Well, yeah I guess I'll go. I find this a bit......troubling that this is the way we find out. No entry in the schedule, not email. What if you're not following them on X?
Now, I'm going to yell at some kids to GET OFF MY LAWN!
2024 Softball Season
- Thread starter Ellis21d
- Start date
Well, yeah I guess I'll go. I find this a bit......troubling that this is the way we find out. No entry in the schedule, not email. What if you're not following them on X?
Now, I'm going to yell at some kids to GET OFF MY LAWN!
Jacob Johnson
2,500+ Posts
lol it’s okay I agree. Waiting until the week of to make the announcement is certainly a decision. Have no idea why it wasn’t on the schedule unless it was a last minute thing.
Why is our team playing 2 games at ucla and then risking getting shot driving from LA to Irvine only to play the same 2 teams again?? That doesn't make sense to me.
Then they have to travel all the way across the whole country to go play in FL. Gonna be exhausted.
Then they have to travel all the way across the whole country to go play in FL. Gonna be exhausted.
Actually:
On Feb 9 Texas plays in the Stacy Winsberg 4 team tournament at UCLA Easton Stadium against SD and UCLA. Maryland is the 4th team.
On Feb 10 They drive 53 miles south to play in the 3 team Mark Campbell invitational which includes SD and UCLA.
On Feb 11 they drive 45 miles north again to Inglewood to play Loyola Marymount in a 1 on 1 game to cap off their West coast trip!
You forget these are 18 to 22 year old athletes who are more than ready to get the season started. No way they will be exhausted. They are living the dream!!
On Feb 9 Texas plays in the Stacy Winsberg 4 team tournament at UCLA Easton Stadium against SD and UCLA. Maryland is the 4th team.
On Feb 10 They drive 53 miles south to play in the 3 team Mark Campbell invitational which includes SD and UCLA.
On Feb 11 they drive 45 miles north again to Inglewood to play Loyola Marymount in a 1 on 1 game to cap off their West coast trip!
You forget these are 18 to 22 year old athletes who are more than ready to get the season started. No way they will be exhausted. They are living the dream!!
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Couple thoughts on the opening of the season:
Starting Opening day Lineup
Goode (2B), Scott (3B), Martinez (SS), Stewart (DP), Atwood (C), Mitchell (1B), Dayton (CF), Maloney (RF), Henry (LF)
I hope end of year lineup will be:
Henry (LF), Scott (CF), Goode (2B), Martinez (SS), Stewart (1B), Atwood (C), Mitchell (3B), Brown (DP), Maloney (RF)
- Pitching staff is deeper this year, and needs to be used more like a baseball staff against the top ranked offenses. Expect each pitcher to get 9 outs or 1 time through the line up. Trying to stretch them to get extra outs will cost the teams some wins.
- I hope Maloney is able to swing away more bc the 1 dimensional slapper just isn't productive in the modern game. The infield defense is too good for them to hit .500 like they used to, they can't automatically steal second because catchers are that good now, They don't automatically score on a double from 1st because the outfield defense has improved. So you would be better off having someone who can get extra base hits at a lower average than someone who hits .380 all singles.
-Also hope that Atwood learns to be more selective or her offensive numbers will regress quite a bit. She walked 3 times in 172 ABs. Pitchers won't throw her strikes bc they know she'll swing at anything.
Starting Opening day Lineup
Goode (2B), Scott (3B), Martinez (SS), Stewart (DP), Atwood (C), Mitchell (1B), Dayton (CF), Maloney (RF), Henry (LF)
I hope end of year lineup will be:
Henry (LF), Scott (CF), Goode (2B), Martinez (SS), Stewart (1B), Atwood (C), Mitchell (3B), Brown (DP), Maloney (RF)
- Pitching staff is deeper this year, and needs to be used more like a baseball staff against the top ranked offenses. Expect each pitcher to get 9 outs or 1 time through the line up. Trying to stretch them to get extra outs will cost the teams some wins.
- I hope Maloney is able to swing away more bc the 1 dimensional slapper just isn't productive in the modern game. The infield defense is too good for them to hit .500 like they used to, they can't automatically steal second because catchers are that good now, They don't automatically score on a double from 1st because the outfield defense has improved. So you would be better off having someone who can get extra base hits at a lower average than someone who hits .380 all singles.
-Also hope that Atwood learns to be more selective or her offensive numbers will regress quite a bit. She walked 3 times in 172 ABs. Pitchers won't throw her strikes bc they know she'll swing at anything.
First game at UCLA will be on ESPN!
Games at Ivrin vs San Diego and UCLA will be on FloSoftball.
