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2023 Texas Softball - Back to WCWS


Js1

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1 minute ago, bschoolprof said:

This might be the biggest regular season series in the MW era.  This sets us up for #2 in the conference and hosting a super if we take care of business the rest of the way.

The win against OU in Austin last year was huge but this was bigger because it was a whole series. And we are on a 5 game win streak versus OSU

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A sweep of Baylor gets us to 14-4 and OSU can only tie us if they go 6-0 versus Tech and OU. If we drop one, we need OSU to drop 1. Likely though, Texas should win at least 2/3 versus Baylor and OSU will lose 2/3 to OU, if not get swept.

Texas pretty much has 2nd place locked up. Baylor is not that good - they are inconsistent and heavily reliant on Dariana Orme to pitch them to wins.  4-8 in conference is bad but they have played OU and OSU already. 

They gave up 16 runs to OSU in 3 games and 16 to OU in the 4 games they played (3 conference, 1 nonconf). And 23 to Tech…. They scored 6 against OSU and got blanked by OU in all 3 games 

I really like our odds to finish 14-4 and in 2nd place. Would, as mentioned, set up a rematch with OSU in the Big 12 tournament as the 2/3 seeded teams. 

Oh just imagine if we had swept KU and taken that game 2 versus OU, we’d be talking about being 41-7-1 and 13-2 in conference play and 100% in the top 8 seed convo

We will see what the RPI holds for us tomorrow 

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This team has guts. It feels like the freshmen are becoming the leaders of the team. The top of our lineup is filled with speed and girls who can really handle the bat....Probably not enough to win a series against OU down in OKC, but definitely good enough to get us there again this year.

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44 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

This team has guts. It feels like the freshmen are becoming the leaders of the team. The top of our lineup is filled with speed and girls who can really handle the bat....Probably not enough to win a series against OU down in OKC, but definitely good enough to get us there again this year.

I love this freshman class. Atwood, Citlaly, Goode and Martinez are a hell of a core if they all stick around for 4 years. Combined with Scott, Maloney, Morgan, Simpson bring second year players, that’s a good core that will play together for 3 years.

And we bring in the #4 ranked class next year too, with 4 players in the top 12 - Kayden Henry fills in an OF hole, Stewart/Hunter fill an infield hole (1B/3B), and Kavan in the circle. 

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2 hours ago, Js1 said:

I love this freshman class. Atwood, Citlaly, Goode and Martinez are a hell of a core if they all stick around for 4 years. Combined with Scott, Maloney, Morgan, Simpson bring second year players, that’s a good core that will play together for 3 years.

And we bring in the #4 ranked class next year too, with 4 players in the top 12 - Kayden Henry fills in an OF hole, Stewart/Hunter fill an infield hole (1B/3B), and Kavan in the circle. 

Damn. How can there be 3 classes better when all 4 of their recruits are in the top 12? That's crazy!

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1 minute ago, HollidayHorn said:

Damn. How can there be 3 classes better when all 4 of their recruits are in the top 12? That's crazy!

OU is #2 with 4 top 11 signees
Florida is #1 with 3 of the top 5 and 6 total in the top 20

And worse, Florida grabbed the top kid in Texas (Ava Brown, #1 pitcher and #1 overall) - these are battles Mike will have to start winning. 

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2 minutes ago, Js1 said:

OU is #2 with 4 top 11 signees
Florida is #1 with 3 of the top 5 and 6 total in the top 20

And worse, Florida grabbed the top kid in Texas (Ava Brown, #1 pitcher and #1 overall) - these are battles Mike will have to start winning. 

He absolutely needs to win those battles to get this team over the top. At least she didnt go to ou. I'm sure they're loaded anyway. Gonna guess that UCLA is the other team ahead of them?

Just told my daughter yesterday that the last 2 classes are building a helluva foundation to build on. 

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2 minutes ago, HollidayHorn said:

He absolutely needs to win those battles to get this team over the top. At least she didnt go to ou. I'm sure they're loaded anyway. Gonna guess that UCLA is the other team ahead of them?

Just told my daughter yesterday that the last 2 classes are building a helluva foundation to build on. 

I believe it's Florida, OU, Florida State, Texas, LSU or something like that. 

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2 hours ago, Js1 said:

I love this freshman class. Atwood, Citlaly, Goode and Martinez are a hell of a core if they all stick around for 4 years. Combined with Scott, Maloney, Morgan, Simpson bring second year players, that’s a good core that will play together for 3 years.

And we bring in the #4 ranked class next year too, with 4 players in the top 12 - Kayden Henry fills in an OF hole, Stewart/Hunter fill an infield hole (1B/3B), and Kavan in the circle. 

I hope that Mike will soon get a commitment from 2025 P Hannah Wells from Coahoma, Tx. She is very high on Texas and loves Mike White, and she is a difference maker the day she arrives on a college campus. 

20 minutes ago, HollidayHorn said:

He absolutely needs to win those battles to get this team over the top. At least she didnt go to ou. I'm sure they're loaded anyway. Gonna guess that UCLA is the other team ahead of them?

