2020 Softball Season

[racerx5908]

I stopped by the softball field and took pictures of the construction on the new offices/development center:

I think that originally the project was slated to start in June and be done in November - 6 months. So if they really started in October, then they might be done in March. A bit too late for the 2020 season. I asked my wife, who is in the construction business if that was reasonable. She said that if they use CMU (what we call cinder block) for most of the construction, then that was reasonable.

 

[racerx5908]

Who do you all think freshman wise can compete for a starting spot this upcoming season? Any position

Every player's incoming bio on every team in the NCAA makes them sound one step below Olympic caliber material. So, who knows?

 

[Hardballer]

I don't think it's reasonable to expect any of the frosh to start as we have all the starters returning plus Ellsworth. Based on sketchy information from the internet and our problems on the left side of the infield, I would think both Popelka and Corona will get a chance to play. Sullivan's bat should allow here to play also. Mardar will probably be future catching depth. Grace Green is a mystery because of injuries although Mike must think there is something still there as he's bringing her in.
Birdville was only a .500 club this last spring so who knows? Courtney Day can hit the long ball and pitch, but had committed to Sam Houston State (I think) so
why not more offers? This is not expert analysis but just adding 2 and 2 here and there. I do think the 2020 group is clearly a step up based only on youtube videos and the New Jersey pitcher's ranking.

 

[Jacob Johnson]

I don't think it's reasonable to expect any of the frosh to start as we have all the starters returning plus Ellsworth. Based on sketchy information from the internet and our problems on the left side of the infield, I would think both Popelka and Corona will get a chance to play. Sullivan's bat should allow here to play also. Mardar will probably be future catching depth. Grace Green is a mystery because of injuries although Mike must think there is something still there as he's bringing her in.
Birdville was only a .500 club this last spring so who knows? Courtney Day can hit the long ball and pitch, but had committed to Sam Houston State (I think) so
why not more offers? This is not expert analysis but just adding 2 and 2 here and there. I do think the 2020 group is clearly a step up based only on youtube videos and the New Jersey pitcher's ranking.

Well thats depressing carona won 5a/6a player of the year in Texas so out of anyone I think she can get playing time. Also grace green I think can beat out adams for the 3rd pitcher spot but other than that Texas returns everyone they need. I really hope steve singleton can get the bats going because thats what hurt texas the most last season was the bottom half of the batting lineup but we will see how the fall goes and we can go from there

 

[Ellis21d]

Great news! Taylor Ellsworth gets red shirt year approved by NCAA! She has 2 more years of eligibility now.

 

[racerx5908]

Since there was no broadcast or box score for the Texas-LSU scrimmage last night, here is what probably happened based on the Texas twitter account (posting backwards in time):

The one surprising fact is Colleen Sullivan doesn't seem to have a twitter account!

And not surprisingly, everyone (probably) played.

 

[Jacob Johnson]

Since there was no broadcast or box score for the Texas-LSU scrimmage last night, here is what probably happened based on the Texas twitter account (posting backwards in time):

The one surprising fact is Colleen Sullivan doesn't seem to have a twitter account!

And not surprisingly, everyone (probably) played.

There was a stream but I found out about it around the 7th inning but janae Jefferson was not in the batting lineup I saw many freshmen really all of them batting and they looked pretty good for the most part. Texas now has dept and the bottom half of the lineup should be able to produce more hits

 

[racerx5908]

Looks like they've loaded up the 2020 schedule:
2020 Softball Schedule - University of Texas Athletics
Most interesting are that we're hosting 3 invitationals (yay!) and that we'll be playing Alabama twice at their invitational (whoa!). And, we'll be facing a recent teammate Jaden Hoelker at UT Arlington.

 

[Ellis21d]

Wow Coach White not backing away from tough competition! I love that mentality! It has to help with recruiting as well!

 

[racerx5908]

Article about new Spring tournament:
https://www.flosoftball.com/article...s-adds-division-i-softball-to-its-2020-lineup
It does a poor (no) job of listing any of the teams that will be participating. Looked at UT calendar and it's fully booked so we're not in there.

If you're trying to promote the game of softball, why not list the teams that will be participating? They just wanted to pump themselves up.

 

[Moooooo]

Saw a blurb in the Statesman that Janna Roberts has quit the softball team to focus on academics (aerospace engineering major). Good luck to her!

Read somewhere that Taylor Ellsworth has been granted a medical redshirt due to her injury last season.

 

[Moooooo]

Field:

 

[Jacob Johnson]

Saw a blurb in the Statesman that Janna Roberts has quit the softball to focus on academics (aerospace engineering major). Good luck to her!

Read somewhere that Taylor Ellsworth has been granted a medical redshirt due to her injury last season.

So she will be a redshirt junior in 2020?

 

[Moooooo]

So she will be a redshirt junior in 2020?

Yes, as now reflecting in the updated roster:

2020 Softball Roster - University of Texas Athletics

 

[racerx5908]

In 3 weeks! Another season of wondering, "Can we catch OU pitching on a bad, bad day?" Two years ago, we were supposed to be second, but surprise Baylor was. Last year we were supposed to be second, but surprise it was OSU. I'm optimistic that we might actually achieve #2 status because of the coaching staff and the upgrade of our players. But, who knows....it might be Tech swooping into #2 this year.

And pray the OU pitching staff finally has a down year.

 

[Jacob Johnson]

In 3 weeks! Another season of wondering, "Can we catch OU pitching on a bad, bad day?" Two years ago, we were supposed to be second, but surprise Baylor was. Last year we were supposed to be second, but surprise it was OSU. I'm optimistic that we might actually achieve #2 status because of the coaching staff and the upgrade of our players. But, who knows....it might be Tech swooping into #2 this year.

