Lady Vols Softball

#484
#484
kregman said:
I wasn’t that impressed with ivy’s stats when she transferred but boy was I wrong she has brought a ton to this team.
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Just think how bad off we would be without her. Makes no sense to me that we did not recruit a shortstop after Meghan left who took Shipmans place! Maybe we did and they did not pan out but i cannot remember anyone even close, like at 2nd when Aubrey left no one but Parsons who is less that stellar. I really think the recruiting is waning a little both with pitching and overall team. First Gabby the wild thing who was near the top pitcher in the land and no one after her except Ashley in our own back yard. I know everyone talks about having 10 homegrown ladies on the roster but only Ashley and Caitlyn play every day as one would say with a DH or two who is yet to make it official! JMHO so come after me if you must!
 
#485
#485
sccshortstop said:
Just think how bad off we would be without her. Makes no sense to me that we did not recruit a shortstop after Meghan left who took Shipmans place! Maybe we did and they did not pan out but i cannot remember anyone even close, like at 2nd when Aubrey left no one but Parsons who is less that stellar. I really think the recruiting is waning a little both with pitching and overall team. First Gabby the wild thing who was near the top pitcher in the land and no one after her except Ashley in our own back yard. I know everyone talks about having 10 homegrown ladies on the roster but only Ashley and Caitlyn play every day as one would say with a DH or two who is yet to make it official! JMHO so come after me if you must!
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I think Gracie Osbron was supposed to be a SS but she didn’t work out.
 
#486
#486
MS_LdyVols_fan said:
I think Gracie Osbron was supposed to be a SS but she didn’t work out.
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Actually i forgot about Gracie but she was actually recruited as the catcher to back up Ally. Gracie did play short some but she just never could hit the darn ball. She was from Henry county in Tenn the same school that Scarlett came from. Last time i heard she was out of softball but i dont know for sure. Her dad was the head coach at her high school and i was told he resigned when they come to Kvill and moved the family. How true it is i do not know. Gracie broke her leg as a senior so she may have never got back to normal!
 
#487
#487
sccshortstop said:
Actually i forgot about Gracie but she was actually recruited as the catcher to back up Ally. Gracie did play short some but she just never could hit the darn ball. She was from Henry county in Tenn the same school that Scarlett came from. Last time i heard she was out of softball but i dont know for sure. Her dad was the head coach at her high school and i was told he resigned when they come to Kvill and moved the family. How true it is i do not know. Gracie broke her leg as a senior so she may have never got back to normal!
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She is playing for a Community College...let me see if I can find the name.
 
#489
#489
Anyone know how much pitching coach MEGAN RHODES SMITH makes as the pitching coach? Just curious! The way UT throws money around to some people she most likely dont make enough!
 
#492
#492
sccshortstop said:
Actually i forgot about Gracie but she was actually recruited as the catcher to back up Ally. Gracie did play short some but she just never could hit the darn ball. She was from Henry county in Tenn the same school that Scarlett came from. Last time i heard she was out of softball but i dont know for sure. Her dad was the head coach at her high school and i was told he resigned when they come to Kvill and moved the family. How true it is i do not know. Gracie broke her leg as a senior so she may have never got back to normal!
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She was recruited to be the shortstop. Her natural position was probably catcher, but they recruited her to be the shortstop. That’s what she played mostly in travel ball.
 
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#493
#493
sccshortstop said:
Why does it seem when we have a top notch lefty coming in like Gabby and Callie they are so wild and mostly high do you think? Seems these tall ladies do well at other places but not with us. That exception is the great Monica!
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I think if Turner had not been relied on as the ace to start the season last year, she would be viewed differently right now.

Gabby developed some sort of mental block in her pitching motion. She looked unstoppable warming up in the bullpen, was very very good in practice, but would completely collapse in the game. I think they tried every trick in the book with sports psychologists and in working on her mechanics, but it just didn’t take. She improved some at Oklahoma State, but is still fairly wild and not the dominant player everybody expected out of high school.

To answer your question about left-handers specifically though, a big part of it is lefties look unstoppable in high-level travel ball because there are so few of them that most teams never face one in practice. By the time the lineup figures it out, it’s the last time through the order and then they don’t see that player again. At the college level, everybody has seen a lefty to some extent, and they have hours and hours of video on the ones that they face.

