Gopher Softball 2022

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ClassOf98Gopher said:
I do think that the Kiana Jones miss as a pitching talent has become a problem for the team. I think they thought she had the potential to be a 1 or 2 pitcher than could successfully pitch lots (100 plus) of innings a year. I think even the Canadian national team had hopes for her to be a future talent for them. And it just didn’t pan out for her as a pitcher.

And then, one year later, Hollifield came into the program with a lot of momentum being a successful senior year pitcher out of talent-rich Georgia. They probably thought she could get 30-40 plus quality innings a year as well. We have not, to date, seen that on the field in Maroon and Gold yet.
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Recruiting busts are certainly amplified more for softball with the roster size. PJ has missed on an awful lot of WR for example but there's big enough roster that it hasn't mattered
 

Hrothgar said:
Interesting comment.

Of course, we aren't "entitled" to nationally talented pitchers (or position players), unless we have a recruiter/recruiters, with the skill to convince them to come here, which is what the job entails and what one MN head coach had the charisma to do. Her seasons weren't always flawless, but she brought in some super talent. Too bad the U didn't have the guts to fight to keep her. I felt she could eventually have challenged for a nat'l title by staying here for the long haul. I think what we're doing now is hoping for the best, not planning for it.
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I would guess that they didn't have the $$ to keep Allister. Her alma mater was calling... hard to say no to that. If you want the team to be a national powerhouse, it's time for you to pull out the good ol' pocketbook and come up with creative NIL agreements to attract the top recruits. Or donate your millions to the athletic department so that money isn't an issue when it comes time to hiring the next coach. I am sure Patty Gasso is available if we want to bump her pay over her current reported $1.2M/year.

Where is MN's answer to Phil Knight at Oregon and T. Boone Pickens at OSU? Time for all of the U alumni to start going into business and building the next billion dollar companies.
 

ecoperson said:
I would guess that they didn't have the $$ to keep Allister. Her alma mater was calling... hard to say no to that. If you want the team to be a national powerhouse, it's time for you to pull out the good ol' pocketbook and come up with creative NIL agreements to attract the top recruits. Or donate your millions to the athletic department so that money isn't an issue when it comes time to hiring the next coach. I am sure Patty Gasso is available if we want to bump her pay over her current reported $1.2M/year.

Where is MN's answer to Phil Knight at Oregon and T. Boone Pickens at OSU? Time for all of the U alumni to start going into business and building the next billion dollar companies.
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There really isn't much NIL in softball yet. Besides Lauren Burke and Fouts haven't seen anyone else with enough followers to be getting sponsorships
 

ecoperson said:
I would guess that they didn't have the $$ to keep Allister. Her alma mater was calling... hard to say no to that. If you want the team to be a national powerhouse, it's time for you to pull out the good ol' pocketbook and come up with creative NIL agreements to attract the top recruits. Or donate your millions to the athletic department so that money isn't an issue when it comes time to hiring the next coach. I am sure Patty Gasso is available if we want to bump her pay over her current reported $1.2M/year.

Where is MN's answer to Phil Knight at Oregon and T. Boone Pickens at OSU? Time for all of the U alumni to start going into business and building the next billion dollar companies.
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I suspect my monthly Social Security retirement check would fall a bit short on the donation board. Thanks anyway for explaining to me that I was born yesterday.
 

No doubt about it, Allister is a great recruiter. She is able to find great players who aren’t targeted by all the traditional powers. And many of her key players while at Minnesota were from the Midwest especially later in her run. But the players who really put Minnesota on the map and made the program a desirable destination for top Midwest players like Sam Macken, Sydney Dwyer, Kendyl Lindaman, Amber Fiser, and Maddie Houlihan were non-Midwesterners Kaitlyn Richardson, Tyler Walker, Sara Gronewegen, and Danielle Parlich, all from the west coast.

Then suddenly the Allister era was over, and the Trachsel era began. Lindaman stayed on for one more year then left, but fortunately for Gopher fans Allister had already brought in Partain and Fiser. Then Trachsel’s staff realized their error in not recruiting DenHartog in the first place and brought her in from Augustana late in the recruiting cycle, and added Hope Brandner as a transfer. Those two moves, along with the one thing Trachsel did better than Allister, schedule to maximize RPI, led to the 2019 WCWS appearance.