Additional TV designations announced for No. 8/5 Softball’s 2024 season - University of Texas Athletics (texassports.com)
Jacob Johnson
2,500+ Posts
Just a couple notes from Mike White this morning..
- Simpson was the breakout player this spring
- Washington is the first ever captain and will be starting somewhere in the infield. I’m assuming second since Goode is coming back from injury.
- Stewart/Mitchell will rotate at 3rd so I assume Scott will be in the outfield
- the incoming freshman have been doing well and playing time will be very competitive this season.
- Simpson was the breakout player this spring
- Washington is the first ever captain and will be starting somewhere in the infield. I’m assuming second since Goode is coming back from injury.
- Stewart/Mitchell will rotate at 3rd so I assume Scott will be in the outfield
- the incoming freshman have been doing well and playing time will be very competitive this season.
Jacob Johnson
2,500+ Posts
I thought the same but he did say she would be starting somewhere in the middle on the podcast so I guess we’ll see more Saturday.
This is the podcast that Jacob is quoting. Scrub over to the 15 minute mark to hear the beginning of the interview with Coach White! One thing I got out of this was that he is really leaning on seniors, Alyssa Washington, Bella Dayton, and Estelle Czech to bring leader and a calmness to the team! He’s got some tough decisions to make this year on playing time!!
Simpson has always had a great arm. Her problem is she's had the control of an African Gorilla. If she could consistently throw strikes she could be the pest pitcher on the team.
I always said the effectively wild works with her until she is just wild. Looks like she changed a couple things in her finishing motion that may help her with consistency.
Jacob Johnson
2,500+ Posts
Some of you still headed to the open practice today?
Yep! Not a big crowd but a couple hundred fans maybe!
Took almost an hour to finish the autograph line.
It was a fantastic day to be at the open practice! At the end of the day probably had 250-300 people at the practice. They started off with fielding with Coach Singleton hitting to everyone. They had pairs of players at most positions.
LF - Mia Scott & Victoria Hunter
CF - Bella Dayton & Kayden Henry
RF - Ashton Mahoney (she seems to own this position)
3B - Joley Mitchell & Katie Stewart
SS - Viviana Martinez (only)
2B - Leighann Goode & Alyssa Washington
1B- Katie Cimutz & Ryan Brown
C - Reese Atwood (only)
Vanessa Quiroga, Adayah Wallace & Jordyn Whitaker did not participate in the fielding. Katie Stewart looked especially shaky at 3rd. Made several fielding errors. Also Kayden Henry in Center (throwing errors) and Ryan Brown made several mistakes. Maybe they just need a lot more reps at the position?
All the pitchers were in the bullpen with Coach White so the crowd didn't get any looks at how they were doing.
Batting Practice started with Coach Singleton throwing and then shifted to Coach Zaleski. Coach Z threw most of the batting practice. Coach Taylor looked injured as she was hobbling around with a wobble. Hard to say how good of a read this was for the batters as they were swinging at almost every pitch as the Coaches pretty much just threw strikes. But let me say I don't know how they are going to keep Brown, Stewart or Hunter on the bench as they were blistering the ball on almost every swing! Brown had 3 home runs in a row at one point and the crowd went wild on the 3rd. Atwood was the hitter of the session. She was ripping the cover off the ball and had several home runs and line drives off the wall!! Others who looked really good at the plate were Martinez, Scott, Mahoney (Mahoney was driving, not slapping the ball), Dayton, Quiroga, Whitaker and Washington. Henry, Goode, Mitchell and Wallace not so much. Whitaker had one shot off of the middle of the video screen!!
I'm not sure what this tells us because this was not real pitching (can they hit the curve, slider, change-up?) but we know they have a lot of power and much more maturity this year! Can't wait to get this season going! 5 more days!!
LF - Mia Scott & Victoria Hunter
CF - Bella Dayton & Kayden Henry
RF - Ashton Mahoney (she seems to own this position)
3B - Joley Mitchell & Katie Stewart
SS - Viviana Martinez (only)
2B - Leighann Goode & Alyssa Washington
1B- Katie Cimutz & Ryan Brown
C - Reese Atwood (only)
Vanessa Quiroga, Adayah Wallace & Jordyn Whitaker did not participate in the fielding. Katie Stewart looked especially shaky at 3rd. Made several fielding errors. Also Kayden Henry in Center (throwing errors) and Ryan Brown made several mistakes. Maybe they just need a lot more reps at the position?
All the pitchers were in the bullpen with Coach White so the crowd didn't get any looks at how they were doing.
