2024 Softball Season

Man the ball flys off Stewarts bat. So much depth going to be hard to find ABs for everyone. I think eventually Goode will take over for Washington at 2B to get another big bat in the lineup.
First, it's "Stewie" to you and me, sir!

Second, yeah I was thinking some veteran players are going to riding the bench until/unless it's a blowout. And even then, they may not make it:

Quiroga
Brown
Cimusz
 
racer' I think you can make it to Moody in time.
thanks for representing
The softball game was MUCH MORE enjoyable than that #@$#!! game against Tech. It's bad when you wonder if they're going to have to rush the refs off the court with protection.
 
Who do you think are the three fastest players on the team, based on how you've seen them run the base paths? My take
1. Kayden Henry
2. Bella Dayton
3. Mia Scott

I was getting a bit worried at the start of the season because they weren't beating out throws they normally would have, but the HCU game gave me hope. Or maybe HCU had questionable fielding.
 
Who do you think are the three fastest players on the team, based on how you've seen them run the base paths? My take
1. Kayden Henry
2. Bella Dayton
3. Mia Scott

I was getting a bit worried at the start of the season because they weren't beating out throws they normally would have, but the HCU game gave me hope. Or maybe HCU had questionable fielding.
All three of those girls are blazers.
 
Who do you think are the three fastest players on the team, based on how you've seen them run the base paths? My take
1. Kayden Henry
2. Bella Dayton
3. Mia Scott

I was getting a bit worried at the start of the season because they weren't beating out throws they normally would have, but the HCU game gave me hope. Or maybe HCU had questionable fielding.

Add in goode to that list. You have four players that can steal bases frequently
 
I had to look up how efficient Teagan was after the game.

It took her 66 pitches to finish 7 innings.
It took the Cajuns 99 pitches split between 2 pitchers to finish 6 innings.
 
Well, we were due for a Texas 3-error, brain fart bunting game, and we got it.

I will say that the Stanford batter Kern cheats. When she comes up to bat, she purposely drags her foot across the inner line of the batter's box to obscure the white paint. Then, her toes are actually on the border and slightly over where the line would be.

First time, she got hit on the thigh. Second time, she leaned into the ball and got hit. Mike of course protested. And this is where we were upset. When you lean into the ball, especially when you're out of the box, it should be a strike. He gave her a ball and then the walk. The third time up, we were shouting, "Look at her feet!!! She's on the line!!!" and well, suddenly she started keeping herself in the box!

While in the game, we looked up her HBP stats. She had 8 HBP before entering the Texas game.

And that coach. Doing everything to disrupt the flow of the game. Lost a lot of respect for her.
 
Well, we were due for a Texas 3-error, brain fart bunting game, and we got it.

I will say that the Stanford batter Kern cheats. When she comes up to bat, she purposely drags her foot across the inner line of the batter's box to obscure the white paint. Then, her toes are actually on the border and slightly over where the line would be.

First time, she got hit on the thigh. Second time, she leaned into the ball and got hit. Mike of course protested. And this is where we were upset. When you lean into the ball, especially when you're out of the box, it should be a strike. He gave her a ball and then the walk. The third time up, we were shouting, "Look at her feet!!! She's on the line!!!" and well, suddenly she started keeping herself in the box!

While in the game, we looked up her HBP stats. She had 8 HBP before entering the Texas game.

And that coach. Doing everything to disrupt the flow of the game. Lost a lot of respect for her.
Racer is Mac hurt or out of favor with Coach?
 
Racer is Mac hurt or out of favor with Coach?
My opinion is Mac is now #3 in the rotation.

#1 Teavan
#2 Laly
#3 Mac
#4 Estelle
#5 Sophia

In one game this weekend, I saw all 4 pitchers throwing in the bullpen (at various times - often two pitchers are throwing at the same time) when Kavan was pitching (well). So you don't know who Mike's going to pull out when he thinks he needs a relief pitcher.
 
Think White trusted his Freshman waaaaay to much in this game . Coach dont let the shinny new pennies get in the way of your coaching !!!!!!!

