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After seeing both games v. UMD, i'm not disappointed, but not overwhelmingly enthusiastic either. I can't see any additions to the roster who will be outstanding, but not horrible either. Seems like a continuation of pretty good but not quite good enough Gopher SB ever since 2020.

As for the Gophers, if you wanna get to the top, you've gotta learn to beat those above you. Easier said than done, but it happens.

It seemed a mind game. The Gophers play better defense behind Pease bec. she gets KOs, which keeps the ball out of play a lot, and bec. she controls the at-bats by being ahead in the count. Even when she got outs, the gophers' starter seemed jittery and never in control of the at-bats. She was...

I felt MI's play today was sorta schizophrenic. After erasing a 9-1 deficit they could be expected to be higher than a kite, but after their rally they seemed to revert to relative slumber and disappear from the match. Strange. But the better team won. Great!

On defense, I thought two saviors showed up. First was Bradley, who ran a mile to catch a drive to LC w/ the bases loaded in the 8-run inning; a run scored but it stemmed the tide a bit. Second, was of course Schwartz.

I thought the same.

From where we were sitting more or less behind home plate, it appeared Strelow's HR was a leaping catch by the MI CF, who then banged off the wall. Did anyone see what actually happened? Did the ball go off her glove, then over the wall? Or did it clear the fence?

Yes, that's what I'm saying: I've said it before. With Pease pitching at full strength in 2022 and Leavitt and the other pitchers who quit contributing, I feel confident MN would've swept MI (which they almost did anyway) and won the NW series (which they did). They would not have blown an 8-0...

An excellent assessment!!! I'd add that with an intact pitching staff the Gophers would surely have won the 2022 BIG title.

Do they have a new hitting coach?

I found it interesting that the BTN announcers, without any apparent sense of irony, kept praising OSU's explosive offense, while Oakland & Ehlke hit liners off the wall that, pardon my hyperbole, nearly knocked it down. Ehlke's drive was described simply as "a single." Which raises the...

Yes, hopefully, but why hasn't Ehlke played there this season? And how often will Schwartz be in the circle next year? Just thoughts, I know nothing.

Besides establishing a pitching staff for the upcoming season(s), there will be the matter of filling known vacancies for 2024 at 1b, 2b, lf, and cf. A plus is that Piper is likely to stay at MN for a long while; thus her successs with pitchers should be an attraction. What incoming potential...

I'd like to read some some assessments of the Gophers' chances in the Big Ten tournament, if anyone here has an opinion. Realistically what are their chances of winning it? And is their NCAA seeding still up for grabs or already decided in some secret nook and cranny of the NCAA committee...

Schwartz stopped the bleeding. She deserves the win.

BTN did a preview of this weekend's softball matchups, including MN vs. OSU. I only caught the last snippet of their comments; they seemed to consider the series a tossup. That's my guess anyway.

My hope is that adding Ehlke & Schwartz to the order (if indeed they're kept in there) will beef up the lower end of the batting order. And that Hambrick & Enter have improved enough to get important outs/innings.

We posters here have been writing all season about the relative importance of run production and pitching. We'll need plenty of both from here on out. Gophers have the talent. Can they put it all together?

Judging by the MSU, Iowa, & WI series, the Gophers seem a team putting it together at the right time. Judicious use of the pitchers; production at bat & on defense by Bradley & Burnett to flank Den Hartog; using Schwartz at 1b; plus even more confident performance by Chavez, Oakland, & Krapfz...

I wonder who MN's hitting coach is. All these things are surely obvious to the MN coaches? Yet no apparent adjustments. I thought Iowa pretty much awarded game 3 to the Gophers by taking Vaxaquez out after one out in the 9th. Yet MN's better hitters had blasted her in the 6th inning of game 1...