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Posted (edited)

RE: Pitcher quality in the Tennessee-Nebraska series

From a softball perspective, sure, it might be a great series.  But the average viewer isn't going to know anything about the pitchers of these teams.  It's not like either of them have a Caitlin Clark-type hyped player. 

For network, you'd need something to catch the casual viewer.  It's hard to grab viewers with a 7-seed vs unseeded matchup.  Every other matchup has conference vs conference rivalry interest or seeded vs seeded quality except for this one and Oregon-Liberty, and even Oregon-Liberty has the giant-killer Cinderella angle.  What's the angle for this game?  That the pitchers from these non-rival and non-top-ranked schools are so good that there might be almost no runs scored?  I don't see how that makes any casual channel flipper stop on this game.  And I could easily see that as a reason it got bumped to ESPN2.

Edited by TexLonghorn
Posted

SIAP but something just occurred to me.  The announcers yesterday couldn't stop talking about Ford's amazing motivational '4 outs' mantra about them almost beating us to go to okc last year.

Liberty came to bat trailing 3-1 in the 6th.  They hit a 2 run homer to tie and then a 3 run homer for the winning margin, both with, you guessed it, 2 outs in the 6th.  4 outs to go.  Seems like a self fulfilling inception.

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Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, WBT said:

SIAP but something just occurred to me.  The announcers yesterday couldn't stop talking about Ford's amazing motivational '4 outs' mantra about them almost beating us to go to okc last year.

Liberty came to bat trailing 3-1 in the 6th.  They hit a 2 run homer to tie and then a 3 run homer for the winning margin, both with, you guessed it, 2 outs in the 6th.  4 outs to go.  Seems like a self fulfilling inception.

I remember during the SECT, they said Ford was also harping on them being the underdog regardless of seeding if they got #1, because they saw what happened last year with Texas being #1 and almost losing in the super

Edited by Js1
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Posted

Hitting - Texas

Pitching - Clemson (pitched in an easier league)

Fielding - Texas (that’s a first) 

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Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, D3zii said:

What’s Texas softball recruiting looking like? 

Really good class coming in 

https://texaslonghorns.com/news/2024/11/13/softball-announces-seven-signees-as-part-of-latest-signing-class.aspx

Wells, Nichols and Crabtree are legit 

3 minutes ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

How did we get slotted for the Thursday game vs Friday?  TK will have less than a week of rest.  Hopefully, she run on adrenaline!

That’s entirely up to ESPN. I’m guessing Clemson isn’t the sexiest draw as an opponent 

But if we sweep, we finish a day earlier than the Friday regional teams if they sweep and 2 days earlier if they have to go 3 

Edited by Js1
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Posted
2 hours ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

How did we get slotted for the Thursday game vs Friday?  TK will have less than a week of rest.  Hopefully, she run on adrenaline!

These girls throw a 100+ pitches several times a week throughout the season in practice. 4 days of rest is more than enough. I suspect you see TK in game one Thursday, and if we were to lose, she would pitch game 2 as well. She is our horse and this is the time of year to ride her. All teams are in the same boat we are. You can't worry about winning games that you may not make it to. Everyone is available in every game and every situation.

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Posted
8 minutes ago, HollidayHorn said:

Sydney Berzon and Tallon Edward's are both in the portal. Surely Coach would have interest in them?

A pitcher and a 3B? Hell yes. 

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Posted
2 hours ago, FloridaHorn said:

These girls throw a 100+ pitches several times a week throughout the season in practice. 4 days of rest is more than enough. I suspect you see TK in game one Thursday, and if we were to lose, she would pitch game 2 as well. She is our horse and this is the time of year to ride her. All teams are in the same boat we are. You can't worry about winning games that you may not make it to. Everyone is available in every game and every situation.

Clemson’s Top pitcher has 169.1 IP (2.81). They do have a legit #2 with 129.1 IP (2.54)

TK has 161 IP and a 2.48 ERA. Our “#2” would be Cit with 79 IP and 2.48 ERA. 

Posted
21 hours ago, WBT said:

SIAP but something just occurred to me.  The announcers yesterday couldn't stop talking about Ford's amazing motivational '4 outs' mantra about them almost beating us to go to okc last year.

Liberty came to bat trailing 3-1 in the 6th.  They hit a 2 run homer to tie and then a 3 run homer for the winning margin, both with, you guessed it, 2 outs in the 6th.  4 outs to go.  Seems like a self fulfilling inception.

how does a softball coach not know that you never count outs...

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Posted
On 5/19/2025 at 2:13 PM, Cairn Horn88 said:

When aggy coach brought Kennedy into the last game in the 6th inning, it was hot and she already looked drained and depleted.  She just didn’t have her good stuff.  It was obvious  coach thought she could hold Liberty for two innings.  But, she looked like she was already exhausted and no zip.   She ended up giving up 5 HRs.   They just teed off on her.  Bad pitching move by coach.

aggy coach absolutely got caught in the classic "don't go down with your best pitcher on the bench". Kennedy cratered but you don't see any aggy really complaining that the coach put her out there.

