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2021 Texas Softball


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1 minute ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Good lord 6 of the 8 supers are hosted by SEC


3 conference matchups too. Granted 1 was unexpected with Georgia coming out instead of Duke.  But it was setup for UCLA and ASU and Mizzou and Tenn to meet if seeds held. 

I despise conference matchups for supers.  Hate it so much. 

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Super Regional Winner - Postseason Record - Runs Scored - Runs Allowed

#1 OU - 3-0 - 50 - 12

#16 Washington - 4-1 - 16 - 7

JMU - 3-0 - 15 - 9

#8 Mizzou - 3-0 - 17 - 0 

#5 OSU - 3-0 - 29 - 5

#12 Texas - 3-1 - 21 - 3

Georgia - 3-0 - 21 - 12

#4 Florida - 3-0 - 19 - 0

#3 Alabama - 3-0 - 20 - 0

#14 Kentucky - 4-1 - 21 - 16

#11 Arizona - 3-0 - 31 - 12

#6 Arky - 3-0 - 19 - 3

#7 LSU - 3-1 - 28 - 12

#10 FSU - 3-0 - 11 - 2

Virginia Tech - 3-0 - 24 - 7

#2 UCLA - 3-0 - 15 - 5

 

From my eye, OU had the best offensive (no surprise there) but they had a pretty blah pitching performance for the #1 overall seed.  I'm curious how that offense would hold up against a Rachel Garcia (UCLA) or Montana Fouts (Alabama) or Gabbie Plain (UW). 

Honestly, cannot think of the last NCAA champ with OU's pitching numbers

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Computer ratings/simulations (out of 100) for Supers:

OU over UW - 84%

UCLA over Virginia Tech - 66%

Alabama over Kentucky - 70%

Florida over Georgia - 75%

OSU over Texas - 57%

Arizona over Arkansas - 70%

LSU over FSU - 51%

Mizzou over James Madison - 65% 

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8 hours ago, texasstrong12 said:

Hope Trautwein's likes on twitter have to be a good indication she's headed to Texas. 

She's liking all the Texas softball account tweets tonight. 

 

Come on Hope, come home. 

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With Corona nailing down 3rd, we really only need to focus on CF and RF next year, and getting Hope to pick us. We have some elite OF recruits coming in

Catcher: Iakopo/Sully/Cimusz (frosh)

1B: Sully/Smith

2B: Jefferson/Scott (freshman)

SS: Parker

3B: Corona

LF: Burke

CF: Holmes (freshman)

RF: Maloney (freshman)

DH: Whitaker/Smith/Alyssa Washington/Day

P: O’Leary/White/Simpson but hopefully Hope at the #2 spot 

Edited by Js1
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I just want to re-iterate how impressed I was by the team yesterday.  They really rallied together to win that game 7 - it took a monumental defensive effort to win that game (not just from Corona, but the whole team to avoid an error or a WP or PB with the tying run on third with no outs).  3 newbies to this team - Whitaker, Corona and Jacobsen - really stepped up in crunch time with clutch pitching, clutch defense and a clutch pinch-hit RBI. 

This team could have (and most likely did) get a bit down on themselves for not winning the first game and getting walked off in extras.  Demoralizing, then to turn around and do it again very late at night, was not easy.  Plus Jacobsen being given the ball with a super regional on the line, at 11:30 at night, and pitching a 5 hit shutout?  Amazing. 

Mike's 11th straight super regional.  Two in a row at Texas.  The last two in a row supers appearances we had were 2012 and 2013 (and we hosted both), so this is a huge achievement and a baseline level of success for White at Texas.  2 supers in a row, but both are on the road.  The next level of success is a top 8 seed and hosting a super regional (damn you COVID). 

Edited by Js1
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the Texas ladies had to be feeling some pressure for their coach well done by him for doing or saying whatever it took to let them know to do it for themselves

and well done by the players to go out there and take a close one with some great overall play across the team

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32 minutes ago, Js1 said:

With Corona nailing down 3rd, we really only need to focus on CF and RF next year, and getting Hope to pick us. We have some elite OF recruits coming in

Catcher: Iakopo/Sully/Cimusz (frosh)

1B: Sully/Smith

2B: Jefferson/Scott (freshman)

SS: Parker

3B: Corona

LF: Burke

CF: Holmes (freshman)

RF: Maloney (freshman)

DH: Whitaker/Smith/Alyssa Washington/Day

P: O’Leary/White/Simpson but hopefully Hope at the #2 spot 

 

  1. Will any of the new recruits offer more speed and athleticism?
  2. Besides Hope Trautwein, any more pitching studs coming to Texas?

