Gopher Softball 2025

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Interesting discussion about Nebraska, but Minnesota is what interests me since I live here. I can't see any hope for the Gophers program without an infusion of money, more super-aggressive recruiting, more in-game creativity (only 3 SB so far in 2025!!!?!), and pitching that dominates hitters.. I seriously doubt the present 2025 coaches can accomplish any of the above.
 


rowdaboat said:
14-28 how log til coach is finally gone?
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Would expect at the end of the year but who knows. Coyle needs to decide if he wants a winning program or just let it die. Team seems to lack everything especially hitting and fielding.
 

NextYear_76 said:
Would expect at the end of the year but who knows. Coyle needs to decide if he wants a winning program or just let it die. Team seems to lack everything especially hitting and fielding.
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Do we have any equally bad men's programs where they'd just scrap both to save on scholarships?
 

Are they still required to balance the amount of men/women athletes to the ratio of student enrollment? I think that may be why they still have rowing.
 


I think a coaching change is more likely than dropping the program. I do not think dropping Softball is an option due to title IX but the next few years will be wide with revenue sharing cutting into overall income. At some point the Big Ten will be forced into dictating which sports or a minimum number of sports that are required to maintain membership.
 

Nipomo 56 said:
Are they still required to balance the amount of men/women athletes to the ratio of student enrollment? I think that may be why they still have rowing.
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Yes, although more specifically the number of scholarships and not athletes.
 


Anyone know why Chavez has not played in the most recent games and why her hitting has been down this season? Is she injured?
 




Trivia question: By my estimation Pitt and North Dakota have won 44 games between them, yet Gophers, from the bottom of the Big Ten, outscored them by 32-3 this weekend. How is that possible?
 





PreacherRoe said:
Trivia question: By my estimation Pitt and North Dakota have won 44 games between them, yet Gophers, from the bottom of the Big Ten, outscored them by 32-3 this weekend. How is that possible?
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Pittsburgh i(19 wins) is basically the same as Minnesota. The home team beat the visitor. Neither are good and are at the bottom of their conference. North Dakota has 25 wins but SOS is in the 175-200 range. Basically weak team playing weak teams. The Gophers finally got the chance to play teams similar to to their own team. It was the version of "When do we get to play us?"
 

Chase the Rise said:
I've been to a fair number of games this season. It hasn't been pretty. First the negatives:

1) We are last in the country in stolen bases-3 total for reference, going into the weekend Oregon had 140+ and one player with 43 alone.
2) We are second to last in the B10 in fielding percentage. That's embarrassing. More to come on that later.
3) We are second to last in the B10 in batting average at .247 again...embarrassing. Coupled with our inability to steal/bunt/etc. it's not good.
4) We are 12th in the B10 in pitching. Not good by any means, but some teams that are near us in the pitching category are still having good seasons. Ohio St, Northwestern, Indiana. Coupled with our offensive deficiencies and fielding miscues, along with all of the non-plays...the pitching hasn't been good enough to pull us through.
5) A few individual players have seemingly stepped backwards-that is frustrating.

Reasons for optimism
1) losing Oakland was a serious blow. Offensively, the production, the protection in the lineup for Krapf, the fielding (causing Tobias to move to SS). Hard to pin this on anyone as it happened mid-year, but losing a player like that is going to have multiple effects.
2) Looking at current RPI rankings, the goal has to be beat every team that is above 50. We didn't do that this year, but I really feel, with Oakland here we win almost all of those games.

Our losses to 50+ rpi teams:

Utah 0-2/8-9 98
Villanova 8-10 111
St. Thomas 6-8 106
McNeese 0-2 85
Michigan State 11-13 168
Penn State 1-5 86
Purdue 1-2/0-4 62

Thats a 9-game swing.

Couple those with some of the close games we've had against the likes of Louisville, Duke, Northwestern, Oregon, Purdue...you get the idea.

3) we have been playing better; Schwartz seems to pitch ok on her first game of the weekend and Susa seems to be getting better. we have been in some close games but have either a couple of misfires or can't get the hit that we so desperately need. Valencia has been a bright spot in the lineup.

We can all agree that this season isn't what we wanted, but I'm not buying into the sky falling on this program.
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Very well stated I see some promise in the future but Recuiting needs to improve and Schwartz And Susa are turning the corner to be above average to Ecellent on the mound
 

Unfortunately we lose both Valencia and Krapf so we’d better strike gold in recruiting impact offensive freshman (or two).
 