Joley / Third
Mia / Center
Bella / Left
Cimunz /First
Stewart / DP
 
Think White trusted his Freshman waaaaay to much in this game . Coach dont let the shinny new pennies get in the way of your coaching !!!!!!!

Joley / Third
Mia / Center
Bella / Left
Cimunz /First
Stewart / DP

The Stewart "toss to no one" at first killed me.
 
I am not worried. Errors happen in games. Nijaree is the best pitcher in the country and has improved from last year adding a changeup. We were able to get 6 hits on her. Similar to Karlyn Pickens from Tennessee. She has already thrown two perfect games this season and we were able to beat Pickens. The ball Henry dropped was costly. And Gutierrez missing the tag at home plate was costly. Those are two unearned runs. If those plays were made, Stanford wouldn’t have had those first two runs. If we didn’t have those errors, we would’ve won for sure. The future is still bright for this team.
 
Infielders and critiques of them:

Mia Scott: Tends to be a bit slow in reacting for balls fast and directly to her. Her glove is just a bit off as the ball goes past her. Or if the ball is hit too quickly at her, she bobbles it or let's it fly out of her glove. Here strength is the speed which she runs down bunts or curving fouls that require her to move quickly. I think during that running time, her hand-eye coordination engages and she's a sure fielder. She chased down a bunt this weekend and almost ran as fast as the base runner while running towards first base before throwing the ball to first. You may not have seen it, but she was annoyed and complaning near the end of the CSU game on Friday night when she and Stewart were trying to field a popup in foul territory. Stewart snagged the ball in front of her and that made Scott mad. Then a similar situation happened against CSU on Saturday and Scott made the catch after Stewart backed off. Scott glared at Stewart a bit. Like, "were you going to get it or not?!"

Vivi Martinez: Improved a major flaw in her throwing motion. She used to throw the ball from short to first with an arc to her throw her freshman year. I believe one or two base runners made it safely to first because her ball took too long to travel in the air. They've worked on flattening the throw and it's now normal and fast to the bag. The big thing that annoys the living crap out of my wife is that when a ball is coming towards her, she won't go forward towards the ball, no matter what speed it is. I've seen a case or two where it prevented her from getting the player out at first.

Alyssa Washington: In a major hitting slump. Making connections but no strength of lift to her ball. She made a highlight throw to first last week, but she also let a few balls go past her glove because she wasn't fast enough. After Stewart made the "toss to no one", Washington made the "my bad" signal to her. Washington is used to playing the left side of the infield. She shouldn't be playing second. But....that leads us to Leanne Goode, who is incredibly glum looking as she think she's lost her job for the season to Washington.

Katie Stewart
: Short and that sometimes hinders her stretching to catch a poorly thrown ball and keep her foot on the bag. As mentioned before, who tosses a ball to no one at the bag counting on them being on the bag? Apparently played short stop in high school. Mike has to put her somewhere in order to have her bat in the lineup, but first isn't where she should be playing.

Joley Mitchell: There for her batting, but then she is a bit longer than Stewart. She's made some mental mistakes in fielding which is a surprise for a senior. She could've dived for a foul ball, but made a business decision to just let the ball go past her for a foul.
 
Why does this coach wait soooooo long to take Mac when she pitching poorly should of never come back out after last inning
 
Good come from behind win. Mac pitched okay just gave up some soft contact hits outside of the ball off the wall. Atwoods is on fire. Defense they have the catchers so scared of obstruction call they forget to tag or even catch the ball.
 
Why does this coach wait soooooo long to take Mac when she pitching poorly should of never come back out after last inning
When Mike went to the mound to say he was going to pull Mac, I think Mac argued that she was fine and saying she had it and to let her pitch the second inning. Turns out she was correct.
 