Monica was great, absolutely would never take anything away from her or what she accomplished, but the reality is if she played today where every opponent has every pitch she throws on high-def video, she’s not as dominant as she was back in the early 2000s. She would still be the best pitcher in the game, but it wouldn’t be dominant like she was. Neither would Finch or Osterman. It doesn’t take anything away from them, because they would still be considered the best, it just wouldn’t look the same way it did then.
 
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#494
#494
kregman said:
It appears ivy has inspired Chelsea she is picking it again.
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Fielding is like hitting it is contagious. Watching Ivy make the plays and throws I think gives everyone confidence. She went into center to get a ball today with no disrespect to anyone would not have been caught last year. She is fun to watch in person, not to mention she can crush a ball too.
 
#495
#495
Callie hit it some but has not dialed in her changeup. She has a nasty changeup when she is locked in with it. I think she is still knocking off some rust. But, like I said Megan had her in the bullpen when we were batting a number of times and it was not just throwing they were working on stuff.
 
#497
#497
sccshortstop said:
Anyone know how much pitching coach MEGAN RHODES SMITH makes as the pitching coach? Just curious! The way UT throws money around to some people she most likely dont make enough!
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More than being a HC at Belmont but far less than the #3 coach on Rick Barnes or Coach Kelleys bench. If I was guessing in the 65-85K range.
 
#498
#498
Majors said:
More than being a HC at Belmont but far less than the #3 coach on Rick Barnes or Coach Kelleys bench. If I was guessing in the 65-85K range.
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I would think a little more . There is a public information way to know like the numbers that are shown for the new football employees. I just dont know how to get it . I was just thinking about all the disparity in relation to athletics and i know ralph and karen do pretty well as co head coaches! I enjoy talking with you sir!
 
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#499
#499
sccshortstop said:
Just think how bad off we would be without her. Makes no sense to me that we did not recruit a shortstop after Meghan left who took Shipmans place! Maybe we did and they did not pan out but i cannot remember anyone even close, like at 2nd when Aubrey left no one but Parsons who is less that stellar. I really think the recruiting is waning a little both with pitching and overall team. First Gabby the wild thing who was near the top pitcher in the land and no one after her except Ashley in our own back yard. I know everyone talks about having 10 homegrown ladies on the roster but only Ashley and Caitlyn play every day as one would say with a DH or two who is yet to make it official! JMHO so come after me if you must!
Click to expand...


I agree with this and it should be open to a fair evaluation. I posted awhile back on kids just in Middle to East Tenn/Chattanooga that is in the class of 2021 and 2022 going to other schools. Over the years they have relied too much on the travel ball circuits cream of the crop to stock their roster (Marty going coast to coast) and player rankings in recruiting. Sprang is a perfect example, looks great in the circle, lefty, high flo softball ranking, played for GA Impact a loaded team and killed school ball in Minnesota. Got her and it never translated on the field both physically and mentally. In-state recruiting for the class of 2021 and 2022 is maybe the best it's been in back to back years in a long time, quality and quantity and Tennessee didn't take advantage. Good example is one of the best SS in Tennessee the last decade is off to Texas AM and lives in Knoxville (that should be concerning). A dominate pitcher for the class of 2022 is off to LSU...her final two for Florida and LSU.
 
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#500
#500
Majors said:
I agree with this and it should be open to a fair evaluation. I posted awhile back on kids just in Middle to East Tenn/Chattanooga that is in the class of 2021 and 2022 going to other schools. Over the years they have relied too much on the travel ball circuits cream of the crop to stock their roster (Marty going coast to coast) and player rankings in recruiting. Sprang is a perfect example, looks great in the circle, lefty, high flo softball ranking, played for GA Impact a loaded team and killed school ball in Minnesota. Got her and it never translated on the field both physically and mentally. In-state recruiting for the class of 2021 and 2022 is maybe the best it's been in back to back years in a long time, quality and quantity and Tennessee didn't take advantage. Good example is one of the best SS in Tennessee the last decade is off to Texas AM and lives in Knoxville (that should be concerning). A dominate pitcher for the class of 2022 is off to LSU...her final two for Florida and LSU.
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Yes if i remember correctly Kentucky got a dominate pitcher from ET a few years back but i cant remember her name that from what i understood did not even get an offer at UT. I do know she beat us a time or two during her days at Ky. I know you cant take them all but i wonder it our coaches are losing some clout? I was all for Marty leaving but to be fair how much actually he had to do with the pitchers and game decision making. With Karen and Ralph meddling it seemed he only was the so called pitching coach. I know he retired and ended up at Georgia Tech so he was actually forced out! Maybe they will let Megan do what they hired her to do!
 
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