I guess the best place to start is the new strategy pitching by committee that we have seen. As we all know softball is lot like chess and right now our opponents have made their move.
What has made this strategy work so far is not necessarily the quality of the individuals that we have faced, but the quantity of the offspeed pitches and when it is being used. They have mentioned that Patty likes to create 3 or 4 lineups and going with whichever one she feels most comfortable with based upon whomever the starting opponent will be. Well, with this new strategy of pitch by committee makes it a bit mute and it's JT's next move in this game of chess to develope a new hitting strategy to combat this.
Most likely there will be an emphasis on hitting offspeed in practice. Develop a lineup that you feel are your best offspeed hitters and go from there.
Patty had talked about how losses are not good but they aren't necessarily bad as well, which is true if the player's have learned from said loss.
It's of my opinion that the Baylor loss was more about the OU hitters taking themselves out of the gameplan than it was about the Baylor pitching. I could be wrong but it seemed to me that some of the player's were buying more into the preseason hype than the individual gameplan's and it caught up to them against Baylor. Sometimes you need that to happen to get certain individuals to buy back into the program and it's hitting philosophy.
Who's the #1 on the pitching staff? For most of the season I have had as follows 1) May 2) Storako 3) Bahl. Right now I would have to go with the following 1) Bahl 2) May 3) Storako.
It has nothing to do with the quality of pitching that May and Storako has provided which has been great but more to do with the quality of pitching that Bahl provides when she is healthy. When healthy she is just on a different level than anyone else in college softball. Her speed is close to being consistently in the 69-71 range and that Flip Change she throws with the way it tails and drops off the table is absolutely a filthy pitch!
What is going on with Freshman Jocelyn Ericksen? In my opinion she and Jennings has the best bat speed on the team and most of their power is generated through it. Now, Ericksen looks like she has lost confidence in her ability and is doing more guessing than anything else and she is losing more of those battles than not.
I love her bat speed but I'm not a fan of her stance and her approach to timing. That's not something that she or JT will be able to fix midseason, and with the way Sanders has consistently made hard contact lately, it might be time to hand over the reigns at 1B to Sanders and let her ride that horse to the finish.
What positions are still open for competition?
I think only RF and 1B are still open but Torres is beginning to close on that position in Right. I would still like to see Nugent get more starts in RF but I think that competition is closing quick.
First Base is still open but Sanders is rising and Erickson is falling and this competition is starting to close in my opinion.
Patty will still find every opportunity for Erickson and her lefty power but if she doesn't get going soon that door will close.
What is the most likely scenarios for the other two Freshmen that we have seen in Deal and Hodges?
I think Hodges will still be seeing spot duty as a pinch runner but that's about it.
Deal on the other hand I'm not sure we'll see much more.of her other than a start here or there against weak competition. When postseason comes I don't think we'll see much of her at all.
That's about all I can think of for now but if there is anything else that needs to be talked about let me know.
Boomer!
Oger
What has made this strategy work so far is not necessarily the quality of the individuals that we have faced, but the quantity of the offspeed pitches and when it is being used. They have mentioned that Patty likes to create 3 or 4 lineups and going with whichever one she feels most comfortable with based upon whomever the starting opponent will be. Well, with this new strategy of pitch by committee makes it a bit mute and it's JT's next move in this game of chess to develope a new hitting strategy to combat this.
Most likely there will be an emphasis on hitting offspeed in practice. Develop a lineup that you feel are your best offspeed hitters and go from there.
Patty had talked about how losses are not good but they aren't necessarily bad as well, which is true if the player's have learned from said loss.
It's of my opinion that the Baylor loss was more about the OU hitters taking themselves out of the gameplan than it was about the Baylor pitching. I could be wrong but it seemed to me that some of the player's were buying more into the preseason hype than the individual gameplan's and it caught up to them against Baylor. Sometimes you need that to happen to get certain individuals to buy back into the program and it's hitting philosophy.
Who's the #1 on the pitching staff? For most of the season I have had as follows 1) May 2) Storako 3) Bahl. Right now I would have to go with the following 1) Bahl 2) May 3) Storako.
It has nothing to do with the quality of pitching that May and Storako has provided which has been great but more to do with the quality of pitching that Bahl provides when she is healthy. When healthy she is just on a different level than anyone else in college softball. Her speed is close to being consistently in the 69-71 range and that Flip Change she throws with the way it tails and drops off the table is absolutely a filthy pitch!
What is going on with Freshman Jocelyn Ericksen? In my opinion she and Jennings has the best bat speed on the team and most of their power is generated through it. Now, Ericksen looks like she has lost confidence in her ability and is doing more guessing than anything else and she is losing more of those battles than not.
I love her bat speed but I'm not a fan of her stance and her approach to timing. That's not something that she or JT will be able to fix midseason, and with the way Sanders has consistently made hard contact lately, it might be time to hand over the reigns at 1B to Sanders and let her ride that horse to the finish.
What positions are still open for competition?
I think only RF and 1B are still open but Torres is beginning to close on that position in Right. I would still like to see Nugent get more starts in RF but I think that competition is closing quick.
First Base is still open but Sanders is rising and Erickson is falling and this competition is starting to close in my opinion.
Patty will still find every opportunity for Erickson and her lefty power but if she doesn't get going soon that door will close.
What is the most likely scenarios for the other two Freshmen that we have seen in Deal and Hodges?
I think Hodges will still be seeing spot duty as a pinch runner but that's about it.
Deal on the other hand I'm not sure we'll see much more.of her other than a start here or there against weak competition. When postseason comes I don't think we'll see much of her at all.
That's about all I can think of for now but if there is anything else that needs to be talked about let me know.
Boomer!
Oger
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