Tennessee Softball

#2,111
#2,111
W.TN.Orange Blood said:
We may miss Leach next year. But with all the talent coming in it's hard to tell.
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We will and I heard Karen say she was the best all around player from top to bottom we have had. She can slap, hit for power, steal a base, run the bases, more knowledge about the game and anything else needed for the team. She started her first game here and will be sorely missed. Don't know if she will be an AA again this year but I hope so.
 
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#2,112
#2,112
Volfaninfl2 said:
Really need to get her on the coaching staff.
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I would love it and not sure her ambitions but Karen said she will make a fine coach if she decides that is the route to take. You watch where Karen is in the dugout and Aubrey will be beside her nearly always. Been that way since day one. Karen said she was a sponge!
 
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#2,115
#2,115
W.TN.Orange Blood said:
We may miss Leach next year. But with all the talent coming in it's hard to tell.
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Leach would be the best leadoff hitter in program history if not for Raven Chavanne. And honestly Leach is the superior overall hitter, although I think Chavanne could've shown better power numbers had been had more opportunity to swing away, but she really concentrated mostly on getting on base with Shipman, Gibson and Davin behind her.
 
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#2,116
#2,116
volman128 said:
Leach would be the best leadoff hitter in program history if not for Raven Chavanne. And honestly Leach is the superior overall hitter, although I think Chavanne could've shown better power numbers had been had more opportunity to swing away, but she really concentrated mostly on getting on base with Shipman, Gibson and Davin behind her.
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When you call a name beside Raven you have said a mouth full. Raven started out in LF when she started but Jessica Spigner had played there got to not hitting and made some errors Raven moved to 3rd. Spirgner transferred and as they say the rest is history!
 
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#2,118
#2,118
volman128 said:
Leach would be the best leadoff hitter in program history if not for Raven Chavanne. And honestly Leach is the superior overall hitter, although I think Chavanne could've shown better power numbers had been had more opportunity to swing away, but she really concentrated mostly on getting on base with Shipman, Gibson and Davin behind her.
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Truly great observation on your part. It's been a long time but I forgot about UT player Chavanne.
 
#2,119
#2,119
sccshortstop said:
When you call a name beside Raven you have said a mouth full. Raven started out in LF when she started but Jessica Spigner had played there got to not hitting and made some errors Raven moved to 3rd. Spirgner transferred and as they say the rest is history!
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What's funny is that she started playing 3rd some when Spigner was still here in 2011. The coaches wanted to see how she could do there, as they wanted to get some other players time in the OF (I believe they wanted to try Davin there at the time, and also Chelsea O'Connor who was on the team that year), and suspected she would be a better 3B than Spigner, and they planned on playing Spigner at DP her last year, which contributed to her transferring, along with other behind-the-scene issues that I was told. I used to have long conversations with Raven's dad, Kevin, on other boards. Great guy and very hands-off parent, unlike Melissa Davin's dad, someone I also talked to a lot back in the day, who was ALWAYS complaining about Ralph and constantly meddling and talking badly about other players on the team in private to me; to this day I'm shocked that Davin actually stayed all four years, but I think in the end Mel was a lot tougher than her dad gave her credit for. Anyway, Raven actually kind of resisted the idea of playing 3B -- partially because she thought Spigner was better at that position and she and Spigner were best friends at the time -- and it got her into hot water with Karen and apparently it took a while to get back out of the doghouse. But she obviously wound up being an outstanding 3B and better at the position than Spigner, who wound up transferring to Arizona and having a very lack luster senior year there. I tell this story mainly b/c Davin once called Tarango, Raven and Madi Shipman Ralph's "pets" and Kevin once acknowledged that that may be true but Karen rode them extra hard in response to it, and that you'd always want Ralph on your ass before Karen.
 
#2,120
#2,120
First what a God send Ashley Rogers has been this year. First time really observing her hitting she has a very quick bat, would keep hitting her extra right handed batter. Getting in the front of the batters box changed the game. Just about everyone did something good.
 
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#2,121
#2,121
W.TN.Orange Blood said:
Truly great observation on your part. It's been a long time but I forgot about UT player Chavanne.
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I follow Raven on Twitter. She's an English teacher now, surprisingly, and her boyfriend is former UT baseball player Christin Stewart. She'll always be one of my all-time favorite LVs. Maybe my favorite, actually. I was so excited when she picked UT as her school, and she didn't disappoint. I think she's the only 4-time AA we've had besides Abbott. She was an outstanding student, too.

UT has had some really amazing leadoff hitters over the years. Sarah Fekete, India Chiles, Raven Chavanne, Aubrey Leach. I think Kaitlin Parsons has the potential to be in that mold. KiKi Milloy has the opportunity to be a very special 1 or 2 hitter in her career when she arrives next season. She's also a pitcher so I wonder if she will pitch at UT. She reminds me a TON of Rainey Gaffin in her versatility offensively and defensively.
 
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#2,122
#2,122
Raven actually had plenty of power just not her game. Another thing she had was speed if the ball bounced more than once she was on. I will always appreciate Melissa because she battled through a lot of injuries.
 
#2,123
#2,123
volman128 said:
I follow Raven on Twitter. She's an English teacher now, surprisingly, and her boyfriend is former UT baseball player Christin Stewart. She'll always be one of my all-time favorite LVs. Maybe my favorite, actually. I was so excited when she picked UT as her school, and she didn't disappoint. I think she's the only 4-time AA we've had besides Abbott. She was an outstanding student, too.

UT has had some really amazing leadoff hitters over the years. Sarah Fekete, India Chiles, Raven Chavanne, Aubrey Leach. I think Kaitlin Parsons has the potential to be in that mold. KiKi Milloy has the opportunity to be a very special 1 or 2 hitter in her career when she arrives next season. She's also a pitcher so I wonder if she will pitch at UT. She reminds me a TON of Rainey Gaffin in her versatility offensively and defensively.
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I wish I could like this post 1,000 x. Your're naming some GREAT UT players that I've truly forgotten about.
 
#2,124
#2,124
Phillips who I love has fallen into upper cutting. I’m sure they will get to try to go up the middle and the bombs will come back. Everyone is trying to jam her.
 
#2,125
#2,125
I actually think Raven could've had double digit HRs in most of her years at UT had she been able/allowed to swing away. I say able b/c she played all her junior year with a torn labrum that really hindered her swing. She managed to be named first team AA that year while basically bunting most of the season. It was really remarkable. She had no homers and maybe just a couple of extra base hits that year. She had like 7HR and 30 RBI her senior year which is a lot for a leadoff hitter. UT tended to have pretty week bottom of the lineup hitters in those days or I think she could've had more RBI opportunities.

Davin's dad (who used to be on this board...idk if anyone remembers him) was always pissed because she would get pulled for defensive subs. But Kat Dotson did, too, and the Weeklys tend to do the same thing to this day. She also was recruited to play the corners but wound up playing a lot in the OF because she had a strong arm and good speed, and players like Tarango could only play DP or 1B, for the most part. Melissa Brown also wound up at 1B a lot because she simply wasn't as good of an OFer as Davin. Her dad always took it as a negative that she was in the OF for some reason. He couldn't stand the fact that she would get pulled for Holly Baker late in games.
 
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