A few current players on this roster look really out of shape and underdeveloped physically -- hope Mike makes some real improvements in that area next season.

 

Edited by LTtxfan
typo
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37 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

well done Ladies.  It is so obvious NCAA was in bed with ESPN in this regional by giving us Oregon.  the commentators couldn't stop talking about it.  Glad we shut them up. 

NCAA/ESPN got exactly what it wanted from this regional - Texas and Oregon, an extra inning win by the Ducks, followed by a heart attacked inducing 1-0 win by the home team to advance.

However, Mother Nature said FUCK YOU to both by pushing it out of primetime.  ESPN/NCAA didn't want a deciding game 7 in Austin against Mike White's old team to be aired at 11:30pm CT on a Sunday night. 

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Just now, LTtxfan said:
  1. Will the new recruits offer more speed and athleticism?
  2. Besides Hope Trautwein, any more pitching studs coming to Texas?

A few current players on the roster look really out of shape and underdeveloped physically -- hope Mike makes some realn improvements in that area next season.

Mike White on Holmes: "Mya has tremendous range in the outfield and a cannon for an arm. She's very athletic, possesses good speed and a powerful bat."

Mike White on Maloney: "Ashton is our only out-of-state signee and rivals Mya for range in the outfield. An all-around athlete, Ashton has power as a slapper who can hit home runs. She's definitely one to watch and will provide Longhorns fans with many exciting moments to come."

Mia Scott had 66 stolen bases in 2018.  She'll likely get time at 2B to prepare Texas for Jefferson's departure after 2022. 

Pitching stud: 

 

A standout in-state pitching prospect, Simpson was listed at No. 4 overall (No. 2 overall pitcher) in Extra Inning Softball's Extra Elite 100 as well as No. 9 in Softball America's Top 100 player rankings. During her sophomore season, she helped lead Mont Belvieu to the 5A Texas State Tournament Regional Finals while posting 141 strikeouts over 67 innings of work. Simpson also recorded a miniscule 0.16 ERA as a junior while striking out 104 batters in 42 frames. The right-hander went 4-1 with a 0.18 ERA and 28 K's over 32 innings in helping her Texas Bombers Gold squad to the 2019 Premier Girls Fastpitch 16-U Premier Nationals Championship Game. For her efforts, she was also named to the PGF Premier Nationals All-Tournament Team. During the 2019 summer travel ball campaign, Simpson posted a 1.20 ERA with 142 K's in 109 innings of work.

Mike White on Simpson: "Sophia is one of the top pitchers in her class in the country. Wielding a devastating change-up and deceptive movement, Sophia will rack up some impressive numbers during her career on the Forty Acres."

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12 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

 

A few current players on this roster look really out of shape and underdeveloped physically -- hope Mike makes some real improvements in that area next season.

 

Had the same thought.   But I think it can be attributed to the lack/type of off season workouts due to Covid.    Many teams seem to have the issue.  Juarez, OU ace pitcher, really gained weight and her overall performance has declined.

Like all,  so proud of the team and Camille Corona.   Patiently awaited her time, did not complain, team player.

The following are excerpts from an article in the Statesman last week on MW's defensive philosophy.   Hopefully,  these 2 Oregon games will temper his thinking.   I am sure he values defense,  but even more after this weekend.   

 

"Our defense, we still have some issues there," Texas coach Mike White said. "Hopefully we can string hits together and take care of that."

 

Of the 64 teams that qualified for the postseason, only two have a worse fielding percentage. Only four tournament teams — Mississippi State, Georgia, Alabama State and Kennesaw State -— have committed more errors. 

After White was hired three years ago, he told his new players that "I’m about offense." He wanted Texas to grab early leads. That meant placing the best bats in his starting lineup, not the best gloves.

White's message was clear. As former UT infielder Malory Schattle put it, who plays “basically depends on who’s really hitting well that day.”

"I think we've evolved to this combination of best of both. You've got to have some offense, and you've got to have some, obviously, defense," White said. "If say, (third baseman Camille) Corona's not hitting the ball today, I can always bring someone in to pinch-hit for her and then put Corona back in."

