Lady Vols Softball

#1,351
#1,351
That's why Raven is the best leadoff hitter in UT history with Aubrey at second. Because they were multi-tool players. And that's saying a lot given India Chiles and Sarah Fekete were both leadoff hitters during their time here. I think in softball the multi tool players can be the deadliest of all, because they can bunt, slap, hit for average or hit for power, not to mention they can steal bases and easily turn a bunt or slap single into a double.

It's arguable that Raven is the best leadoff hitter in SEC history, BTW. I'd say it would be her, Kelsey Stewart or Haley McCleney. They were all three mega fast, but Raven had more power and was better in RBI situations than the other two. Had Raven not been in a situation where she was needed to get in base so often, I think she could've had double digit HRs every season (except her junior season when she had a shoulder injury all year). She also our only other four-time AA besides Monica.
 
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#1,352
#1,352
jeebie said:
Sherri Parker Lee Stadium has a problem with the gradient between the infield dirt and the outfield grass. Too often ground balls that hug the ground take wild, upward bounces when they hit the lip of the outfield grass. Years of dragging the infield without adding back adequate dirt and sand has created this situation. The Bellarmine second baseman even tripped because of this when she was trying to field a grounder. To rectify this situation the grounds crew would need to bring truckloads of dirt and sand into the infield make the playing surface equal to the height of the outfield grass. Problem is, if this dirt and sand is not compacted properly, the loose material would create uneven bounces and skids on ground balls in the infield. This is probably going to be a job for the offseason but it needs to be done to eliminate the problem. As is it is not a reliable surface and not up to major college standards.
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The lip of the infield is way too high. One ball hit it took about a ten foot bounce. The player for them that dropped a pop up at second hit that lip like someone landing on another players shoe in basketball and turned her ankle on it. It is pretty noticeable looking in from right field.
 
#1,353
#1,353
volman128 said:
That's why Raven is the best leadoff hitter in UT history with Aubrey at second. Because they were multi-tool players. And that's saying a lot given India Chiles and Sarah Fekete were both leadoff hitters during their time here. I think in softball the multi tool players can be the deadliest of all, because they can bunt, slap, hit for average or hit for power, not to mention they can steal bases and easily turn a bunt or slap single into a double.

It's arguable that Raven is the best leadoff hitter in SEC history, BTW. I'd say it would be her, Kelsey Stewart or Haley McCleney. They were all three mega fast, but Raven had more power and was better in RBI situations than the other two. Had Raven not been in a situation where she was needed to get in base so often, I think she could've had double digit HRs every season (except her junior season when she had a shoulder injury all year). She also our only other four-time AA besides Monica.
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During that time with Raven we also had a multi hitter like Kat Dodson.
 
#1,354
#1,354
kregman said:
The lip of the infield is way too high. One ball hit it took about a ten foot bounce. The player for them that dropped a pop up at second hit that lip like someone landing on another players shoe in basketball and turned her ankle on it. It is pretty noticeable looking in from right field.
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It was so visible from the stream i wondered why that it is a few inches from the dirt surface.
 
#1,356
#1,356
volman128 said:
Yes, but she was never leadoff. But she easily could've been had Raven not been here. Having them back to back in the lineup was deadly and very hard to deal with, especially with Gibson and Shipman batting behind them.
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Right i was going to the slapper hitter but Raven was the stud in that situation.
 
#1,357
#1,357
kregman said:
Take Leach for example as great as she was and she was great failed many times with the runner at third with less than two outs slapping when she could have driven it into the outfield, she had plenty of power. Hannon was a waste as a slapper and now is one of our most potent bats once being turned loose. Amanda when she started they started primarily slapping with little results, good thing they let her go too. Watch Parsons bat she has a nice swing and if they let her stand in and swing too I believe she could do some damage. You can still bunt when the situation calls for it and drag bunt to get on. Defenses caught up to the slapping game. Yes, LSU has a great CF who slaps who got on few times, did she beat us? No, the ones who hit the wall and went over the walls beat us. There will always be be a place for speed and situational hitting. It takes a minimum of two things and generally three or more for a slapper to score. Someone with a good bat can do it with one swing. That is where the game is moving too if it is not already there.
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You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I conceptually disagree with everything you said there. I think some of it is oversimplifying entire careers-worth of at-bats into an absolute, and other parts of it are just differences in evaluation on some players' best uses.
 
