Gopher Softball 2018

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Ranking Reply

rugger14 said:
http://fastpitchnews.com/fpn-colleg...18-preseason-ncaa-di-softball-rankings/349910

Fastpitch News has them at #5. Moulton is one of their writers...

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I do the Poll for FPN with input from Staff (Sara and Eric Lopez, the host of our Podcast). But let me explain how do ours.

Our Preseason Poll takes into account numerous things, not who owns the conference or what your teams did three years ago. We use Stats, Strength of Schedule and then we assign a numerical value for 75 teams based on what the loss, return and transfers in. We believe this gives us the least subjective approach. Once the season starts, we go on wins and losses and the strength of those wins and losses. So from our perspective, it is critical that the foundation of the ranking be as correct as possible.

Example, the coaches, and USA has Georgia 25th. How I am unsure, in ours the ended up 73rd. Now, are they going to be that low at the end? Doubtful. But our rankings are not a prediction of the future; they are based on the landscape at this time and moment. We take rankings serious and hope people can see that we are not as subjective as other polls may be.

Minnesota returns one of the best offenses in the nation and lose one dominant player, but add stability at the position. They have 3 players on the 50 watch list, yet the same organization ranks them 18th? Not logical IMO. Now, will MN be that good this year? Well, that is why we play the games.

Happy to answer any questions.
 

FPN said:
I do the Poll for FPN with input from Staff (Sara and Eric Lopez, the host of our Podcast). But let me explain how do ours.

Our Preseason Poll takes into account numerous things, not who owns the conference or what your teams did three years ago. We use Stats, Strength of Schedule and then we assign a numerical value for 75 teams based on what the loss, return and transfers in. We believe this gives us the least subjective approach. Once the season starts, we go on wins and losses and the strength of those wins and losses. So from our perspective, it is critical that the foundation of the ranking be as correct as possible.

Example, the coaches, and USA has Georgia 25th. How I am unsure, in ours the ended up 73rd. Now, are they going to be that low at the end? Doubtful. But our rankings are not a prediction of the future; they are based on the landscape at this time and moment. We take rankings serious and hope people can see that we are not as subjective as other polls may be.

Minnesota returns one of the best offenses in the nation and lose one dominant player, but add stability at the position. They have 3 players on the 50 watch list, yet the same organization ranks them 18th? Not logical IMO. Now, will MN be that good this year? Well, that is why we play the games.

Happy to answer any questions.
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Thanks for posting! Very informative!

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One week to the opener.

What do you see for the starting pitching? A 2-player rotation (Fiser & Smith), or will we see Lowery & Bailey get a start? How much Brandt will we see?
 

FPN said:
I do the Poll for FPN with input from Staff (Sara and Eric Lopez, the host of our Podcast). But let me explain how do ours.

Our Preseason Poll takes into account numerous things, not who owns the conference or what your teams did three years ago. We use Stats, Strength of Schedule and then we assign a numerical value for 75 teams based on what the loss, return and transfers in. We believe this gives us the least subjective approach. Once the season starts, we go on wins and losses and the strength of those wins and losses. So from our perspective, it is critical that the foundation of the ranking be as correct as possible.

Example, the coaches, and USA has Georgia 25th. How I am unsure, in ours the ended up 73rd. Now, are they going to be that low at the end? Doubtful. But our rankings are not a prediction of the future; they are based on the landscape at this time and moment. We take rankings serious and hope people can see that we are not as subjective as other polls may be.

Minnesota returns one of the best offenses in the nation and lose one dominant player, but add stability at the position. They have 3 players on the 50 watch list, yet the same organization ranks them 18th? Not logical IMO. Now, will MN be that good this year? Well, that is why we play the games.

Happy to answer any questions.
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Very appreciative of you taking the time to post this information, not only was it going out of your way, but it sure made me feel better about my team getting such a lofty ranking from your organization, and your concept, the way you go about coming up with your ranking sounds awesome, I wish more ranking/rating services had as much thought put into them. And I noticed that contradiction as well, the 3 players in the 50 watch list, yet a sort of low ranking by the same people. My guess is a lot of people feel our losing our star Ace is akin to a football team losing a star QB, doesn't mean they won't be as good as they were, but it becomes a bigger question mark and they choose to play it safe by ranking said team lower than they might otherwise.

But anyways, thanks a lot and keep up the good work.
 

rugger14 said:
The difference is that some of us are looking forward and you are looking back. Nobody is right or wrong. I absolutely agree with you Tucker but we can't do anything about it.

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You are right that we can't do anything about it, well, at least an opportunity to do something other than b1tch about it, lol, hasn't come up yet, but I think it's not a one or the other, I don't think we have to stop looking backward in order to look ahead, I believe fans can choose to do both. Maybe the memories and feelings about how last year ended are too painful or just bad memories so why dwell on them, right? That makes sense for some people, other people use anger to fuel them, kind of like how some people listen to heavy metal when they work out, but not otherwise. To each their own, so on that point, nobody being right or wrong, you are both right and wrong, lol. Ok, now I'm just being silly, but my point is, each individual Gopher fan deals with stuff like that in their own way, some may dwell too much and maybe should move on, others are too quick to forget and move on.