Just told my daughter yesterday that the last 2 classes are building a helluva foundation to build on. 

Water is wet....and Patty prefers to recruit kids into the portal who have already shown they can play.

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So looking at some conference-only stats - most teams have 2 series left, Texas has 1 

Texas is #2 in team offense - .273 average (OU .310), 71 runs (77 for OU), 12 HR (3rd, behind OU's 24 and Tech's 16)
Texas is #3 in team ERA - 2.40 (OU 0.44 and OSU 1.85)
Texas is #3 in team fielding - .966 (OU .984 and OSU .975)

Popelka is #2 in BA (.455), Scott is 5th (.413) - Maloney is 11th and then no other Texas player until the 30s
Mac Morgan is Texas top pitcher at #7 (1.59) with Citlaly right behind her (2.31); OU's big 3 are all under 1.00

Scott also leads the conference in hits (19) - 4 more than 2nd place; Atwood is 8th and Goode is 10th
Atwood leads the conference in RBI (16); Goode is 9th
Atwood is 7th in conference in HR (3) - the leader only has 6

I think Atwood is going to have a major case for Big 12 FOY.  Mia Scott was Texas' only preseason All Big 12 pick, but Atwood, Goode, Morgan and Martinez will have a case; though less so for Morgan with OU and OSU's pitching dominance. 

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5 hours ago, Js1 said:

10th in RPI

Jumped into the top 5 at #5 in D1 Softball 

So if the NCAA committee weights RPI the heaviest, we are still on the outside looking in at a super. Good thing the Big12 tournament is there to give us another opportunity at the Oklahoma schools. Remember when the Big12 didn’t have a tournament because of reasons? I remember 

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5 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

So if the NCAA committee weights RPI the heaviest, we are still on the outside looking in at a super. Good thing the Big12 tournament is there to give us another opportunity at the Oklahoma schools. Remember when the Big12 didn’t have a tournament because of reasons? I remember 

Baylor is #20 in RPI. Sweep them and good chance they're top 8. 

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Just now, perfectchaos007 said:

So if the NCAA committee weights RPI the heaviest, we are still on the outside looking in at a super. Good thing the Big12 tournament is there to give us another opportunity at the Oklahoma schools. Remember when the Big12 didn’t have a tournament because of reasons? I remember 

We still have also 3 games against Baylor, who is hanging on at #20

But I think the NCAA will have to look at some things when it comes to RPI:

  • Stanford is RPI #3, #1 SOS, 5th in the Pac 12 behind (3) UCLA, (12) UW, (25) Utah and (18) Oregon. Is the 5th place team in the Pac 12 worthy of hosting a super regional?
  • LSU is RPI #6, #7 SOS, tied for 5th in the SEC behind (8) Tennessee, (14) Georgia, (17) Arkansas, (19) Auburn.  Again, is the 5th place team in the SEC worthy of a super regional?
  • Duke is RPI #7, #15 and 4th in the ACC behind (5) FSU, (15) Clemson and (34) Louisville.  I'd be wholly surprised if the 4th place ACC team got to host a super

Texas will very likely finish 2nd in the Big 12 in the #1 RPI conference.  LSU is 5th in the #3 conference and Duke is 4th in the RPI #4 conference.  And then you have Northwestern ahead of us at #9, leading in the 5th best conference.  I do not think all 3 of Duke, LSU and Stanford will end up hosting a super regional. Stanford might only get one if the committee wants more than 1 west coach regional for TV purposes.  Texas, if it finishes the season 44-9-1, should absolutely be a national seed over LSU, Stanford and Duke. 

9 losses - 3 to #1 OU (which no one should punish anyone for) and 3 to #9 Northwestern, #12 Bama and #26 VT.  The rest of our losses are #60 USF, #61 Kansas and #47 Texas State. 

There's nothing egregious about our resume. A single loss outside the top 60. 

Ok State has a loss to #90 ISU
FSU has a loss to #70 Longwood
LSU has a loss to #53 McNeese
NW has a loss to #197 Toledo and #62 Iowa

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1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Texas will very likely finish 2nd in the Big 12 in the #1 RPI conference.

 

B12 is the #1 RPI Conference due to 3 in top 10 ?    Regardless,  hope we finish ahead of OKSt,  but...

Amazed OKSt only went down 1 spot (correct ?) in RPI and we only went up 1 or 2 ?   Suppose their overall strength of schedule.  Tech could take one from them in Lubbock and OU could sweep,  though they play in Stillwater.   Not sure of impact of conference tournament if you win 2 games.    KennyG has a task to regroup the team after the sweep,  similar to Pierce and Texas Baseball.    Not an easy task.