Softball is weird like that because the coaches know they aren't risking careers having girls throw 400 pitches in a weekend if needed.

Posted

Interesting portal names so far -

P Sydney Berzon (LSU)
3B Tallen Edwards (OKST) - hilarious because she once very publicly said "there is only one Oklahoma and it ends in STATE"
P Taylor Pannell (Missouri)
P Cece Cellura (SDSU)
INF Tianna Bell (Cal)
OF Sophia Knight (Boise State)
 

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Posted
11 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

The Ok state chick is the one with weird eyes (no eyelashes?). She always stands out everytime we play them.  

Mmhm.

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Posted
13 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

The Ok state chick is the one with weird eyes (no eyelashes?). She always stands out everytime we play them.  

She is a really good defensive 3B. Not sure she is the type of hitter MW will chase this year, but her glove is damn good.

Posted
3 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

She is a really good defensive 3B. Not sure she is the type of hitter MW will chase this year, but her glove is damn good.

Tianna Bell plays 1st and 3rd. Smacked 15 HRs this year 

Posted
2 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

We will def need corner infielders with pop to replace Mia and Joley (though Stewie likely slides to 3rd).  

Yea. And one of our incoming recruits is supposedly a Bella starter kit. 

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Posted

The OVC Pitcher of the Year, McKenzie Oslanzi from EIU is in the portal.

She was just at McCombs too

Posted
1 hour ago, Js1 said:

The OVC Pitcher of the Year, McKenzie Oslanzi from EIU is in the portal.

She was just at McCombs too

She is a good pitcher, but I am guessing she will go somewhere that she can get innings. That won't be at Texas with TK, Cit, Salmon and the incoming class. 

 

5 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

We will def need corner infielders with pop to replace Mia and Joley (though Stewie likely slides to 3rd).  

Agreed. We need a power bat that can play first, and a corner OF with speed. Vivi will more than replace Joley's production at the plate, but Mia's versatility is the hard one to replace.

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Posted

I am obviously excited to see how the rest of this season pans out, but I also think it will be entertaining to see how next year's team is put together this fall. 

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Posted
27 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

I am obviously excited to see how the rest of this season pans out, but I also think it will be entertaining to see how next year's team is put together this fall. 

I agree, as long as we get a quality arm from the portal, our lineups should be good and have depth again. 

Posted
47 minutes ago, FloridaHorn said:

I am obviously excited to see how the rest of this season pans out, but I also think it will be entertaining to see how next year's team is put together this fall. 

I hope after this season White goes on the offensive this off-season to get better and not just be complacent 

Posted
29 minutes ago, Hookem10 said:

Go get canady and tell her she’ll get a shot at championship her last year the second tech is eliminated 

Texas is not shelling out that kinda money for one player. Tech did because they are a desperate 2nd rate program. 

Posted
34 minutes ago, D3zii said:

I hope after this season White goes on the offensive this off-season to get better and not just be complacent 

I know we all like to say Mike was complacent last offseason, but we had some of the most returning positional player production in the entire country: 

Reese
Mitchell
Goode
Vivi
Scott
Stewie
Maloney
Henry
 

That would have been your starting offense/defense.  Nobody was going to transfer here to sit behind a top 3 NPOY finisher, a super senior, a stud sophomore SS, stud 3B, stud sophomores in Stewie and Henry and an everyday OF starter in Maloney.

Vivi's injury happened in the fall - unless you found a grad transfer (a la Dolcini) who could enroll super late, we were screwed from the moment Vivi got hurt.  There was only one potential fall transfer SS I can recall and that was Ariel Kowalewski, who was not eligible to play for an SEC school.  She chose to go to aggy and redshirt instead.  Would not have helped us. 

The only positional battle a transfer might have given us was at 2nd, maybe, but Goode was an everyday starter there as a freshman. 

I know we went after Canady (bc duh, you have to), but we had 2 pitchers returning who had over 100 innings and a third with 93.  I think if we went after a lefty specialist (wish we had), it would have probably led to Sophia transferring with Cam coming in.  Not a lot of teams are going to keep 6 pitchers in this day and age. 

Mike has a lot more wiggle room this offseason due to graduation:

You have to replace 1st and 3rd (Joley and Mia)
You have to replace Mac and Sophia
You have to replace two of your DPs (Katie C and Quiroga)

I fully expect Mike to grab corner infielder (or two) and a pitcher.  Crabtree, Lawson and Nichols will push for 1st or battle Goode for 2nd and Wells is a stud.  Sneed can play LF if Stewie moves over to third. 

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Posted
2 hours ago, Hookem10 said:

Go get canady and tell her she’ll get a shot at championship her last year the second tech is eliminated 

Nice clip early in video of Texas win in semi's vs NiJa at WCWS 🤘

 

Posted

Besides maybe UCLA and Oregon from PAC 12 play last year, has anyone else seen Canady as much as Texas has the last 2 years?