Halo6 said:
Mike Mook from West Texas is the no brainer here. Best team in D2 multiple years. Local ties. He will coaching a big time D1 program soon.
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Good coach...hard pass as a potential "next" coach. There are reasons....but I'm not sharing.
 

rwlarson said:
Unfortunately we lose both Valencia and Krapf so we’d better strike gold in recruiting impact offensive freshman (or two).
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I have to think that we go to look for talent in the portal. If a major turnaround is in order, I can't see less than 5 portal student athletes coming in. There's no way we count on freshmen to be ready for next year.

Needs
OF-probably 2 just to create some competition
3rd-unless Easton moves there full-time next year
SS-no one on the roster
2nd-It's Easton's if she stays at 2nd, otherwise it's a need
1st-has to be a priority preferably a big hitter
Catcher-definite need
Pitchers- we have arms, but do we have the arms we need/want-one would have to think we bring in another one.
SPEED-we need kids who can run, our bench is so limited.
 

Chase the Rise said:
I have to think that we go to look for talent in the portal. If a major turnaround is in order, I can't see less than 5 portal student athletes coming in. There's no way we count on freshmen to be ready for next year.

Needs
OF-probably 2 just to create some competition
3rd-unless Easton moves there full-time next year
SS-no one on the roster
2nd-It's Easton's if she stays at 2nd, otherwise it's a need
1st-has to be a priority preferably a big hitter
Catcher-definite need
Pitchers- we have arms, but do we have the arms we need/want-one would have to think we bring in another one.
SPEED-we need kids who can run, our bench is so limited.
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Great comments. Fielding a representative team in 2026 seems quite impossible barring some portal bonanza. Even if Schwartz and Susa pitch well, what offensive support will they get?
 

I followed tonight's MN-MI softball game until it simply quit transmitting with MN up 4-0 in the seventh inning. Anyone know who won?
 




When Piper was our pitching coach and outside of the obvious 3 top pitchers under her, what kind of growth did all the other pitchers see? Is there anyone who has that information and would like to share it? I'm curious to know if fans feel Schwartz has reached her potential or is there still room for her to grow.

If there is a Head Coach change, can Piper or does she return to being our pitching coach? To me what I have been reading she has been highly regarded over the years in the latter position.

I apologize but I haven't read necessarily every post on softball this season.
 

4EverAGopher said:
When Piper was our pitching coach and outside of the obvious 3 top pitchers under her, what kind of growth did all the other pitchers see? Is there anyone who has that information and would like to share it? I'm curious to know if fans feel Schwartz has reached her potential or is there still room for her to grow.

If there is a Head Coach change, can Piper or does she return to being our pitching coach? To me what I have been reading she has been highly regarded over the years in the latter position.

I apologize but I haven't read necessarily every post on softball this season.
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I think Schwartz can develop more; she pitched well enough this weekend to win at least two games. On a really good team she'd be a fine #2 starter in the circle. The failure, as I see it, is the failure in 5 yr. as HC to bring in a single pitcher of elite caliber capabilities (except for Pease, a transfer).
 

It was a tough year. I want to thank this team for there effort. The four seniors deserve recognition and I applaud them for sticking with the program. Next year I am not sure where you even start to rebuild this team to get them back to a level that we expect Gopher softball to be. I think the place to start would be to find a competent hitting coach. To many batters that look lost when in the batters box
 

I attended Saturday and Sunday's games vs. MI. It was lifeless, unmotivated Gophers play the last 16 scoreless innings. It's a mystery how the program was allowed to drop to such depths in so few years. As of May 5 the roster is reduced to only one player of substance, Schwartz, who's capable of winning at a D-1 level. This is a team that only recently featured DenHartog, Pease, Oakland, & Chavez, among others. How to rebuild the program? I have no ideas. Anyone with ideas where to start? Or is it possible?
 

PreacherRoe said:
I think Schwartz can develop more; she pitched well enough this weekend to win at least two games. On a really good team she'd be a fine #2 starter in the circle. The failure, as I see it, is the failure in 5 yr. as HC to bring in a single pitcher of elite caliber capabilities (except for Pease, a transfer).
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Pease was brought in by Trachsel. Leavitt was brought in by Piper. Two pitchers that could have developed were Dueck and Hostettler but both of them left the team at about the same time. It put the remaining staff in a spot that was bad enough that Valencia was pressed into duty as a pitcher - a position she only played briefly in the 7th grade.
 


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