Tennessee Softball 2024

#10,152
#10,152
Someone mentioned a lazy at bat. IMHO, I agree. In fact, I would drop Pannell, Gibson, Puni three spots in the order and bring up West, Nugent, and Rodriguez. Also, I haven't seen enough teams or learned about the benefits of the split grip on the bat. I am sure all the players learned the game without this grip. Let's go away from it.
The AL pitcher grooved a lot of first pitch strikes. Ladies, go up there hacking. Sorry for presenting my feelings. Win the next one tomorrow.
 
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#10,154
#10,154
Well, I’ve had time to relax. That one hurt for sure. I think Briski and Payton will start tomorrow but I also think both Beaver and Karlyn will pitch. I like being the “home” team again. How will we handle pressure? Hopefully like the 3rd ranked team in the country. If we’re tight we’ll go home. Kiki, Riley, and Zaida have to show senior leadership. Positive energy and timely hitting please.
 
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#10,156
#10,156
I was just wondering today what Karen’s game plan was going to be with Faw moving forward. Karen showed her game plan today with pulling DRod. Sorry DRod looks like you are going to lose your position.

How can a coach pull a kid in this game after she gets a hit in her first at bat and let Faw get 2 at bats before pinch hitting for her.

You got to be playing to win rather than worrying about getting kids playing time.
 
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#10,158
#10,158
Lady Vols Fan said:
I was just wondering today what Karen’s game plan was going to be with Faw moving forward. Karen showed her game plan today with pulling DRod. Sorry DRod looks like you are going to lose your position.

How can a coach pull a kid in this game after she gets a hit in her first at bat and let Faw get 2 at bats before pinch hitting for her.

You got to be playing to win rather than worrying about getting kids playing time.
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The Weeklys have always made some stupid substitutions.

Years ago they would always pull Melissa Davin late in games and give her ABs to walk-on Holly Baker.
 
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#10,159
#10,159
We bunt 1 time and got a single that’s all I have to say. I’m not a coach and noticed that. Alabama was one of the worst defensive infields in college and we didn’t think it was worth trying to put pressure on the defense by playing some small ball.

Karen got out coached and this ain’t the first time
 
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#10,160
#10,160
Rixxx said:
Someone mentioned a lazy at bat. IMHO, I agree. In fact, I would drop Pannell, Gibson, Puni three spots in the order and bring up West, Nugent, and Rodriguez. Also, I haven't seen enough teams or learned about the benefits of the split grip on the bat. I am sure all the players learned the game without this grip. Let's go away from it.
The AL pitcher grooved a lot of first pitch strikes. Ladies, go up there hacking. Sorry for presenting my feelings. Win the next one tomorrow.
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Never understood not swinging at the ouside corner pitches about thigh high ...there were a ton pitched there today ....step out there and hit it to right center.
 
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#10,161
#10,161
orange beard said:
BIGGEST CHOCK JOB EVER
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Almost. 2nd biggest choke. Biggest was against Arizona when Abbott was here. Got outcoached by Candrea. He might adjustments with his batters. We did not. Same as today. Don't know how many innings we have seen Beaver but we have not made any adjustments. That's on hitting coach. If Alabama gets ahead tomorrow we will see Beaver again. It will probably be same results as today. So disappointing.
 
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#10,162
#10,162
alexvol said:
Never understood not swinging at the ouside corner pitches about thigh high ...there were a ton pitched there today ....step out there and hit it to right center.
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I’m guessing it’s not being taught because it’s tough to hit a homer on an outside pitch. They are being taught middle in because that’s the homer pitch. That’s why all year we hit infield pop outs and weak ground balls because we pull off the outside pitch. That’s why our team average is so low. Most teams work on hitting hard line drives but instead we work on launch angles. How’s that working out for us.
 
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#10,163
#10,163
UT Challenger said:
Almost. 2nd biggest choke. Biggest was against Arizona when Abbott was here. Got outcoached by Candrea. He might adjustments with his batters. We did not. Same as today. Don't know how many innings we have seen Beaver but we have not made any adjustments. That's on hitting coach. If Alabama gets ahead tomorrow we will see Beaver again. It will probably be same results as today. So disappointing.
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I would add the chock jobs in regionals against JMU and Oregon State in Ashley Rogers prime.

No way we are ready for the WCWS, the winner plays UCLA and they are playing probably the best softball out of everyone and they already run ruled us this year
 
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#10,167
#10,167
UT Challenger said:
Almost. 2nd biggest choke. Biggest was against Arizona when Abbott was here. Got outcoached by Candrea. He might adjustments with his batters. We did not. Same as today. Don't know how many innings we have seen Beaver but we have not made any adjustments. That's on hitting coach. If Alabama gets ahead tomorrow we will see Beaver again. It will probably be same results as today. So disappointing.
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I literally felt nauseated after that Arizona game. Monica Abbott's greatness was squandered. Gawd, it still bugs me even all these years later.
 
