Some goodies from Monday, with the season beginning this evening.
Patty Gasso
Welcome to 2023?
So we don't talk about winning – three-peat – those are words that we're not really talking about around here. Because it's premature. It's really about the process. It's the journey. It's all of the work we put in and now it's playing it out.
I can't tell you how excited they are to play someone else in a different uniform. And so it's just starting off. You know, we're just focusing on weekend for weekend. You're just not going down that rabbit hole right now. It's a scary place to take them. We're just trying to keep it very day-to-day, very simple and not get overwhelmed with looking at rankings and things that don't make absolutely any sense right now. So it's a new team, it's completely different look. So the similarities are not as much there as they were in 16-17. It’s a different approach.
Balancing pitching rotation?
I think our schedule lends to the fact that we're going to throw in a lot more innings this season. That's my expectation. At times, I felt that lack of innings, hurt our pitchers. Invested them, but they missed big opportunities for improvement or handling pressure, things like that. So I think this is going to look completely different. I think all of our pitchers will have opportunities to get significant innings.
Pitching rotation?
SJ Geurin is gonna redshirt so we have four. We have a lefty freshman, Kierston Deal, who is really throwing well. All four of these pitchers can help us significantly and I'm excited about each one of them in a different way. Think Alex Storako is really throwing very well, this last week and a half, specifically. Jordy is feeling good, looking good. Excited to get back and pick up where she left off. And I think Nicole May – this is going to be her best season. I feel her improvement. I feel her command on the mound and KD just gives us that lefty-lefty matchup so all four I'm extremely comfortable with any one of them on the mound.
Jordy process?
Slow. Just the summer, the idea was to leave the ball in the bag and don't pick it up. No need to. So just let it rest and let's heal and so, I mean, it's hard to keep her grounded because she wants to go, go, go, go, go. We haven't had any kind of problems with the forearm. seems like she's feeling completely fine. So excited to get her opportunities back on the mound healthy.
Worried about too much for Jordy?
I think she’s just another-level athlete that I'm not concerned about. She is the strongest on the team, probably the fastest on our team. She's pretty phenomenal, the things that she can do away from the mound. I think she wants it. She's begging for an opportunity to lend more of herself to the chance to win, whether it's on the mound, at the plate, in the field. She's been working really hard to make herself an option and she definitely is, so I think she's gonna have a lot of fun with that.
Lineup?
It's good. It's good. It's solid. The swings will wow you and it's throughout, and it's sitting on the bench and it's waiting for me to call on them. That's my biggest issue is we have such a deep bench. How do I make all these athletes feel part of it and engaged and that's going to be probably the hardest job I have.
Replacing Jocelyn Alo’s power?
So did we replace Jocelyn Alo? No. It's impossible, but it's going to take more than one person to fill those shoes. And that's really what's more the mentality is we need more throughout power throughout the lineup just to pick up her numbers.
Ambitious schedule?
I think the competitive advantage is what we're looking for. I don't know that we get better with run rules. They don't make us better. It's those 2-1 ball games. Or those tight, hard-fought extra innings. Those are when you really find gold, you find who is clutch. You find who loves those big moments and it's always been to me, those close games are where your best memories are. It's where you grow the most as a team. So that's what we're looking for. That's why it was scheduled that way. It's been hard to get people to play us. So this has been really, you know, we're having to go to LSU. We're having to go to Mississippi State to get some of these games, which is part of the problem. This is gonna be probably one of the top power ranking schedules that we've had in a long time.
Kierston Deal?
First, I think she came in kind of wide-eyed and she surrounded herself with Coach Rocha and learn more about actual, you know, pitching and our style and what she can be really good at. She really, I think, embraced that and tried to get better with it. I think some of these veterans have really helped her as well going forward so she's crafty. She moves the ball. She changes speeds and is tough. She's tough to face and she's really improved on her defense a lot and that's something that I know you can look around at all of our lefty pitchers and how great they were but they were all really good fielders.
Storako doesn’t have to throw 200 innings?
I think she's thrilled. When you throw somebody that much and you lean on them that hard, they lose effectiveness. They get injured they get hurt. And I think Alex loves the idea of going out and being fresh every time she's on the mound, and I think all of our pitchers are going to feel that. They're all that good. We don't have to rely on one.