Of the 72 teams that have qualified for the past nine Women's College World Series, 36% had a top-10 fielding percentage. Of those 72 teams, 39 had a top-25 defense, 53 recorded top-50 numbers and 65 boasted top-100 fielding percentages. Only LSU, which had the 157th-best fielding percentage in 2016, and an Oregon team coached by White, which was 195th in 2012, ranked outside the top 150.

https://www.hookem.com/sports/

 

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Corona is also a good bat - besides playing great defense in game 7, she was also 3 for 8 with an RBI in the 9 hole across the regional.   She's hitting .353 in her first full season (she's played in 39 games), 28-29 on put outs (.983 fielding) and has 3 stolen bases in limited action.  

She's starting to understand her role at the plate - she has the speed, so she needs to keep laying down those bunts and either productively moving runners or make it on and turn over the lineup.  That's what the 9-hole hitter has to do. 

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Special shout out to another freshman, Jordyn Whitaker. She was also clutch last night with a hit in both of her 2 ABs last night. One was the RBI to get us on the board and into the Super Regional. She seemed to be calm and collected and put the ball in play when we needed it. 🤘

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Thx for the recruiting info @Js1 

Definitely want more offense, but no excuse for the terrible defense this season. Also really obvious that this current team isn't athletic enough to compete in OKC -- somehow upsetting okie lite ( a good draw in the Supers) it's seems to be the ceiling for this current team.

Mike White has to recruit a lot better going forward in order to really challenge blOU...

 

Edited by LTtxfan
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It's really hard to explain just how difficult it was losing Elish so close to the start of the season.  It really affected this team's pitching rotations/depth, offensive lineup and defensive approach. 

Losing our ace meant we had to throw Ryleigh White to the wolves, instead of bringing her on slowly (weekday starter or potentially redshirt) when we would have had a legit 1-2-3 with Elish, Shea and Molly.  We lost someone who threw 185 innings in 2019 with a 1.81 ERA and a 226/52 K to walk ratio.  (2020: 1.25 ERA in 84 innings with 96 K to 17 walks).  As we saw in the regional, we really had to lean on Shea (3 straight starts) until she was out of gas and it took a gutsy, monumental outing from Jacobson to get us to Stillwater. 

Her departure also meant we forced some other people into action at the DP position/forced to hit some players we could have sat on the bench and kept out of the lineup.  In 2019, a .315 hitter with 6 HR in 124 PA with 12 walks (2020: .370 hitter with 4 HR in 54 PAs and 12 walks).   I mean, Elish is a better bat than Alyssa Washington, Bri Cantu, MK Tedder, JJ Smith and Courtney Day.   

Elish's utility was her ability to hit when she pitched, ensuring your worst hitting fielder didn't have to hit that day (replace them with the DP) and she could still DP on days she didn't pitch.  Might have allowed someone like Corona to start earlier in the year at 3B and not have to worry about hitting because Elish was in the lineup instead.  See: putting the best bats on the field because of lack of someone like Elish to be able to replace a good defensive player/meh hitter in the lineup. 

On days Elish needed rest, she was a great PH option as well.  

Edited by Js1
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16 minutes ago, Js1 said:

It's really hard to explain just how difficult it was losing Elish so close to the start of the season.  It really affected this team's pitching rotations/depth, offensive lineup and defensive approach. 

Losing our ace meant we had to throw Ryleigh White to the wolves, instead of bringing her on slowly (weekday starter or potentially redshirt) when we would have had a legit 1-2-3 with Elish, Shea and Molly.  We lost someone who threw 185 innings in 2019 with a 1.81 ERA and a 226/52 K to walk ratio.  (2020: 1.25 ERA in 84 innings with 96 K to 17 walks).  As we saw in the regional, we really had to lean on Shea (3 straight starts) until she was out of gas and it took a gutsy, monumental outing from Jacobson to get us to Stillwater. 

Her departure also meant we forced some other people into action at the DP position/forced to hit some players we could have sat on the bench and kept out of the lineup.  In 2019, a .315 hitter with 6 HR in 124 PA with 12 walks (2020: .370 hitter with 4 HR in 54 PAs and 12 walks).   I mean, Elish is a better bat than Alyssa Washington, Bri Cantu, MK Tedder, JJ Smith and Courtney Day.   

Elish's utility was her ability to hit when she pitched, ensuring your worst hitting fielder didn't have to hit that day (replace them with the DP) and she could still DP on days she didn't pitch.  Might have allowed someone like Corona to start earlier in the year at 3B and not have to worry about hitting because Elish was in the lineup instead.  See: putting the best bats on the field because of lack of someone like Elish to be able to replace a good defensive player/meh hitter in the lineup. 

