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Texas Softball 2024 - Farewell to the Big 12 (and back to OKC?)


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Just now, Mo Horn said:

I didn't expect them to go undefeated, but sad to see the undefeated steak end

If there's any good news tonight, it's that it took us going to extra innings in a defenseless game to barely lose to the "best" pitcher in the land. I'm still not calling that positive, but it wasn't like we got blasted. 

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12 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

And yesterday, the Stanford women’s tennis team also beat Texas by a score of 4 to 3. Not great for Directors cup implications.

It’s a regular season game. Not postseason 

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It's good to play tough close games like this early in the season.  It's a long tough road to OKC.  

A few thoughts:

-- we're never gonna be a buttoned-up defense under White; he values hitting over fielding (I can't blame him). So we are gonna have some adventurous games.  This one seemed especially bad on the defensive side.  

-- I thought our pitching was great - we gave up one earned run all night.

-- We had some big hits in key moments, but I didn't really like our approach at the plate all night.  Canady's elite, so it's gonna be a battle.  But we were way too aggressive at anything middle up all night, and that played right into her strength as a riseball pitcher.  We have to spit on that early in counts and make her throw strikes up in the zone. Her change is devastating - can't let her get to two strikes easily or it's over. I hope we learn from that for later in the season.  

--Harping on the above again, we even fucked this up with our bunts. Late in the game, we tried to sac bunt Bella over to third with no outs.  The whole stadium knows we are likely bunting, so we have to know Stanford's gonna go up in the zone to try to get us to pop up a bunt.  That's just what we did. Mia absolutely has to lay off anything that looks middle up there. She did the #1 thing you absolutely cannot do in that spot.  Was she coached at all on that?

--I didn't know leaving early was now reviewable.  That's gonna be quite interesting as the season goes on.    

--Hunter needs to play more.  

--Atwood is a fucking monster at the plate.  Just unreal.  She's not a great blocker, but see my first point.  

--Even though we lost, it was a great game to watch.  Pretty nerve racking.  

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One thing you can say, this team had been in a lot of easy games. Coaches do like that this game had a lot of lessons on execution, defense and timely hitting. We may find ourselves tied in the bottom of the 7th against OU or in extras against OKST at some point 

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Just crazy that we lost a game on a dropped play at the plate, when Henry threw an absolute strike to Atwood. It was a comedy of errors all night on defense, and yet they were still in the game. Gotta find a way to keep Scott in the line up, but off of 3B.  Every play is an adventure with her

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1 hour ago, FloridaHorn said:

Just crazy that we lost a game on a dropped play at the plate, when Henry threw an absolute strike to Atwood. It was a comedy of errors all night on defense, and yet they were still in the game. Gotta find a way to keep Scott in the line up, but off of 3B.  Every play is an adventure with her

The poor blocking technique by Atwood on the previous play to even allow the runner to third was just as bad.  So was the bunt that Scott put out there the previous inning and the leaving early by Bella.  It was a true team effort to fuck things up there at the end.  I wouldn't put it all on Atwood's drop.  That was a dime by Henry though . . . what a shame.  

I'm a catcher dad so excuse my obsession with blocking. I noticed that Atwood's technique was not the best last year as a freshman, but you live with it because of her incredible bat. The frustrating thing is, unlike hitting, almost anyone can be a better blocker - it's just technique and grit.  

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1 hour ago, bschoolprof said:

The poor blocking technique by Atwood on the previous play to even allow the runner to third was just as bad.  So was the bunt that Scott put out there the previous inning and the leaving early by Bella.  It was a true team effort to fuck things up there at the end.  I wouldn't put it all on Atwood's drop.  That was a dime by Henry though . . . what a shame.  

I'm a catcher dad so excuse my obsession with blocking. I noticed that Atwood's technique was not the best last year as a freshman, but you live with it because of her incredible bat. The frustrating thing is, unlike hitting, almost anyone can be a better blocker - it's just technique and grit.  

