson, Morgan, Gutierrez. But maybe...it's that they've got more tape on these players than the younger ones? Went to NCAA stats and pulled out the spreadsheet. Yellow is previous school and orange is MW hiding the pitcher from pitching. Parenthesis is the number of innings pitched.

Was not Coach Pattie hired to take over pitching duties last year or year before? Hmm, maybe coaching changes will come with the new season.

 

[racerx5908]

Was not Coach Pattie hired to take over pitching duties last year or year before? Hmm, maybe coaching changes will come with the new season.

A handful of us fans were together last night and we had this discussion. One said that Steve Singleton would be on the hot seat since hitting has been so poor. The other said that Pattie Ruth was the one on the hot seat.

Singleton has had some turmoil in his private life and the fan thought he wasn't focused enough. I don't know. I was on the Pattie Ruth might the problem side.

My opinion is that when the pitchers are shutting down the opponents, are hitters aren't pressing as hard to catch up. But on the other side, if the hitters score first, then the pitching seems more relaxed and focused rather than blaming themselves for being behind.

How Texas has been ranked in hitting/ERA the last 5 years:

2025 - 4 / 25
2024 - 1 / 12
2023 - 8 / 32
2022 - 31 / 113
2021 - 3 / 52

Connie Clark's last 5 years

2018 - 144 / 50
2017 - 127 / 25
2016 - 66 / 36
2015 - 77 / 58
2014 - 7 / 70

Hunh. Maybe we've become spoiled to the success?

 

[cnb]

OU and Ags declared co-champs, due to rain out. Correct decision for the safety of players, I am sure. Well, taking solace in the fact that they both are happier to beat Texas than to win a championship ...

Well maybe the gaggies. But we're just a speed bump to OU.

 

[HornHuskerDad]

But we're just a speed bump to OU.

That should never be the case! Time to reverse that position.

 

[OldUmp]

Well maybe the gaggies. But we're just a speed bump to OU.

The mark of a great team is to self-evaluate and make changes. The self-evaluation comes at different times: 1. during the game,--you have to make in-game adjustments, 2. after a three game series--tendencies come out during a 3 game series and you must adjust before the next series 3. after the season is over a post-season autopsy of what went well and what didn't. Part of the latter is the coach's evaluation. Pitching (is Pattie Ruth making adjustments that will yield more positive outcomes) I remember the announcers questioning why Kavan was not using her drop ball more-- especially against a tall hitter with high bat stance. Little things? Hitting: individual players? Team and situational hitting (our bugaboo?)
Outfield? Infield? Team communication? It will be IMO an interesting off-season. No one can question White's success. WE just have to get over the hump!!!

 

[racerx5908]

The mark of a great team is to self-evaluate and make changes. The self-evaluation comes at different times: 1. during the game,--you have to make in-game adjustments, 2. after a three game series--tendencies come out during a 3 game series and you must adjust before the next series 3. after the season is over a post-season autopsy of what went well and what didn't. Part of the latter is the coach's evaluation. Pitching (is Pattie Ruth making adjustments that will yield more positive outcomes) I remember the announcers questioning why Kavan was not using her drop ball more-- especially against a tall hitter with high bat stance. Little things? Hitting: individual players? Team and situational hitting (our bugaboo?)
Outfield? Infield? Team communication? It will be IMO an interesting off-season. No one can question White's success. WE just have to get over the hump!!!

During the game against South Carolina they put up a graphic showing the types of pitches that Kennedy threw her freshman year. How the majority pitches she threw morphed over 4 years to what it is now. Coaches told her, "You know with your type of body movement and the way you release the ball, you should be pitching more of this type of pitch"

Yes, that is coaching.