On days Elish needed rest, she was a great PH option as well.  

I get this discussion... But for me it's just old news.

We're in the Supers and recruiting to be great again -- not interested in any more Elish stuff

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Texas doesn't have issues with strength and conditioning. Those are just the type players Mike White wants. It's not a beauty pageant.....almost all the better lineups have a few girls in them that are on the bigger side. Those types normally hit for power. 

Alabama beat us in the supers 2 years ago with hitters that looked like this. 

5cce2538b4391.image.jpg?resize=1200,1500

Edited by texasstrong12
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25 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

Texas doesn't have issues with strength and conditioning. Those are just the type players Mike White wants. It's not a beauty pageant.....almost all the better lineups have a few girls in them that are on the bigger side. Those types normally hit for power. 

Alabama beat us in the supers 2 years ago with hitters that looked like this. 

5cce2538b4391.image.jpg?resize=1200,1500

That may or may not be true about White.  All of the UO transfers were 10/10 by softball standards.

A lot of the players on elite teams are chonkers though.  It's kind of amazing that all the working out they get doesn't keep them relatively slim.

O'Leary just flat doesn't look healthy to me.  She had some kind of issue didn't she?  She was never going to be a size 6, but she's been making her way up the chonk chart.

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23 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

That may or may not be true about White.  All of the UO transfers were 10/10 by softball standards.

A lot of the players on elite teams are chonkers though.  It's kind of amazing that all the working out they get doesn't keep them relatively slim.

O'Leary just flat doesn't look healthy to me.  She had some kind of issue didn't she?  She was never going to be a size 6, but she's been making her way up the chonk chart.

Cheriden Hawkins, Mike's pitcher from 2013-2016 at Oregon, was not a skinny gal.  Some of them are chonky, some of them are thicc, some of them are not. 

It doesn't seem to matter - Blaire Luna, Cat Osterman, Keilani Ricketts and Jackie Traina were all different body types but all really good pitchers.   Bailey Hemphill can hit a ton of HR, but so can Tiare Jennings and Jocelyn Alo.  Radically different body types. 

They're softball players.  Not softball athletes. 

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1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

That may or may not be true about White.  All of the UO transfers were 10/10 by softball standards.

A lot of the players on elite teams are chonkers though.  It's kind of amazing that all the working out they get doesn't keep them relatively slim.

O'Leary just flat doesn't look healthy to me.  She had some kind of issue didn't she?  She was never going to be a size 6, but she's been making her way up the chonk chart.

Yes, Shea has Graves Disease.   Reason she wears sunglasses and it can cause weight gain (thyroid issues).

Re:  Player conditioning.   Not necessarily their size/weight,  but the amount of bad weight and flexibility/speed for position players.  Not really a problem at Texas,  but 2/3 seem like they could have benefited from  full off season conditioning.  Though Shea has gained weight,  what a warrior !   Great endurance.

LHN guide states they are having replays all day of the Texas/WVU baseball blowouts instead of two classic softball games.  Not good,  maybe later.   Wanted to tape/ rewatch,  not as cognizant as before past midnight.

 

 

Edited by torre
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1 minute ago, torre said:

Yes, Shea has Graves Disease.   Reason she wears sunglasses and it can cause weight gain (thyroid issues).

Re:  Player conditioning.   Not necessarily their size/weight,  but the amount of bad weight and flexibility/speed for position players.  Not really a problem at Texas,  but 2/3 seem like they could have benefited from  full off season conditioning.  Though Shea has gained weight,  what a warrior !   Great endurance.

LHN guide states they are having replays all day of the Texas/WVU baseball blowouts instead of two classic softball games.  Not good,  maybe later.   Wanted to tape/ rewatch,  not as cognizant past midnight as before.

 

 

Replays on ESPN+ maybe? 

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8 minutes ago, torre said:

Good idea,  don't see it listed (on mobile).   Though I am just learning how to navigate that site.

On the app, go to BROWSE > softball > and then ON DEMAND. I see both games.  Game 7 is the first Texas-UO game listed.  Starts at about 25 min in 

Edited by Js1
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30 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Fucking sooner cheating confirmed. I'm sure that putting the batters box closer to the plate was just an accident. WU pitcher hits 3 batters in first inning.

Yep! 

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