However, who else besides DenHartog did Trachsel bring aboard in three years that has had the impact of Moulton, Richardson, Walker, Macken, Groenewegen, Parlich, Lindaman, Fiser, Houlihan, or Partain? I would say only Jensen, who committed to Allister but signed with Trachsel. She was all-Big Ten as a freshman before injuries curtailed her impact. And the truth is you need multiple players like that on your team at any given time to compete for Big Ten titles and NCAA championships.

So I think we definitely have been hampered by a lack of solid recruiting during the Trachsel years, hence the need to rely more on transfers to plug too many roster holes because the recruited players had not developed to the point where they could take over those spots. And you rarely catch lightning in a bottle with a transfer, as they are largely a known commodity unless they are transferring from a low-major or Div II or Div III school (see Taylor LeMay).

I, for one, am encouraged by the recruits that have been brought in thus far, and by the apparent quality of those who are signed or committed for future years under Ritter, Wynn, and Richardson.

However, only time will tell if this staff can recapture some of the Allister magic that can get us to a point where we are averaging 1+ super high-impact recruit per year as we did pre-Trachsel.

As noted above. I think our 2021 and later recruits are already looking more promising than those we saw from 2018-2020. And I believe that even in this “bridge” year as the roster turns over from mostly Allister recruits to mostly Ritter recruits, with the transfers needed to cover for the paucity of impact Trachsel recruits, this year’s team is still a top 3 Big Ten team.

So I’m excited to be going back to Jane Sage Cowles for the first time since the super-regional win over LSU to actually witness another season of Gopher softball and to support these fine young women who have chosen to represent the University of Minnesota on the softball field.
 


Hrothgar said:
I suspect my monthly Social Security retirement check would fall a bit short on the donation board. Thanks anyway for explaining to me that I was born yesterday.
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I wasn't trying to be condescending but merely showing off the challenge (and my frustration) of collegiate sports today. It has become a money game. The more money that comes into the game, the less invested (pun intended!) I am in the college game.
 

ecoperson said:
I wasn't trying to be condescending but merely showing off the challenge (and my frustration) of collegiate sports today. It has become a money game. The more money that comes into the game, the less invested (pun intended!) I am in the college game.
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I'd venture that 98% of the money for NCAA women is going to the top small group. Livvy, Cavinders, Suni, HVL, Sedona, Paige, Azzi, and then gap to Burke, Fouts, Caitlin, Brink. But that's mostly the same brand deals like American Eagle, Caseify, Chipotle, Vuori.

Significant difference vs men's side where the NIL is just bribes from boosters like how Texas A&M magically figured out how to recruit
 

rowdaboat said:
“… Livvy, Cavinders, Suni, HVL, Sedona, Paige, Azzi, and then gap to Burke, Fouts, Caitlin, Brink….”
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There was a time when I thought of myself as sort of a crazed college softball fanatic. Now I see that I am just fine. Besides “Burke” and “Fouts”, the above words look like Greek to me.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
There was a time when I thought of myself as sort of a crazed college softball fanatic. Now I see that I am just fine. Besides “Burke” and “Fouts”, the above words look like Greek to me.
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Livvy and Suni are gymnastics rest are basketball
 



rwlarson said:
No doubt about it, Allister is a great recruiter. She is able to find great players who aren’t targeted by all the traditional powers. And many of her key players while at Minnesota were from the Midwest especially later in her run. But the players who really put Minnesota on the map and made the program a desirable destination for top Midwest players like Sam Macken, Sydney Dwyer, Kendyl Lindaman, Amber Fiser, and Maddie Houlihan were non-Midwesterners Kaitlyn Richardson, Tyler Walker, Sara Gronewegen, and Danielle Parlich, all from the west coast.

Then suddenly the Allister era was over, and the Trachsel era began. Lindaman stayed on for one more year then left, but fortunately for Gopher fans Allister had already brought in Partain and Fiser. Then Trachsel’s staff realized their error in not recruiting DenHartog in the first place and brought her in from Augustana late in the recruiting cycle, and added Hope Brandner as a transfer. Those two moves, along with the one thing Trachsel did better than Allister, schedule to maximize RPI, led to the 2019 WCWS appearance.