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#10,168
#10,168
anecwnrjcns12 said:
This is also why you never have a whole lineup with righties….you face a pitcher like Beaver & it’s game over. We HAD to attack the inside pitch & get our hands to the ball. We were so worried about dropping the back shoulder rather than getting on the same plane as the pitch and driving the ball
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You are so right about the back should dropping. That's why the pop-ups are happening. In baseball it's called elevate and celebrate. In softball the flight of the ball is different. You have to stay on plane with it.
 
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#10,169
#10,169
UT Challenger said:
You are so right about the back should dropping. That's why the pop-ups are happening. In baseball it's called elevate and celebrate. In softball the flight of the ball is different. You have to stay on plane with it.
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I agree a đź’Ż, think about it. In baseball the ball is moving down and in softball the ball is typically moving up. Tough to square up a ball trying to elevate it when the ball is moving up word.
 
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#10,170
#10,170
After having hours to decompress and gather my thoughts I will say that this game was an emotional roller coaster, but it did hurt. I imagine just as much as the early exit in the sec tournament. There were a lot of good things today, but unfortunately a lot more bad things. Yes there will be games that will be the case and a team/coach will outplay you, but what separates good and great teams in the postseason is how you respond. I think Payton did okay at times it was a little too predicable on what pitch was going to be called and correct me if I am wrong, but I have not seen an "offspeed" from her since the beginning of the year? I think if Karen can call that pitch a little more it will help. As far as Karlyn goes, man she was a dog out there just battling every inning no matter what traffic was going on around her. I feel for her the most considering she did everything asked of her on what looked like a very hot day. I will say that Boo needs to clean up the defense at 3rd, too many balls that she is misplaying that are allowing baserunners. And finally the most disappointing part of the day....the offense. I truly do not know what conversations were being had, but clearly they did not work. Once we got past the 8th inning obviously beaver was implementing the changeup more often, but to hitters like Boo, West, G she was hammering strikes over the plate that we NEEDED to drive. I hated seeing how we kept getting underneath the ball when if we were a little more disciplined and just had a better bat path with our hands we could square up a couple of more balls. I do not know if the issue was timing or pitch identification, but some hitters just went up there guessing or getting jammed....for someone that Pannell who had at least 3 ABs in a row where she could've driven someone in if she just lets the ball travel a little longer she is barreling up a couple balls. Let's be honest, we got our free passes with some walks/hbps but just kept trying to lift the ball when their defense was shaky anything could've happened if we just put the ball on the ground. I will say I would have liked Karen to be more aggressive on the base paths with hit n runs, bunt n runs, stealing bases at the right times in order to make some chaos happen. I think this time of year the homers will come when they come, but good teams against good pitching are able to play all different types of offense whether it'd be the long ball, station to station, or the speed game. Create momentum early in the game on defense/pitching and take the wind out of their sail early and we are putting ourselves in a position to win, if we wait until the latter part of the game our backs are against the wall. Leadership from Milloy, West, Gottshall, and Puni are going to be critical.
 
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#10,171
#10,171
lvocd said:
I literally felt nauseated after that Arizona game. Monica Abbott's greatness was squandered. Gawd, it still bugs me even all these years later.
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You had to live that to appreciate it. Bases loaded no out one run wins it all for us. Ralph at third literally coaching with his eyes closed. Batters followed his lead and we didn’t score go on to lose that game and the next. Gut wrenching doesn’t even begin to describe it and we wasted Monica.
 
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#10,172
#10,172
if it hasn’t been for the portal, Karen’s lack of recruiting has hurt the depth of this team. The last three recruiting class have been disappointing for high level starters. You got Boo, Pannell, and Pickens and that is it out of 17 girls recruited out of Karen’s last 3 classes. Faw and the Leaches are nice players but not all conference type of players. So why is she trying harder to get them playing time than rather than focusing on winning in the post season. I would be surprised if we don’t have more leave in the portal with how those 3 freshmen have been force playing time and haven’t earned it. They haven’t done enough to earn playing time over Katie and Jam. If Faw didn’t break her foot she would still be at SS and Laura would be on the bench. I’m not in favor by playing upperclassman because they are older. You got to earn it and I’m not seeing were they have earned anything. The lack of competition for playing is this teams problem. Just my opinion
 
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#10,173
#10,173
Lady Vols Fan said:
Do we start Payton?
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If I was coaching she would be my stating pitcher tomorrow but you have to take a different approach on the pitch calling . Go back and look at the pitches they hit and find their weaknesses. Payton has arm to keep them off the bases. I would love to call pitches for her against Alabama. We still have to hit and score runs.
 
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