Tennessee Lady Vols Softball 2022.

#4,853
#4,853
alexvol said:
The transfer portal for two great pitchers and at least a couple of great hitters has to be kind to the Lady Vols or they are in for one heck of a long season in 2023
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No coach in college athletics benefited more from Covid canceling spring sports in 2020 than Karen. That team was on track to miss the NCAAT entirely. Had you added that to back to back home regional exits, I think tonight could’ve been her last game.
 
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#4,854
#4,854
Volstylelexx you have posted on here for a long time when not much is going on here. I appreciate you. We are at two different levels but not necessarily opposite ends.
 
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#4,857
#4,857
Is Ralph Weekly still coaching? I have to admit I haven't been following closely all year. That is why I didn't know Ally Shipman was a Bamer until two months ago.

I just think the Weekly's have peaked. They didn't get it done with they had a generational pitcher when they used to do all that slap hitting. They missed a title at least one other time. Meanwhile several other SEC teams have won the title. They continue to have transfers like our volleyball program when they were good. It is unacceptable to get swept at home in a doubleheader as the favorite.

I'm not saying we need to switch coaches because we are consistently very good, but you know what you're getting with the Weekly's.
 
#4,859
#4,859
kregman said:
Volstylelexx you have posted on here for a long time when not much is going on here. I appreciate you. We are at two different levels but not necessarily opposite ends.
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I respect that and respect your viewpoint. I’m a victim of the Fulmer exit and years of doom that came after. No doubt it impacts my hesitation on firing coaches. Another regional exit and I’m going to be on here with my pitchfork in hand. I also rode the Holly train too long, so my ability to see the long term picture hasn’t always been the best. Sorry for the disappointing end to this season and again, I appreciate all of you guy’s and gal’s support and passion for the program. Night all!
 
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#4,863
#4,863
Softball has been drifting downward for a while. UT has been somewhat sanguine about it because the Weeklys have checked most of the boxes. They run a clean program, recruit high character players who do well academically and are campus leaders, which reflects well on the university. Karen and Ralph brought a family feel to the program that UT appreciates, and they fit the paradigm of what UT wants in its HCs. Karen and the Chancellor are friendly.

Softball isn't as successful as it was, but it has been consistently "good enough" for many. This was a very disappointing end to the season, exacerbated by the failure to capitalize on a second chance to host the supers, which UT would have liked. The program needed the boost, and with Bama out of the picture, they had a real shot at making the WCWS after a long drought. But UT isn't going to fire Karen over it. That won't even be in the conversation.
 
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#4,864
#4,864
LA Vol said:
Softball has been drifting downward for a while. UT has been somewhat sanguine about it because the Weeklys have checked most of the boxes. They run a clean program, recruit high character players who do well academically and are campus leaders, which reflects well on the university. Karen and Ralph brought a family feel to the program that UT appreciates, and they fit the paradigm of what UT wants in its HCs. Karen and the Chancellor are friendly.

Softball isn't as successful as it was, but it has been consistently "good enough" for many. This was a very disappointing end to the season, exacerbated by the failure to capitalize on a second chance to host the supers, which UT would have liked. The program needed the boost, and with Bama out of the picture, they had a real shot at making the WCWS after a long drought. But UT isn't going to fire Karen over it. That won't even be in the conversation.
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Outstanding post. Personally I said above that I think the program has peaked under KW. The difference between the softball program and the basketball program is R & KW built the softball program. While HW ran the basketball program off the cliff. So KW isn't going anywhere. I don't know if that's good or bad.
 
#4,865
#4,865
MS_LdyVols_fan said:
The players are to blame. Kiki, Ivy, Ayala, Gibson, Puni. They lacked any fire. Yes, they are great on defense but no effort on offense for weeks. Ayala has seemed like she has just wanted the season over for a while now. I am not saying coaches haven’t made some boneheaded moves but the veterans on this team gave the pitchers zero relief. EE has pitched her a$$ off for this team. We wouldn’t even have been a host if not for her. I hate the offense wouldn’t help her.
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It's up to the coaches to get the most out of their players. Performances are always going to fall on the coaches in college sports. They're the ones that are getting paid the big bucks.