However, who else besides DenHartog did Trachsel bring aboard in three years that has had the impact of Moulton, Richardson, Walker, Macken, Groenewegen, Parlich, Lindaman, Fiser, Houlihan, or Partain? I would say only Jensen, who committed to Allister but signed with Trachsel. She was all-Big Ten as a freshman before injuries curtailed her impact. And the truth is you need multiple players like that on your team at any given time to compete for Big Ten titles and NCAA championships.

So I think we definitely have been hampered by a lack of solid recruiting during the Trachsel years, hence the need to rely more on transfers to plug too many roster holes because the recruited players had not developed to the point where they could take over those spots. And you rarely catch lightning in a bottle with a transfer, as they are largely a known commodity unless they are transferring from a low-major or Div II or Div III school (see Taylor LeMay).

I, for one, am encouraged by the recruits that have been brought in thus far, and by the apparent quality of those who are signed or committed for future years under Ritter, Wynn, and Richardson.

However, only time will tell if this staff can recapture some of the Allister magic that can get us to a point where we are averaging 1+ super high-impact recruit per year as we did pre-Trachsel.

As noted above. I think our 2021 and later recruits are already looking more promising than those we saw from 2018-2020. And I believe that even in this “bridge” year as the roster turns over from mostly Allister recruits to mostly Ritter recruits, with the transfers needed to cover for the paucity of impact Trachsel recruits, this year’s team is still a top 3 Big Ten team.

So I’m excited to be going back to Jane Sage Cowles for the first time since the super-regional win over LSU to actually witness another season of Gopher softball and to support these fine young women who have chosen to represent the University of Minnesota on the softball field.
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Excellent take and recap on the last decade of Gopher softball! There is no doubt that Allister's super power was/is identifying players that will excel at the college level that other programs couldn't recognize. Look at the direction she has Stanford going in the last two seasons. Those are some serious CPR skills on a once dead program! Plus, the high acedemic bar as a hurdle to recruiting success.

You are right to say that Ritter is just beginning to get her players into the program. That includes those that have the right "fit" for her as their coach. I claim no insight as to the current players relationship with Ritter. However, she was a consistent part of the staff that was recruiting the pitching side of this roster all along. Even with her excellent track record of working with pitchers, could Trachsel have scared off better recruits? Seems they would have jumped at the opportunity to work with the coach highly responsible for the progress of Moulton, Groenewegen, and Fiser. And then you have to ask, "Were those results because she was much more effective as an assistant, working and focusing solely on pitching rather than running the whole team?" I say that because I feel all three progressed in their Gopher career with lone exception being Fiser in her final two seasons. Of course, that also brings in the question of Covid which had an impact on virtually everything in life, along with simply the coaching adjustment necessary with the move from assistant to head coach.

I feel she has likely deligated much of the offensive side of the program to her assistants just based on what I see during games. That is a concern going forward as we have already discussed the frustrations with regard to the use of the roster. The additional concern is the batting philosophy.

I am not surprised to see the Gophers struggling at the plate. The adjustment the coach wanted my player to make would "lengthen" her swing. This can lead to more power (she doesn't need more - proven with her results) at the high cost of consistency. We have seen this play out for Gophers way too many times over the last few years. It's either a homerun or nothing. I can't identify a single player who has truly improved with any consistency at plate over the last few seasons. Partain and DenHartog are special players and likely to be left to do what they do. But a good to great hitting coach will help the majority of the lineup improve. That has clearly not happened at the University of Minnesota.
 
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AZGopher8 said:
Excellent take and recap on the last decade of Gopher softball! There is no doubt that Allister's super power was/is identifying players that will excel at the college level that other programs couldn't recognize. Look at the direction she has Stanford going in the last two seasons. Those are some serious CPR skills on a once dead program! Plus, the high acedemic bar as a hurdle to recruiting success.