Here we gooooo . A must WIN game and we are batting freshman over seasoned players . Coach Mike another poor descion
I think y’all are too hard on our freshman. Kavan is our best pitcher right now. 4 of her 6 earned runs both came off of 2 run home runs. The 2 run homer against LMU and the 2 run homer against Stanford. She is our best swing and miss pitcher and she has done a phenomenal job to me. She leads the team in strikeouts. She is second in opponent batting average. Teams are hitting .130 against her. Teams are hitting .125 against Simpson. But also Kavan has pitched 25.2 innings and Simpson only 8.

Henry had one error last night and struggled offensive these last two games but Nijaree Canady and the Louisiana pitchers are solid. Even with her struggling, she is still second on the team in batting average hitting .515%.

Katie Stewart made a mistake last night against Stanford. But she made up for it with her amazing play today. Offensively she has had amazing at bats. She is so patient. She is 4th on the team in batting average hitting .400 only behind Atwood hitting .632, Henry hitting .515 and Scott hitting .405.

Victoria Hunter is hitting .533. She went 0-3 today and she is still hitting .533.

Compared to our veterans, Leiganne Goode got her 2nd hit of the season today hitting .154. Washington is hitting .333. Whitaker .200, and Cimucz .273.

There is really nowhere to put Joley Mitchell. She has pop on her bat and she is a good fielder but she’s not a better hitter than Mia Scott. Yes you can put Mia in the outfield for Mitchell to play 3rd but then you’d have to sit Maloney who’s been a great outfielder and great 9 hole hitter, Bella Dayton our lead off with a great on base percentage and good fielder, or Kayden Henry a freshman who is 2nd on the team in batting average right now.
 
Thoughts about that close game:
1. Jerry Glasco has sort of lost his fire this year. Maybe he knows that he doesn't have a great team. But it was his first base coach asking for the reviews. And near the end when the ump's strike zone was moving up and down, I was surprised he was jumping on him about those calls.

2. Mia shows again, why she's at third. A couple of put outs when she attack the softly hit grounders makes it worth the errors she sometimes still incurs.

3. I'm surprised that Mia and Vivi, playing side-by-side for a second year still haven't got their coordination on who gets the infield pop ball worked out.

4. Reese is on fire, seeing the ball well.

5. Washington in a slump and Leanne trying to win her job back, with pretty good fielding and hitting.

6. Can someone explain the Bella bunt that was called back after a long review and in-depth explanation by the umps. As Mike was walking away from the conference he yelled out "That's a BAD call!"

7. Some of the freshmen are hitting the wall early, when it comes to batting. The Stanford pitcher, Canady, yeah she was good. But the two Louisiana pitchers? They should have made contact rather than swinging through or just watching the third strike.

8. Wondering why some of our hitters seemed to be focusing on hitting a hard infield ball in the middle of the game.
 
On the bright side, Texas State Wednesday isn’t going to be easy. They still have Mullins in the circle for them who’s breaking Texas State records.

This upcoming weekend, I really want to see Simpson get some starts against the competition they are facing. Give her some confidence. She hasn’t allowed an earned run in 8 innings. Also Czech. She hasn’t allowed an earned run either. Kavan, Simpson, and Czech are our best swing and miss pitchers. We have Texas State (14-4) Wednesday, Northwestern State (8-9) and Tarleton State (8-7) Friday, Hofstra (1-4) Saturday and Sunday and then Penn State (11-1) Monday. I expect our batting average to go up and our ERA to get down. I haven’t looked at the numbers yet but we were #2 in the nation in batting average and #3 in ERA. I’m sure those numbers worsened due to Stanford and Louisiana.
 
With the constant complaining about the game from the Stanford coach and then the late game review request from Jerry Glasco (which was denied), we were asking ourselves how many reviews a team gets. I don't think this was changed recently, we just forgot there was a limit of 2, unless the ump thinks it's worth it:

To allow video review of designated plays as listed below. In games using video review, each head coach has two
challenges to initiate a review of the plays designated below for the entirety of the game. The challenge must be
indicated before the next pitch, before the pitcher and all infielders have clearly vacated their normal fielding
position and left fair territory, or before the umpires have left the field of play. Additionally, the crew chief may
initiate a review of these plays at his/her discretion beginning with the 6th inning in any game.​
 
This is how our pitching staff looks after today from most innings to least innings pitched.
Kavan 5-0 1.64 ERA 25.2 IP, 1 SV
Gutierrez 2-0, 0.71 ERA, 19.2 IP, 1 SV
Morgan 3-0 1.29 ERA 16.1 IP
Czech 2-1 0.00 ERA 11.1 IP
Simpson 0-0 0.00 ERA 8IP

and our hitters from best batting average and have had the minimum requirements of 2 plate appearances per game in 75% of games played.