WTBS, the seniors, outside of EE, gave us next to nothing late the season. Ashley in particular looked lost all season long. A lack of leadership definitely killed us but again it's on the coaches to get that out of the players. Karen is a crappy motivator period.
 
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#4,868
#4,868
kregman said:
I must say EE gave everything she had this year and this would have really been ugly without her. Funny thing was in the end overall it was the hitting that failed us.
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This has been an issue for the last 5+ years: We don't hit in big games. Seven hits--total--in the last 2 games? Pathetic. We deserved to lose. One run in the last game? This season will go down as a big-time hitting failure--not because we didn't have players who could hit, but because our hitters just couldn't perform to their potential.

Oregon State lost 20 games this year and was 9-15 in its conference--and we can't beat them in one of two games...at home? Pathetic. Something about Weekly and the Vols the last few years: We have consistently come up small in big spots. I don't know why, but it's true. We had two of the best players in baseball for 3 years--even three for a couple of years--and won zippo.
 
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#4,869
#4,869
EZE said:
I’d like to know Weekly’s recruiting philosophy and what she values most in position players. It looks like she values fielding first and hitting second.

As for me, give me a great hitter/average fielder over the great fielder/average hitter all day long. It’s much easier to teach/develop fielding than hitting IMO. Also give me a player with good size and strength over a smaller/faster player, too.
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I respectfully disagree. A good athlete is a good athlete. Both fielding and hitting require good focus and fundamentals, but I'm not sure we're getting that on the hitting side.
 
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#4,870
#4,870
turbovol said:
This has been an issue for the last 5+ years: We don't hit in big games. Seven hits--total--in the last 2 games? Pathetic. We deserved to lose. One run in the last game? This season will go down as a big-time hitting failure--not because we didn't have players who could hit, but because our hitters just couldn't perform to their potential.

Oregon State lost 20 games this year and was 9-15 in its conference--and we can't beat them in one of two games...at home? Pathetic. Something about Weekly and the Vols the last few years: We have consistently come up small in big spots. I don't know why, but it's true. We had two of the best players in baseball for 3 years--even three for a couple of years--and won zippo.
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In years past, with teams that had players like Monica Abbott/Schutzler/Fekete/Chiles and then again with the Renfroes/Gibson/Chavanne/Shipman, talent was able to overcome poor coaching to an extent. We still should've had at least one NC with Abbott (maybe more than one), and at least one SEC regular season championship with the Renfroes (we had zero), but at least we were getting to WCWS with those teams. Now, our recruiting has actually dropped off some, which is another factor in our downfall that people seem to be overlooking. We're still recruiting well but not the level we were at one point. We used to consistently get top five classes.

The poor clutch hitting has been here the entire time the Weeklys have been here. They lost the 2007 NC because of lack of clutch hitting. When the NC was on the line, they couldn't buy a hit, and went scoreless in the last two games of the NC series, after winning the first game 3-0. Even in 2013 when we got to the NC series for the second time, the Renfroes saved our behinds when we had some piss poor offensive outings vs. Washington and Texas in OKC.
 
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#4,873
#4,873
Just watched post game presser and during second inning Karen said trainer told her that Ashley was done for the day. That’s what I figured when she didn’t start game two. Question now is even if she wants to come back, can she physically? I don’t want her to hurt herself or be in constant pain just to play softball.
 
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#4,875
#4,875
volman128 said:
In years past, with teams that had players like Monica Abbott/Schutzler/Chiles and then again with the Renfroes/Gibson/Chavanne, talent was able to overcome poor coaching to an extent. We still should've had at least one NC with Abbott (maybe more than one), and at least one SEC regular season championship with the Renfroes (we had zero), but at least we were getting to WCWS with those teams. Now, our recruiting has actually dropped off some, which is another factor in our downfall that people seem to be overlooking. We're still recruiting well but not the level we were at one point. We used to consistently get top five classes.
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Parents and travel ball coaches watch games too. Ball dont lie as they say. They know...
 
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