I wonder if we continue to ease Stewie into catching and then switch her and Atwood at 1B/C eventually - get both bats in and Stewie may be the better defensive catcher. I don’t want Mitchell playing 1st at all. I’m almost thinking:

C Stewie/Atwood

1B Atwood/Stewie

2B Goode/Washington

SS Martinez

3B Mitchell

OF Dayton/Henry/Maloney

DP Scott (or Henry and put Mia in the OF)

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This team is deep, Mike just has to find the best lineup. . We know Mike values Bats over the gloves but Other than yesterday we have been pretty solid on the defensive end. Yesterday was just one of those days, if we play them 10times we most likely win 8

 

Stanford is a good team though, was ranked top 5 preseason I believe, so it basically took a team with OKC potential a gifted runner in extra innings, probably the top pitcher in the nation and multiple blunders for them to beat us by 1. 
 

we’ll be alright 

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1 hour ago, Js1 said:

I wonder if we continue to ease Stewie into catching and then switch her and Atwood at 1B/C eventually - get both bats in and Stewie may be the better defensive catcher. I don’t want Mitchell playing 1st at all. I’m almost thinking:

C Stewie/Atwood

1B Atwood/Stewie

2B Goode/Washington

SS Martinez

3B Mitchell

OF Dayton/Henry/Maloney

DP Scott (or Henry and put Mia in the OF)

great thoughts.  I do like that we are rotating Stewart at catcher, if for no other reason to take some wear off Atwood.  It's tough . . . she's got a great arm and can hose runners with it, so she's not a bad defensive catcher at all.  She's just not a great blocker IMO.  Her bat is something else though - she's a beast.  

I did notice that Mitchell's footwork at 1B needs work.  I actually like her better at third as well, which is weird because it's a much harder position than 1st. One note on Mitchell and Stewart: they are both surprisingly fast for big hitters.  Stewie in particular is a big chick, but she can scoot.  What an athlete.    

Mia's a tough one. She has the athleticism to play 3B, but she Roger Dorn's too many instead of squaring up and working through the ball.  I would also consider some rotation at RF with Maloney (Henry, Mia, Hunter?). Ashton gets on base, which is great for the 9 hole, but her short game/slapping tends to get shut down against good pitching/defenses.  Mike has some tough choices to make, but it's great to have so much talent to make the choices tough.

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22 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

If that actually worked, I'd have posted it every time we batted after the Atwood HR last night. 😝

I’m still pissed about last night .. especially losing (giving away) a game to Stanford.  Everyone seems to be pointing to Atwood dropping a perfect throw from LF resulting in the game winning run.  I understand that because of when it occurred.

But, I can’t really separate that play from Henry dropping a can of corn that directly led to Stanford’s first two runs in the 1st inning.  Add in the bunt snafu with Bella already in scoring position with no outs in the 7th … and then Bella leaving 2B too soon.

Game, set, match.

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2 minutes ago, VirginiaLonghorn said:

Add in the bunt snafu with Bella already in scoring position with no outs in the 7th … and then Bella leaving 2B too soon.

This pissed me off more than the defense. Bad offensive execution when we are supposed to be a better offense than defense 

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Since we are throwing out thoughts:

-  That game hurts,  we will talk about it infinitely like '22 Clearwater.    Hopefully,  later in a positive way.

-  Katie Cimusz may be the best defensive catcher/1B of them all.   Though not seen enough of Stewart.    Katie's offense is not par compared but she still should be considered as late inning defensive replacement when needed.

  - That said,  would have liked to have seen Goode (if healthy, though she is batting .100) get the pinch hit role vs Katie last night.   Goode has a better compact swing vs Canady.

-  Small sample size,  but we are currently 8th in the B12 in fielding (.959), 1st in hitting (.402) and pitching (0.76).

 

-  Likely challenging game which we need in San Marcos Wed night.      Texas St is 13-4,  currently 5-0 at a tournament at Arizona St.  Beat Ariz St (11-5) 12-2.