You are right to say that Ritter is just beginning to get her players into the program. That includes those that have the right "fit" for her as their coach. I claim no insight as to the current players relationship with Ritter. However, she was a consistent part of the staff that was recruiting the pitching side of this roster all along. Even with her excellent track record of working with pitchers, could Trachsel have scared off better recruits? Seems they would have jumped at the opportunity to work with the coach highly responsible for the progress of Moulton, Groenewegen, and Fiser. And then you have to ask, "Were those results because she was much more effective as an assistant, working and focusing solely on pitching rather than running the whole team?" I say that because I feel all three progressed in their Gopher career with lone exception being Fiser in her final two seasons. Of course, that also brings in the question of Covid which had an impact on virtually everything in life, along with simply the coaching adjustment necessary with the move from assistant to head coach.

I feel she has likely deligated much of the offensive side of the program to her assistants just based on what I see during games. That is a concern going forward as we have already discussed the frustrations with regard to the use of the roster. The additional concern is the batting philosophy.

I am not surprised to see the Gophers struggling at the plate. The adjustment the coach wanted my player to make would "lengthen" her swing. This can lead to more power (she doesn't need more - proven with her results) at the high cost of consistency. We have seen this play out for Gophers way too many times over the last few years. It's either a homerun or nothing. I can't identify a single player who has truly improved with any consistency at plate over the last few seasons. Partain and DenHartog are special players and likely to be left to do what they do. But a good to great hitting coach will help the majority of the lineup improve. That has clearly not happened at the University of Minnesota.
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I have two comments on the above.

On pitching: I think the Azgopher8 post underemphasizes luck. Groenewagen was awesome at the college level. She developed almost unhittable changeup. And our team benefitted. We lucked into that in my opinion.

On hitting: There are people making serious money in MLB strategizing this very question of if teams win more with HR power or more with well-rounded hitting. It seems clear to me that our team has tried to go with the home run power philosophy. In my opinion, we have been the Big Ten team with the most HR power capability in the Big Ten every year since 2017. Gopher coaches must think that the “moneyball” math favors the long ball in NCAA softball.

I see similar things in terms of swing adjustments in that it looked to me like Olivia Peterson (as just one example) developed, or was pushed to develop, a “longer” swing for the purpose of generating more power in her two years in Minnesota.

I don’t know enough to know what is the right philosophy to win the most games - long balls or all-around hitting. But it sure looks to me like the Gophers have “tried” to more pattern themselves like Oklahoma power while Michigan is patterned more like Alabama all-around hitting.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I have two comments on the above.

On pitching: I think the Azgopher8 post underemphasizes luck. Groenewagen was awesome at the college level. She developed almost unhittable changeup. And our team benefitted. We lucked into that in my opinion.

On hitting: There are people making serious money in MLB strategizing this very question of if teams win more with HR power or more with well-rounded hitting. It seems clear to me that our team has tried to go with the home run power philosophy. In my opinion, we have been the Big Ten team with the most HR power capability in the Big Ten every year since 2017. Gopher coaches must think that the “moneyball” math favors the long ball in NCAA softball.

I see similar things in terms of swing adjustments in that it looked to me like Olivia Peterson (as just one example) developed, or was pushed to develop, a “longer” swing for the purpose of generating more power in her two years in Minnesota.

I don’t know enough to know what is the right philosophy to win the most games - long balls or all-around hitting. But it sure looks to me like the Gophers have “tried” to more pattern themselves like Oklahoma power while Michigan is patterned more like Alabama all-around hitting.
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I agree somewhat with the fact that we live and die by the longball. But if that’s the case then why have girls who are consistently under .500 slugging percentage in the lineup then while you have PLENTY of power on the bench that isn’t being utilized.

You can watch pretty much any game and you will see coaches pinch hitting for starters that are 0-2, 0-3 regardless of who that player is but it seems as though we are either scared to do it or we just don’t want to.

As mentioned in an earlier post, if I was a recruit that was getting looked at by Minnesota, that would factor into my decision to go there or not. You’re basically sending these recruits the message that unless we deem you a “starter” you’re not going to play.
 