1. Reese Atwood .632, 4 doubles, 9 HR, 5 BB (fun fact: Atwood only walked 3 times last year. She has already walked 5 times and it’s only week 3. She is so much better when she isn’t chasing. She also hit 11 homers last year and already has 9 homers and again it’s only week 3.)
2. Kayden Henry .515, 3 doubles, 2 HR
3. Mia Scott .405, 1 double, 2 triples, 1 HR
4. Katie Stewart .400, 4 doubles, 2 HR
5. Ashton Maloney .393, 1 double
6. Joley Mitchell .375, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 HR
7. Bella Dayton .344, 1 double
8. Viviana Martinez .333, 1 double, 2 HR
9. Alyssa Washington .333, 1 double, 1 triple, 1 HR

Here’s the rest of the team who won’t be eligible for any Big 12/NCAA stats due to less AB. In other words the bench/pinch hitters.

1. Victoria Hunter .533, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 HR (15 AB)
2. Katie Cimucz .273, 1 double (11 AB)
3. Vanessa Quiroga .250, 1 double (4 AB)
4. Jordyn Whitaker .200 (5 AB)
4. Leighann Goode .154 (13 AB)
5. Ryan Brown .000 (2 AB)
6. Adayah Wallace (2 AB)

This in my opinion is the best lineup for us.
1. Dayton CF
2. Scott 3B
3. Stewart 1B/DP
4. Atwood C
5. Mitchell DP/1B
6. Martinez SS
7. Washington 2B
8. Henry LF
9. Maloney RF

in conclusion, I trust Mike White and in week 3 he is putting his best players where they need to be and in the lineup right now. I’m impressed with Dayton and Scott at the top. I’m impressed with Stewart, Atwood, and Mitchell’s patience at the plate leading to big hits in clutch moments. And I’ve been impressed with Henry and Maloney getting on at the bottom of the lineup. We will be fine.
 
Most hits given up by Nijaree Canady
8 - Washington (2023)
6 - Texas and Florida State (2024)

Most runs given up by Nijaree Canady
4 - Florida State (2024)
3 - Washington (2023), Texas (2024)

Most earned runs given up by Nijaree Canady
3 - Washington (2023)
2 - Texas (2024) , Oklahoma (2023)

just bragging on our offense this year. We did a great job against Canady when you compare our offense to OU’s offense. I want to assume that she had a bad game against Washington in 2023 during the conference bc in the WCWS, she didn’t allow Washington to get a hit on her.
 
Looking back this was a good game to be played in Feb. So many things went wrong yet we lost by 1 in 8 innings against one of the best pitchers in the college game.
Really excited about Texas Softball.:bevo:
 
I was looking back to see if this is a good start, average start, or expected start of the season. At 13 games into the season:

2019: 12-1
2020: 13-0
2021: 11-2
2022: 6-7 (OMG what happened in Florida? We're dead. Season is OVER)
2023: 10-2-1
2024: 12-1

So in Mike White's world, average start.

I think the vibe is different than the previous years in two ways:

1) We have 4 good pitchers where any of them you would be comfortable pitching against an opponents top pitcher. They might only good for 5 innings, but 4 good ones.

2) We have hitters galore. If 1 or 2 of your previously hot hitting players is in a slump, there are 3 good hitters sitting on the bench waiting to hit for them until they figure it out.

When LHN said that Reese had 9 HRs so far and that the record for a single player in Texas history was 18? What? (that low?) and What? (already?).
 

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