#1,358
#1,358
DeerPark12 said:
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I conceptually disagree with everything you said there. I think some of it is oversimplifying entire careers-worth of at-bats into an absolute, and other parts of it are just differences in evaluation on some players' best uses.
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The beauty of a forum is sharing opinions. I just like to see the players achieve for the team and themselves the best they can. Just a fan looking from the outside.
 
#1,359
#1,359
kregman said:
The beauty of a forum is sharing opinions. I just like to see the players achieve for the team and themselves the best they can. Just a fan looking from the outside.
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I conceptually agree with everything you said but i cant say it as profound as one other critic!
 
#1,360
#1,360
I like to see players at the top of the lineup with speed and patience at the plate. Players that have a multitude of ways to get on and carry a very high OBP percentage. I really don't care if they are slappers or power hitters just that they have the knack to get only base at least 4 out of every ten at bats or higher. If you have a couple of players like this at the top then your 3-4-5 are the players that should have the power and are always hitting away. A couple of players at the top that can consistently get on base slapper or whatever should give you ample opportunities per game to drive in runs if your 3-4-5-6 hitters have power and are consistent at making contact. What I hate to see is when these lead batters get on and team is sacrificing an out to move them up a base. You need to have confidence in you 3-4-5- to always be swinging away.
 
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#1,363
#1,363
kregman said:
Just saw a replay of Ivy's homerun yesterday. That ball landed past the bottom railroad track in left center past the scoreboard. That was a long home run.
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When she hit it her back leg kind of buckled it looked like to me. Kind of mostly arms swing! If i had to develop a shortstop for my team she would be just like Ivy! Not as tall as Madison but sound both defensively and offensively. Arizona must have a AA stud at short if she was not good enough for them!
 
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#1,364
#1,364
sccshortstop said:
When she hit it her back leg kind of buckled it looked like to me. Kind of mostly arms swing! If i had to develop a shortstop for my team she would be just like Ivy! Not as tall as Madison but sound both defensively and offensively. Arizona must have a AA stud at short if she was not good enough for them!
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Everyone has them but that was a bad call by them. She is so smooth at short I couldn't hope for anyone to play it as well as she has so far. Watching that homerun live it was still rising past the scoreboard. Watching from right even the well hit ones are normally starting to angle down around the fence. Random observation: Morgan hit one Saturday that I thought should have gone out. Talking to the family in front of me they said the wind was really blowing in from right which probably cost her one.
 
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#1,365
#1,365
kregman said:
Everyone has them but that was a bad call by them. She is so smooth at short I couldn't hope for anyone to play it as well as she has so far. Watching that homerun live it was still rising past the scoreboard. Watching from right even the well hit ones are normally starting to angle down around the fence. Random observation: Morgan hit one Saturday that I thought should have gone out. Talking to the family in front of me they said the wind was really blowing in from right which probably cost her one.
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Yep and i thought so with Morgan. She was going to have a banner year and she still may. Missing those creamy games would have got her acclimated back to the pitches but just being at first saves a run or two every series. I would love to compete with bama and we may but regardless i think our hitting is somewhat suspect with CS and Ally but they have hit in the past so i hope i am wrong. I have been rather hard on Parsons so i looked up her defensive numbers and she has only one error in 26 attempts and hitting .333.Sure seems like more to me but i will leave her alone as much as possible. Webber has 2 errors, as Seggren and Ally 3 and team total 11. We can go as far as Ashley can pitch us and hopefully the lefties and Bender can help! JMHO as always even though a critic will try to tear it appart!
 
#1,366
#1,366
Chelsea has seem to come around she hit .500 against Lsu with two walks and looked good yesterday except for one strikeout. I know it was batting practice but I was afraid Ally would continue her slump and that would have been real bad, but she hit the ball hard all day and looked more decisive at the plate. Who knows what we will do at Bama? I would be happy with 1 out of three thrilled with anything more. I am not scared of them but overall they have more pitching for sure and maybe firepower. I believer Ivy has rubbed off on Chelsea she is back to picking it and seems to be throwing more toward 3/4 to over the top like Ivy and therefore she is more accurate this year. Playing ss really messed with her last year.
 
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#1,367
#1,367
sccshortstop said:
We have seen that often! I guess other teams have done the same but if you dont follow them you dont notice.
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True, and that is any sport men or women. For us it seems to maybe expose the issues that have been lingering and discussed here in regards to our recruiting the last few years. Recruit needs or recruit rankings? Look good on the field or look good getting off the bus? Maybe all of it, but like someone said earlier, we need to get away from the travel organizations selling their players or rankings. Our best teams from the early 2000's were scouted and plugged in on needs without rankings.
 