Below predictions were 21 April prior to this weekend's action but mainly gives some idea how other conferences are viewed as of 21 April.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d1/ncaa-womens-softball-rpi

https://www.ncaa.com/news/softball/article/2023-04-20/2023-softball-field-64-predicted-d1softball

NORMAN CLEMSON
1. Oklahoma* (1) 1. Clemson (16)
4. Robert Morris* 4. UConn*
   
2. Nebraska 2. South Carolina
3. Arizona 3. UNC Greensboro*
   
LOS ANGELES GAINESVILLE
1. UCLA* (2) 1. Florida (15)
4. GCU* 4. Boston*
   
2. Michigan 2. Oregon
3. Cal State Fullerton* 3. UCF
   
STILLWATER FAYETTEVILLE
1. Oklahoma State (3) 1. Arkansas (14)
4. Long Island* 4. SEMO*
   
2. Wichita State* 2. Baylor
3. Wisconsin 3. South Dakota State*
   
TALLAHASSEE AUSTIN
1. Florida State* (4) 1. Texas (13)
4. Princeton* 4. Prairie View A&M*
   
2. Auburn 2. Texas A&M
3. Charlotte* 3. Arizona State
   
STANFORD SEATTLE
1. Stanford (5) 1. Washington (12)
4. Sacramento State* 4. Delaware*
   
2. Minnesota 2. Ole Miss
3. LMU* 3. Boise State*
   
KNOXVILLE ATHENS
1. Tennessee* (6) 1. Georgia (11)
4. Dayton* 4. Canisius*
   
2. Virginia Tech 2. Cal
3. Indiana 3. Virginia
   
BATON ROUGE TUSCALOOSA
1. LSU (7) 1. Alabama (10)
4. Binghamton* 4. Ohio*
   
2. Louisiana* 2. Central Arkansas*
3. McNeese* 3. Ohio State
   
EVANSTON DURHAM
1. Northwestern* (8) 1. Duke (9)
4. UNI* 4. Morgan State*
   
2. Kentucky 2. Utah
3. Notre Dame 3. Campbell*

 

 

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First time since 2020 we swept the weekly awards

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Texas’ Reese Atwood (Player) and Mac Morgan (Pitcher) took home Big 12 softball weekly awards for the 11th week of the season as they led the Longhorns to a sweep of then-No. 3 Oklahoma State, their first sweep over OSU since 2016.

Atwood provided walk-off hits in two of UT’s three wins over the Cowgirls. After breaking up a no-hit bid by OSU’s Lexi Kilfoyl in the bottom of the seventh, the freshman followed it up with an eighth-inning single up the middle to clinch a 1-0 victory for the Longhorns in game one. In the second game of the series, Atwood became the first student-athlete in program history with walk-offs in three consecutive games, as she launched a 263-foot game-ending three-run home run off 2022 Co-Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Kelly Maxwell with Texas trailing by two. This is the first career Big 12 accolade for Atwood and marks the first true freshman to win Player of the Week this season.

Morgan tossed 9.2 innings of scoreless softball against OSU to extend her consecutive scoreless innings pitched streak to 29.2. In her first game of the weekend, the right-hander threw a career-long eight shutout innings in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel. The sophomore returned to the circle in the bottom of the sixth in game three to close out the weekend sweep while allowing just one baserunner in 1.2 innings of work. Morgan is the first player this season to win Pitcher of the Week two times in a row. 

 

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On 4/24/2023 at 11:23 AM, FloridaHorn said:

I hope that Mike will soon get a commitment from 2025 P Hannah Wells from Coahoma, Tx. She is very high on Texas and loves Mike White, and she is a difference maker the day she arrives on a college campus. 

Water is wet....and Patty prefers to recruit kids into the portal who have already shown they can play.

My hometown team will probably be running into Coahoma in round 3 or 4 of the playoffs. She struck out 28 in the 2 games they played last year. Hope to go see her pitch in person this year. Heres her season stats up til recently. 

Screenshot_20230424-173835_Messenger.jpg

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3 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

Rumor has it she is down to Texas and LSU. She is a legit player from the plate and the circle. 

I have no idea what snake oil Torina is selling to get these recruits to BR. Sure they had a nice streak of 3 straight WCWS from 2015-2017 but since? Nah. And their hitting is usually abysmal. 

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2 hours ago, Js1 said:

I have no idea what snake oil Torina is selling to get these recruits to BR. Sure they had a nice streak of 3 straight WCWS from 2015-2017 but since? Nah. And their hitting is usually abysmal. 

As bad as she is as a coach, she is worse as a person. 1st hand experience when my daughter was recruited.

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18 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

As bad as she is as a coach, she is worse as a person. 1st hand experience when my daughter was recruited.

Even more puzzling she’s constantly pulling in top 5-10 classes 

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11 hours ago, Js1 said:

Even more puzzling she’s constantly pulling in top 5-10 classes 

She is a smooth talker and comes across well to the players. However, she will turn on you on a dime when things don't go her way, and she fosters bickering and in fighting among her roster. Often picking favorites and forcing others to leave. Before the portal, she was know for making a player's life miserable, and then blocking where she could transfer to. In one case, completely blocking all schools in the players home state.

 

I'm not sure why players continue to go there. The facilities are nice, but Baton Rouge is a shithole in general.

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