The days of hopefully the days of Paige Parker and leaning on Paige Parker is over forever for this program because I hit a point where I was so uncomfortable with what we were doing with her physically, that I promised myself we were never going to do that again. So these four pitchers are going to be able to hand the ball off and I mean we could go starter or middle reliever and closer. And there's all kinds of different things we can do here.
Transfers fitting in?
It's new because they've always been like the superstars on their team and I think some of them were hitting more than playing defense. So they've been working really hard defensively. Our upperclassmen have tried to bring them in the fold and get them to work out the speed and the level and the reactions and decision making. So just I mean, even just before I walked in here, were pressing them in decision making and situational. What do you do here? What do you do there? And there's still a lot of questions that are being asked because it's a different level of them having to think about what they would do. So I think they'll tell you that they're learning about the game a lot and they're getting there. They're excited about these opportunities of making the right decision and making that big play on defense. They've just always been known as hitters. But now, here you got to you got to be good on both sides of the ball.
Motivation level?
I think that's just their expectations. They understand that they're good. They know they're good. So I think they want to be more than good. I think they want to be great. Again, we don't talk about winning like winning it all or things like that. It's just more of when you put all them together, there's power. You can feel it. It is a very powerful feeling of confidence, athleticism. And I think they're a team that wants to be known like that, maybe make history. I mean, how many teams have won it back-to-back-to-back? Again, we don't talk about it. For good reason, but they know. And they just want to be known as the best. And that expectation is always there throughout practice.
Kinzie?
She went through the summer work with USA softball. I know she was still hurting. So I just wanted to give her rest. She's another one that doesn't want to sit. She wants to get moving, but they took some measures to help her knees feel better. I know JT has done some things with her set up behind home plate that might help with her knee issues as well. So I think she's just she's hungry. She felt like she let down the team last year just because of her injuries and unable to play as much as she wanted to. It affected her offense, for sure. But she's crushing the ball. She's right back to who she was the year before, so there's not a lot of talk for her. She knows.
Grace Lyons’ recovery?
Load management, so to speak. So she came back and we kind of slowly gave her, like today, you get 10 throws at 30 feet and just slowly working her forward. The last few days was the first time I've seen her go all out. She wasn't stopping. There was, no OK, stop, no more throws. I mean, we were working and realize everything looks right back to where it was. So she's all there. She's all in.
Patty Gasso
Welcome to 2023?
So we don't talk about winning – three-peat – those are words that we're not really talking about around here. Because it's premature. It's really about the process. It's the journey. It's all of the work we put in and now it's playing it out.
I can't tell you how excited they are to play someone else in a different uniform. And so it's just starting off. You know, we're just focusing on weekend for weekend. You're just not going down that rabbit hole right now. It's a scary place to take them. We're just trying to keep it very day-to-day, very simple and not get overwhelmed with looking at rankings and things that don't make absolutely any sense right now. So it's a new team, it's completely different look. So the similarities are not as much there as they were in 16-17. It’s a different approach.
Balancing pitching rotation?
I think our schedule lends to the fact that we're going to throw in a lot more innings this season. That's my expectation. At times, I felt that lack of innings, hurt our pitchers. Invested them, but they missed big opportunities for improvement or handling pressure, things like that. So I think this is going to look completely different. I think all of our pitchers will have opportunities to get significant innings.
Pitching rotation?
SJ Geurin is gonna redshirt so we have four. We have a lefty freshman, Kierston Deal, who is really throwing well. All four of these pitchers can help us significantly and I'm excited about each one of them in a different way. Think Alex Storako is really throwing very well, this last week and a half, specifically. Jordy is feeling good, looking good. Excited to get back and pick up where she left off. And I think Nicole May – this is going to be her best season. I feel her improvement. I feel her command on the mound and KD just gives us that lefty-lefty matchup so all four I'm extremely comfortable with any one of them on the mound.
Jordy process?
Slow. Just the summer, the idea was to leave the ball in the bag and don't pick it up. No need to. So just let it rest and let's heal and so, I mean, it's hard to keep her grounded because she wants to go, go, go, go, go. We haven't had any kind of problems with the forearm. seems like she's feeling completely fine. So excited to get her opportunities back on the mound healthy.
Worried about too much for Jordy?
I think she’s just another-level athlete that I'm not concerned about. She is the strongest on the team, probably the fastest on our team. She's pretty phenomenal, the things that she can do away from the mound. I think she wants it. She's begging for an opportunity to lend more of herself to the chance to win, whether it's on the mound, at the plate, in the field. She's been working really hard to make herself an option and she definitely is, so I think she's gonna have a lot of fun with that.