 

 

 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, VirginiaLonghorn said:

I’m still pissed about last night .. especially losing (giving away) a game to Stanford.  Everyone seems to be pointing to Atwood dropping a perfect throw from LF resulting in the game winning run.  I understand that because of when it occurred.

But, I can’t really separate that play from Henry dropping a can of corn that directly led to Stanford’s first two runs in the 1st inning.  Add in the bunt snafu with Bella already in scoring position with no outs in the 7th … and then Bella leaving 2B too soon.

Game, set, match.

So let's follow that up by being even worse so far today. Maybe our leaders need to lead. 

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6 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

great thoughts.  I do like that we are rotating Stewart at catcher, if for no other reason to take some wear off Atwood.  It's tough . . . she's got a great arm and can hose runners with it, so she's not a bad defensive catcher at all.  She's just not a great blocker IMO.  Her bat is something else though - she's a beast.  

I did notice that Mitchell's footwork at 1B needs work.  I actually like her better at third as well, which is weird because it's a much harder position than 1st. One note on Mitchell and Stewart: they are both surprisingly fast for big hitters.  Stewie in particular is a big chick, but she can scoot.  What an athlete.    

Mia's a tough one. She has the athleticism to play 3B, but she Roger Dorn's too many instead of squaring up and working through the ball.  I would also consider some rotation at RF with Maloney (Henry, Mia, Hunter?). Ashton gets on base, which is great for the 9 hole, but her short game/slapping tends to get shut down against good pitching/defenses.  Mike has some tough choices to make, but it's great to have so much talent to make the choices tough.

Stewart has the strongest arm on the team. I too am a catchers dad. Daughter played D1 softball as a 4 year starter behind the plate. Blocking pitches is a mindset and sometimes kids get a little lazy back there. Atwood is also 6’ tall and that can be a challenge as well. I would like to see Atwood get more time at first and keep her body fresh so her bat stays in the lineup. Feels like we actually have a team that can win a game or two against OU.

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Another thing about the Stanford game last night involving a lack of focus or a brain fart is when Atwood was batting with runners in scoring position and 2 strikes.  She was called out for not being in the batter’s box by the time the pitch clock reached the 10 second mark.  Although we have no idea what would have happened if she had not made such an egregious mistake, it is a mental error that should never happen!!! 🤘

 

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11 hours ago, hornag said:

Another thing about the Stanford game last night involving a lack of focus or a brain fart is when Atwood was batting with runners in scoring position and 2 strikes.  She was called out for not being in the batter’s box by the time the pitch clock reached the 10 second mark.  Although we have no idea what would have happened if she had not made such an egregious mistake, it is a mental error that should never happen!!! 🤘

 

I wouldn't put too much stock in that one. The player clock is new, it is early in the year, the clock start time was very inconsistent all night. Alyssa Washington steps out of the box and removes her gloves and meanders around and yet never got a call against her. Atwood backed out of the box, took a sign from the coach and got back in and was charged with the 10 second violation. It was a ticky tack call that you won't see more than 10 times all year, if you watch a lot of softball.

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9 hours ago, FloridaHorn said:

I wouldn't put too much stock in that one. The player clock is new, it is early in the year, the clock start time was very inconsistent all night. Alyssa Washington steps out of the box and removes her gloves and meanders around and yet never got a call against her. Atwood backed out of the box, took a sign from the coach and got back in and was charged with the 10 second violation. It was a ticky tack call that you won't see more than 10 times all year, if you watch a lot of softball.

I had the same thought at the time of the call that it was a ticky tack call.  Felt that the ump was placing his priority a little above his wage rate.  Don’t think it was a very appropriate time to make such a critical/crucial call.

 

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1 minute ago, hornag said:

I had the same thought at the time of the call that it was a ticky tack call.  Felt that the ump was placing his priority a little above his wage rate.  Don’t think it was a very appropriate time to make such a critical/crucial call.

 

Sounds exactly like an ump/ref then 

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