GopherAlum03 said:
I agree somewhat with the fact that we live and die by the longball. But if that’s the case then why have girls who are consistently under .500 slugging percentage in the lineup then while you have PLENTY of power on the bench that isn’t being utilized.

You can watch pretty much any game and you will see coaches pinch hitting for starters that are 0-2, 0-3 regardless of who that player is but it seems as though we are either scared to do it or we just don’t want to.

As mentioned in an earlier post, if I was a recruit that was getting looked at by Minnesota, that would factor into my decision to go there or not. You’re basically sending these recruits the message that unless we deem you a “starter” you’re not going to play.
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I have posted on Gopherhole message board multiple times before on this basic topic; between Coach Ritter and volleyball coach McCutchen, I don’t know who dislikes going to their bench more (Coach Trachsel wasn’t quick to go to her bench for substitutes either).
 



That’s odd about Coach Trachsel since I’ve seen her go to the bench on a consistent basis at Ole Miss.

Also just wanted to throw this out there.

I know this is for baseball but the same concept applies. If we’re going by long ball metrics, why do we have so many in the lineup with horrible slugging percentages?
 

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Hrothgar said:
Interesting comment.

Of course, we aren't "entitled" to nationally talented pitchers (or position players), unless we have a recruiter/recruiters, with the skill to convince them to come here, which is what the job entails and what one MN head coach had the charisma to do. Her seasons weren't always flawless, but she brought in some super talent. Too bad the U didn't have the guts to fight to keep her. I felt she could eventually have challenged for a nat'l title by staying here for the long haul. I think what we're doing now is hoping for the best, not planning for it.
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Saying the U didn't have the guts to keep JA isn't seeing the whole picture. They wanted to keep her, really tried. But after her 56-5 (55-3 regular) season and not getting a top seed, or getting out of the regional, it's easy for anyone to see that winning a national title as a team from the B10 is an uphill climb, let alone even be given the chance to host. Leaving for her alama mater, softball climate, smart kids....seems like a no brainer.
 



Minnesota
3rd
P: B. TURNER; B: A. LINDNER; L. ESPALIN on first; S. STRELOW on second; 1 out
Lindner struck out swinging (3-2 BKBBSS).
Minnesota
3rd
P: B. TURNER; B: E. JENSEN; L. ESPALIN on first; S. STRELOW on second; 1 out
Lindner pinch hit for Jensen.
 

Nice to finally have the stats on the Minnesota softball page. Were still granting way too many walks. This team was hammered by Drake earlier today 19-1. Our pitchers should have dominated this team.
 




Says all you need to know in giving up 9 runs to a team not named Oklahoma.
 



Chase the Rise said:
Saying the U didn't have the guts to keep JA isn't seeing the whole picture. They wanted to keep her, really tried. But after her 56-5 (55-3 regular) season and not getting a top seed, or getting out of the regional, it's easy for anyone to see that winning a national title as a team from the B10 is an uphill climb, let alone even be given the chance to host. Leaving for her alama mater, softball climate, smart kids....seems like a no brainer.
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I don't have any inside info, just guesswork. I've wondered if Allister was planning to leave (or considering it) before 2017. I say that because after the great recruiting class of Fiser, Partain, Lindaman, etc., she had an average recruiting class the next year. I wonder if her thoughts weren't already somewhere else. She also kept saying "I'm not going anywhere." Maybe I read too much Hamlet, but that comment sounded a lot like 'methinks the lady doth protest too much.'
 


Hrothgar said:
.:.after the great recruiting class of Fiser, Partain, Lindaman, etc., she had an average recruiting class the next year….
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I think they had hopes that Rachel Lowery would be a BIG contributor to the team for four years… and then she had a bad shoulder. The games she did pitch in her career, she struck out the opposition. Too bad that was a handful of innings.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I think they had hopes that Rachel Lowery would be a BIG contributor to the team for four years… and then she had a bad shoulder. The games she did pitch in her career, she struck out the opposition. Too bad that was a handful of innings.
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Thx. I forgot about her. I saw her pitch one single inning. 3 kos on 9 pitches.
 

So how does the team look this year? Competitive to win the Big Ten? How about being competitive nationally? Saw the results against the Oklahoma teams earlier this week were not great.
 

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