Lineup?
It's good. It's good. It's solid. The swings will wow you and it's throughout, and it's sitting on the bench and it's waiting for me to call on them. That's my biggest issue is we have such a deep bench. How do I make all these athletes feel part of it and engaged and that's going to be probably the hardest job I have.
Replacing Jocelyn Alo’s power?
So did we replace Jocelyn Alo? No. It's impossible, but it's going to take more than one person to fill those shoes. And that's really what's more the mentality is we need more throughout power throughout the lineup just to pick up her numbers.
Ambitious schedule?
I think the competitive advantage is what we're looking for. I don't know that we get better with run rules. They don't make us better. It's those 2-1 ball games. Or those tight, hard-fought extra innings. Those are when you really find gold, you find who is clutch. You find who loves those big moments and it's always been to me, those close games are where your best memories are. It's where you grow the most as a team. So that's what we're looking for. That's why it was scheduled that way. It's been hard to get people to play us. So this has been really, you know, we're having to go to LSU. We're having to go to Mississippi State to get some of these games, which is part of the problem. This is gonna be probably one of the top power ranking schedules that we've had in a long time.
Kierston Deal?
First, I think she came in kind of wide-eyed and she surrounded herself with Coach Rocha and learn more about actual, you know, pitching and our style and what she can be really good at. She really, I think, embraced that and tried to get better with it. I think some of these veterans have really helped her as well going forward so she's crafty. She moves the ball. She changes speeds and is tough. She's tough to face and she's really improved on her defense a lot and that's something that I know you can look around at all of our lefty pitchers and how great they were but they were all really good fielders.
Storako doesn’t have to throw 200 innings?
I think she's thrilled. When you throw somebody that much and you lean on them that hard, they lose effectiveness. They get injured they get hurt. And I think Alex loves the idea of going out and being fresh every time she's on the mound, and I think all of our pitchers are going to feel that. They're all that good. We don't have to rely on one.
The days of hopefully the days of Paige Parker and leaning on Paige Parker is over forever for this program because I hit a point where I was so uncomfortable with what we were doing with her physically, that I promised myself we were never going to do that again. So these four pitchers are going to be able to hand the ball off and I mean we could go starter or middle reliever and closer. And there's all kinds of different things we can do here.
Transfers fitting in?
It's new because they've always been like the superstars on their team and I think some of them were hitting more than playing defense. So they've been working really hard defensively. Our upperclassmen have tried to bring them in the fold and get them to work out the speed and the level and the reactions and decision making. So just I mean, even just before I walked in here, were pressing them in decision making and situational. What do you do here? What do you do there? And there's still a lot of questions that are being asked because it's a different level of them having to think about what they would do. So I think they'll tell you that they're learning about the game a lot and they're getting there. They're excited about these opportunities of making the right decision and making that big play on defense. They've just always been known as hitters. But now, here you got to you got to be good on both sides of the ball.
Motivation level?
I think that's just their expectations. They understand that they're good. They know they're good. So I think they want to be more than good. I think they want to be great. Again, we don't talk about winning like winning it all or things like that. It's just more of when you put all them together, there's power. You can feel it. It is a very powerful feeling of confidence, athleticism. And I think they're a team that wants to be known like that, maybe make history. I mean, how many teams have won it back-to-back-to-back? Again, we don't talk about it. For good reason, but they know. And they just want to be known as the best. And that expectation is always there throughout practice.
Kinzie?
She went through the summer work with USA softball. I know she was still hurting. So I just wanted to give her rest. She's another one that doesn't want to sit. She wants to get moving, but they took some measures to help her knees feel better. I know JT has done some things with her set up behind home plate that might help with her knee issues as well. So I think she's just she's hungry. She felt like she let down the team last year just because of her injuries and unable to play as much as she wanted to. It affected her offense, for sure. But she's crushing the ball. She's right back to who she was the year before, so there's not a lot of talk for her. She knows.
Grace Lyons’ recovery?
Load management, so to speak. So she came back and we kind of slowly gave her, like today, you get 10 throws at 30 feet and just slowly working her forward. The last few days was the first time I've seen her go all out. She wasn't stopping. There was, no OK, stop, no more throws. I mean, we were working and realize everything looks right back to where it was. So she's all there. She's all in.