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#1,368
#1,368
sccshortstop said:
When she hit it her back leg kind of buckled it looked like to me. Kind of mostly arms swing! If i had to develop a shortstop for my team she would be just like Ivy! Not as tall as Madison but sound both defensively and offensively. Arizona must have a AA stud at short if she was not good enough for them!
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Jesse Harper for Arizona is is exactly that an all American stud at SS. With COVID last year and petty much every starter on Arizona’s infield coming back for an extra year ivy made a move for more playing time this year.
 
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#1,369
#1,369
Majors said:
True, and that is any sport men or women. For us it seems to maybe expose the issues that have been lingering and discussed here in regards to our recruiting the last few years. Recruit needs or recruit rankings? Look good on the field or look good getting off the bus? Maybe all of it, but like someone said earlier, we need to get away from the travel organizations selling their players or rankings. Our best teams from the early 2000's were scouted and plugged in on needs without rankings.
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What got us into this situation? Was Marty not given the free reins as in the past or did he not have it then at all? Has the youth movement of today passed us by? I think back to Gabriel who was the best pitcher in all the land and i understand Ralph promised here he would not recruit another pitcher . She was injured and certainly not her fault but really to me never the stud we wanted. We seen to miss on those type pitchers ;and i have heard him say many times that the game is called fast pitch! Not ranting at all just seems we are inching back instead of forward. We do not sign near the number of west coast kids as in the past and even miss out on our instate studs often. I know scholarships numbers are not adaquate but they are the same for everyone nearly.
 
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#1,370
#1,370
SEC FAN 1111 said:
Jesse Harper for Arizona is is exactly that an all American stud at SS. With COVID last year and petty much every starter on Arizona’s infield coming back for an extra year ivy made a move for more playing time this year.
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Thanks! I went to the arizona roster and you are certainly right about that. She was AA as a shortstop and first baseman and a redshirt senior!
 
#1,371
#1,371
sccshortstop said:
What got us into this situation? Was Marty not given the free reins as in the past or did he not have it then at all? Has the youth movement of today passed us by? I think back to Gabriel who was the best pitcher in all the land and i understand Ralph promised here he would not recruit another pitcher . She was injured and certainly not her fault but really to me never the stud we wanted. We seen to miss on those type pitchers ;and i have heard him say many times that the game is called fast pitch! Not ranting at all just seems we are inching back instead of forward. We do not sign near the number of west coast kids as in the past and even miss out on our instate studs often. I know scholarships numbers are not adaquate but they are the same for everyone nearly.
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Marty was seen coast to coast. Summer of 2019, I saw him in Atlanta, CA and Colorado in just a few weeks of each other. Games he was at all the other major programs were there too. I’ll give you an example of who they scout, a few years ago Marty was at a game scouting a team from Florida who had two pitchers 5’9-5’11 type kids. The kid who pitched against that team which was ranked in the Top 10 at the time won 1-0, giving up 1 hit over 7 innings, around 10K and lived in the Knoxville area.

The story on Caylan Arnold was, she committed as a sophomore to MTSU. Backed away from that commitment went and camped at UK and blew up there, same time she got interest from FSU and Washington coming to town to see her. Marty was sent in to recruit her after that.
Right now in their backyard they have two pitchers headed to the SEC (Ole Miss and LSU) and a MI/slapper headed to TX AM.
 
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#1,373
#1,373
Majors said:
Marty was seen coast to coast. Summer of 2019, I saw him in Atlanta, CA and Colorado in just a few weeks of each other. Games he was at all the other major programs were there too. I’ll give you an example of who they scout, a few years ago Marty was at a game scouting a team from Florida who had two pitchers 5’9-5’11 type kids. The kid who pitched against that team which was ranked in the Top 10 at the time won 1-0, giving up 1 hit over 7 innings, around 10K and lived in the Knoxville area.

The story on Caylan Arnold was, she committed as a sophomore to MTSU. Backed away from that commitment went and camped at UK and blew up there, same time she got interest from FSU and Washington coming to town to see her. Marty was sent in to recruit her after that.
Right now in their backyard they have two pitchers headed to the SEC (Ole Miss and LSU) and a MI/slapper headed to TX AM.
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Nashville C going to Alabama... the list goes on
 
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#1,374
#1,374
tim said:
Nashville C going to Alabama... the list goes on
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Committed to Auburn in 8th grade, backed away after the debacle and coaching change. Came down to TX AM and Alabama. Tennessee was in it early in 8th grade but I don’t think factored in. Consistently Top 5 player for every ranking and hits absolute bombs.
 
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