Racer, what's going on at the plate? We seem to be in a funk of some sort as a team. In my opinion no one is above benching...if we don't hit we don't win, period.
A couple of factors:
1. You don't want to blame the ump for poor hitting, but in this case you can't help but do it. He liked "high" strikes, which the players were still adjusting to and then when Maxwell switched to lower throws, Texas players had adjusted to look for higher pitches and instead watched perfectly level balls get called strikes. And then, when Mac was pitching, she couldn't get her drop ball called for strikes and resorted to throwing change-ups and higher balls, which got blasted for a HR
2. Immaturity by the players. Maxwell was getting tired and Henry had a 3-2 count and swung at an awful ball that almost hit the dirt. Someone said, "OU has really gotten into their heads" which is true. They start swinging at anything because they couldn't trust the ump and were getting anxious to catchup. And then Bella had a 3-0 count trying to bunt. And then did an ugly pop-up bunt that the pitcher easily handled.
3. Then there were the Patty Gasso rules. We don't know what happened, but there were a few violations by OU that the umps walked back after Patty went to argue the point. The most egregious was a foul ball hit by OU that hit the third base white line, then bounced over the bag covering the outside 1/4 of the bag and landing foul. The ump was looking straight down the line. But because PATTY GASSO standing at the coaches box pushed her two arms towards the infield signaling the ball was fair, he ruled it FAIR! Mike had to go out, call a challenge and it was overturned. That initial bad call scored a run, that then had to be wiped out. Everyone stood up and was furious that the ump was relying on the word of Patty other than his eyes.
Another instance was when the OU catcher threw to first base on an obvious ball and our player didn't swing (when the count was 0-2). Mike went out and asked for an extra ball to be awarded because that was a delay in the game, which the ump thought about and then agreed. Then Patty had a word, then there was a three-ref conference, and then he reversed himself.
Two instances where the OU batter was in the box and our pitcher was about to start her windup and then the batter called for time and stayed IN THE BOX. People were yelling that batters who call time have to step out of the box and not screw with the pitchers mechanics. At the end of the inning, the ump had a long talk with Patty warning her about that stunt with her players. No penalty, just a warning for the great Patty Gasso.
It's like the "Kim Mulkey" rules when she was in the Big 12.
4. Stupid fielding errors. Players running into each other. Washington dropping an easy pop-up.