Batting Practice started with Coach Singleton throwing and then shifted to Coach Zaleski. Coach Z threw most of the batting practice. Coach Taylor looked injured as she was hobbling around with a wobble. Hard to say how good of a read this was for the batters as they were swinging at almost every pitch as the Coaches pretty much just threw strikes. But let me say I don't know how they are going to keep Brown, Stewart or Hunter on the bench as they were blistering the ball on almost every swing! Brown had 3 home runs in a row at one point and the crowd went wild on the 3rd. Atwood was the hitter of the session. She was ripping the cover off the ball and had several home runs and line drives off the wall!! Others who looked really good at the plate were Martinez, Scott, Mahoney (Mahoney was driving, not slapping the ball), Dayton, Quiroga, Whitaker and Washington. Henry, Goode, Mitchell and Wallace not so much. Whitaker had one shot off of the middle of the video screen!!
I'm not sure what this tells us because this was not real pitching (can they hit the curve, slider, change-up?) but we know they have a lot of power and much more maturity this year! Can't wait to get this season going! 5 more days!!
I'm not sure how many people this affects, but the season tickets came in electronically. They made a change from the previous years, these are now "electronic" touch tickets. Like women's basketball changed, you have to hold your phone next to an reader and they exchange an electronic "handshake". No more QR codes. No more taking screenshots of your tickets and texting them to others. This is probably because they constantly struggle with correct reading of the QR codes and often the sunlight is interfering with the reader.
Not happy about this - particularly if true in football next season. Wife and I rarely enter gate at same time so this will be bad for us since both tickets come to me.
Yes, my wife works late and she struggles with "receiving" tickets from me to put into her digital wallet. I resorted to texting the QR code to her. Now, I'll have to transfer the ticket from my phone to hers and then take her phone and receive the ticket so she can use the ticket. I've had to leave my seat and walk down to the gate to help her figure out how to use the electronic ticket in the past.
Yeah weren’t supposed to be able to screen shot tickets and send to another phone but we’ve done it every year since the etickets came in vogue. Always worked but guess those simple days are over. Oh well that’s not the worst of it cause my ticket provider for whom I’ve paid his donation fee and ticket prices for so long while his kids grew old enough. Well the kids are older now so that dreaded day where he wants the tickets has surely arrived this year or next so my well will run dry. Only fair but we’ve really gotten fond of the seats and our group of seatmates.
Uniforms look the same as last season for the most part; I'm still trying to get used to the burnt orange with white pin stripes look. Someone finally heard my prayers and removed the outer black outline on the white block "TEXAS" lettering on the solid burnt orange jersey.
If you've got the time, take a listen. Discussing the upcoming season with Mike White:
What a great interview with Coach White AND Vivi Martinez! She had some great thoughts.
Things I took away from Coach White's interview:
- Coach White mentioned every player as potential contributors but Whittaker, Quiroga and Wallace. And Quiroga had a nice year last year but that is how tough the competition is this year.
- He was high on Washington saying she would play one of the infield spots. That to me looks like we will have a 4 player rotation with Goode, Martinez, Mitchell and Washington playing the SS, 3B, 2B spots. Whoever is producing at the plate will play. He did not mention Cimusz but I expect her and Stewart to rotate between 1st and Catcher with Atwood. Brown will be rotating into that DH and 1st spot also.
- He discussed the rule changes.
1) A new pitch clock has been put behind and to the left of the plate and in the outfield for the ump to see. 20 seconds for the pitcher and 10 seconds for the hitter to be in the box.
2) Expanded replay
3) An emphasis on the obstruction rule
4) the new pitching rule: The pitcher may now have both feet off the ground at the same time as long as both feet remain within the 24-inch width of the pitching plate and the pitcher does not replant the pivot foot. A definition for a replant was added. And Coach White did comment on the replant a couple of times.
Rationale: The rule change permits both feet to disengage from the playing surface while delivering a pitch. The addition of Rule 2-47 defines that a replant of the pivot foot occurs when the pitcher pushes off the playing surface from anywhere other than the pitcher’s plate prior to the act of delivering the pitch.
Vivi Martinez interview was amazing. A very smart and astute well spoken young lady:
She mentioned the new team Mantra for the year was "Win from Within" that the seniors came up with at a Team retreat they had held. The interview went on and on about the team Mantra! Vivi did mention Washington as the team leader!
The other thing that she mentioned was how Great the crowds were at the games! New bleachers were being put in the outfield and how a bus was in the outfield with fans and how the fans stood around the outfield fence! I never thought our crowds were that great but was glad to hear the players thought different!!
It was well worth the hour plus listen to the interview!!
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