And pray the OU pitching staff finally has a down year.

I mean I personally believe Texas has what it takes to win the big 12. Our pitching is going to be great and now everyone looks like they are where they are supposed to be defensively. Offense shouldn't be a problem with the power Texas has in its lineup and Oklahoma pitching staff took a big hit with mariah lopez transferring as well as the seniors they graduated. I'm very excited to see what this team can do

 

[racerx5908]

I mean I personally believe Texas has what it takes to win the big 12. Our pitching is going to be great and now everyone looks like they are where they are supposed to be defensively. Offense shouldn't be a problem with the power Texas has in its lineup and Oklahoma pitching staff took a big hit with mariah lopez transferring as well as the seniors they graduated. I'm very excited to see what this team can do

I had to go to the OU roster to remind me who they had:
G Juarez - senior, star pitcher
Brooke Vestal - sophmore, just so, so
And two freshmen pitchers.
So maybe you're right. I too am surprised that Lopez left. But maybe after waiting 3 years to be the #1, she decided she'd rather be #1 elsewhere rather than be #2 or #3 at OU.

 

[Moooooo]

I had to go to the OU roster to remind me who they had:
G Juarez - senior, star pitcher
Brooke Vestal - sophmore, just so, so
And two freshmen pitchers.
So maybe you're right. I too am surprised that Lopez left. But maybe after waiting 3 years to be the #1, she decided she'd rather be #1 elsewhere rather than be #2 or #3 at OU.

OU got a transfer pitcher for the 2019 season named Shannon something out of Florida Atlantic, I believe. She played quite a bit last season, and should be their #2 pitcher this year. Vestal redshirted last season due to injury, so has not yet pitched in college.

 

[racerx5908]

OU got a transfer pitcher for the 2019 season named Shannon something out of Florida Atlantic, I believe. She played quite a bit last season, and should be their #2 pitcher this year. Vestal redshirted last season due to injury, so has not yet pitched in college.

Ahhh, you're right. I breezed by her name - Shannon Saile, now a senior
And you're right, Vestal didn't play all last year.
Wow....that means they have 6 pitchers on the roster!
I know that sometimes it's Pitcher/Utility and more utility.
I remember the year that Connie Clark first had 5 pitchers and many, like me, were shaking our head wondering, what she was doing with 5 pitchers.
I guess she was slightly ahead of the curve. Also, this explains why Lopez left.

 

[racerx5908]

Stopped by McCombs to see what progress has been made for the player development/offices for softball. Yeah, for sure not going to be done until after the season.

 

[racerx5908]

Looks like they're making use of the new weight room across the street at baseball's player development center.

 

[racerx5908]

New video board? Yay! Actually, it's probably a portion of the football stadium's Godzilla-tron. Someone was joking with DelConte on twitter about taking it off his hands and he said that it was going to be repurposed at other sites. I believe the current scoreboard at McCombs is the former scoreboard from baseball when they upgraded a few years ago - which explains why it defaults to show 9 innings instead of 7.

 

[racerx5908]

I hope it's JUMBO

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

I hope the screen is big, but the speakers are the same. I don't think I would ever attend another softball game if they brought the loud garbage from DKR to the softball stadium as part of re-using godzillatron.

 

[racerx5908]

Well, DUH!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ellis21d]

Why in the world was this not done long ago?

 

[racerx5908]

Why in the world was this not done long ago?

Plonskly didn't want to rock the boat.

 

[racerx5908]

FloSoftball has Texas ranked in pre-season at #7
https://www.flosoftball.com/ranking...softball-division-i-preseason-top-25-rankings

Looking at those above and below Texas:
1 UCLA - agree
2 Oklahoma- agree
3 Washington - don't know
4 Alabama - we'll see when we play them at their tournament!
5 Arizona - Candrea has got them back after a few years in the wilderness
6 Minnesota - rising. coached by 1-year-tenured ex-Iowa State coach
7 Texas - interesting
8 Louisiana Lafayette - interesting
9 Oklahoma State - lost that cocky pitcher Samantha Show (I wasn't a fan), but they got key transfers in plus highly rated recruits
10 Florida State - don't know. they took a dip after their championship year

 

[Jacob Johnson]

FloSoftball has Texas ranked in pre-season at #7
https://www.flosoftball.com/ranking...softball-division-i-preseason-top-25-rankings

Looking at those above and below Texas:
1 UCLA - agree
2 Oklahoma- agree
3 Washington - don't know
4 Alabama - we'll see when we play them at their tournament!
5 Arizona - Candrea has got them back after a few years in the wilderness
6 Minnesota - rising. coached by 1-year-tenured ex-Iowa State coach
7 Texas - interesting
8 Louisiana Lafayette - interesting
9 Oklahoma State - lost that cocky pitcher Samantha Show (I wasn't a fan), but they got key transfers in plus highly rated recruits
10 Florida State - don't know. they took a dip after their championship year

Just curious why do you think it's interesting for Texas and Louisiana?

 

[racerx5908]

Just curious why do you think it's interesting for Texas and Louisiana?

We know that these pre-season polls are not deep dives into what teams are capable of. Mostly it's recency bias as well as well as reputation.

Texas - I'm so used to us being lowly that seeing us this high at the beginning of the year is odd. To me it's all based on the fact that we have two good pitchers and Mike White's reputation for development. All good. Just surprised we don't start at like 12th or 15th in the initial poll. Honestly, I thought OSU would be higher than us due to recency bias.

Louisiana (I wish people would be more consistent because I keep thinking it's two separate schools) - they're usually not given this much respect at the start of the year because they're not a true blue blood. To have them slotted this high is interesting.