Like good god, we know her pretty darn well if we have to face Tech in OKC

Posted
8 hours ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

Heard that Clemson has only been playing softball for 5 years….interesting…..they’ve made good progress.

Hired a good coach who was at Stanford before. Controversial firing 

Posted
12 hours ago, Js1 said:

I know we all like to say Mike was complacent last offseason, but we had some of the most returning positional player production in the entire country: 

Reese
Mitchell
Goode
Vivi
Scott
Stewie
Maloney
Henry
 

That would have been your starting offense/defense.  Nobody was going to transfer here to sit behind a top 3 NPOY finisher, a super senior, a stud sophomore SS, stud 3B, stud sophomores in Stewie and Henry and an everyday OF starter in Maloney.

Vivi's injury happened in the fall - unless you found a grad transfer (a la Dolcini) who could enroll super late, we were screwed from the moment Vivi got hurt.  There was only one potential fall transfer SS I can recall and that was Ariel Kowalewski, who was not eligible to play for an SEC school.  She chose to go to aggy and redshirt instead.  Would not have helped us. 

The only positional battle a transfer might have given us was at 2nd, maybe, but Goode was an everyday starter there as a freshman. 

I know we went after Canady (bc duh, you have to), but we had 2 pitchers returning who had over 100 innings and a third with 93.  I think if we went after a lefty specialist (wish we had), it would have probably led to Sophia transferring with Cam coming in.  Not a lot of teams are going to keep 6 pitchers in this day and age. 

Mike has a lot more wiggle room this offseason due to graduation:

You have to replace 1st and 3rd (Joley and Mia)
You have to replace Mac and Sophia
You have to replace two of your DPs (Katie C and Quiroga)

I fully expect Mike to grab corner infielder (or two) and a pitcher.  Crabtree, Lawson and Nichols will push for 1st or battle Goode for 2nd and Wells is a stud.  Sneed can play LF if Stewie moves over to third. 

Great rundown. Thanks for the compilation. 

Despite Vivi's loss, we've had another really solid overall season. To me it just doesn't feel quite as good as it's been, in part because there was reason to think we'd quickly fill the void left by OU's departing seniors. Hopefully we still end up doing just that in OKC, but so far, our inability to replace their dominance has magnified every weakness we've shown. An SEC schedule of course is a huge reason for that. 

The good news? Unlike certain other elite teams, we're still standing. And now that Stewie and Goode are hitting well and even Bennett is showing signs of life, there's reason to be encouraged about what's still ahead.

TK's much better use of offspeed pitches lately also has been a big help. I know White will throw her until her arm falls off, and I won't blame him too much for doing it, but we have to hope at least one of the other pitchers also answers the call. Maybe a strategic relief mix of Cit, Cam, Sophia and Mac (in that order of usage?) will give us enough.

I'm trying not to worry about 2026 until 2025 is over. That said, I'll be at least as interested in what we do with our pitching coach as with the pitching roster itself. 

 

 

Posted
39 minutes ago, D3zii said:

Yall like Stewie on the hot corner at 3rd?? Idk man. 

Like?  No.  But she has less ground to cover there, so that plus her big bat, and I can live with it.  So will MW.  He's always valued offense over defense.  

Speaking of, I have to give Mia credit.  She went from being a defensive liability to a pretty good defensive 3rd baseman this year.  

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Posted
3 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

Like?  No.  But she has less ground to cover there, so that plus her big bat, and I can live with it.  So will MW.  He's always valued offense over defense.  

Speaking of, I have to give Mia credit.  She went from being a defensive liability to a pretty good defensive 3rd baseman this year.  

Yep, 3B needs a lot less range and she has the arm.  We have seen her flash that arm in LF and SS already.

If we cannot find a transfer corner infielder, you probably roll with Stewie there instead of sticking a freshman there right away.  There was early shuffling in 2024 with Stewie playing 3rd and Mia in CF. 

Posted
4 hours ago, Js1 said:

Yep, 3B needs a lot less range and she has the arm.  We have seen her flash that arm in LF and SS already.

If we cannot find a transfer corner infielder, you probably roll with Stewie there instead of sticking a freshman there right away.  There was early shuffling in 2024 with Stewie playing 3rd and Mia in CF. 

This is the way. I would prefer Stewie at 1B, but if I were a betting man, my money would go to her at third. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, FloridaHorn said:

This is the way. I would prefer Stewie at 1B, but if I were a betting man, my money would go to her at third. 

She’s on  almost a Mia path. We’ve seen her play 3rd, LF, SS, C and first. 

Posted
Just now, Js1 said:

She’s on  almost a Mia path. We’ve seen her play 3rd, LF, SS, C and first. 

If she keeps hitting that building across the street with line drives, I don't care where he plays her.

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Posted

I am not nervous for tonight. I do hate I will be landing in Houston 15 min after first pitch. Will try to follow along 

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