Myself, I'll NEVER EVER let it go. 20 years from now when Minnesota beats Bama or some other SEC team in the Title game, for their 3rd title in a row(and 5th total), I'll be the one petty enough to bring it up and rub it in their faces, and trust the vast majority if not all other Gopher fans will show much more class and will show that they are better than that, lol, but SEC fans were in some cases horrible in how they behaved about all of that, so at least one person needs to give them what they deserve and I guess I'm volunteering to be that one lone jerk, lol. I'm one of those I talked about that uses, maybe even needs things like anger to inspire me to get up and do things, to take action, to work harder to improve my situation and my life, etc.. And outside of allowing myself to act less than perfectly when it comes to sports, I do pretty well for myself, not just financially, but overall. And its like allowing yourself to have a snack occasionally since you are doing so well on your diet otherwise, I allow myself to misbehave a little when it comes to sports because otherwise I behave so well. :)

But even though I will never stop looking back, and not just to how last year ended, but to the whole season and where this team was when Allister showed up and how far its come, its just incredible. I couldn't be more honored to have the privilege of being a fan of this program, but so even though I will never stop looking back, I will also always be looking forward as well. Sometimes things like the team getting snubbed like it did, end up leading to much better things later. I remember the feeling I had when the 1996 Gopher Men's bb team got snubbed and left out of the NCAA tourney, and how much sweeter 1997's incredible ride to the Final Four was because of that. So leaving out the whole cheating scandal that followed in 99, lets hope that this year something akin to those 96 & 97 mens bb seasons happens with this team. At least one organization feels we have the pieces required to be considered CWS level good. Wouldn't that make for a great story?!

Ok, I got that off my chest, I will give the floor back to all of you other fans who are much more knowledgeable about Softball than I.

Oh, and GO GOPHERS!!!
 

Fiser and Smith will be the starters with Fiser likely being the #1 at the beginning of the season. Smith will push her for the "Ace" role throughout the season which will make for some healthy competition. It will come down to consistency and dependability on who is the "Ace" when it comes to tournament time. Brandt may get some innings but she is also rotating in for Arneson at SS who has an injury that will keep her out a few weeks so she may not see the pitching time until later in the year (other players will play some SS too). Lowary could be the closer assuming she is healthy. There hasn't been much chatter around Bailey - she was a highly recruited kid but didn't see much time in the fall and the staff is pretty deep when healthy. It will be hard to crack the rotation. Everyone will probably get their chances early in the season but it really looks like a 3 person rotation at this time (Fiser, Smith and Lowary closing). Again -consistency and the health of the players will be the deciding factor for who get the innings.
 



GrudgeGuy said:
Fiser and Smith will be the starters with Fiser likely being the #1 at the beginning of the season. Smith will push her for the "Ace" role throughout the season which will make for some healthy competition. It will come down to consistency and dependability on who is the "Ace" when it comes to tournament time. Brandt may get some innings but she is also rotating in for Arneson at SS who has an injury that will keep her out a few weeks so she may not see the pitching time until later in the year (other players will play some SS too). Lowary could be the closer assuming she is healthy. There hasn't been much chatter around Bailey - she was a highly recruited kid but didn't see much time in the fall and the staff is pretty deep when healthy. It will be hard to crack the rotation. Everyone will probably get their chances early in the season but it really looks like a 3 person rotation at this time (Fiser, Smith and Lowary closing). Again -consistency and the health of the players will be the deciding factor for who get the innings.
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Thanks for the update. Appreciate your post. So, safe to assume that Fiser gets the ball against the Bison opening weekend? Too bad about Arneson. Can you disclose the injury?
 

FPN said:
I do the Poll for FPN with input from Staff (Sara and Eric Lopez, the host of our Podcast). But let me explain how do ours.

Our Preseason Poll takes into account numerous things, not who owns the conference or what your teams did three years ago. We use Stats, Strength of Schedule and then we assign a numerical value for 75 teams based on what the loss, return and transfers in. We believe this gives us the least subjective approach. Once the season starts, we go on wins and losses and the strength of those wins and losses. So from our perspective, it is critical that the foundation of the ranking be as correct as possible.

Example, the coaches, and USA has Georgia 25th. How I am unsure, in ours the ended up 73rd. Now, are they going to be that low at the end? Doubtful. But our rankings are not a prediction of the future; they are based on the landscape at this time and moment. We take rankings serious and hope people can see that we are not as subjective as other polls may be.

Minnesota returns one of the best offenses in the nation and lose one dominant player, but add stability at the position. They have 3 players on the 50 watch list, yet the same organization ranks them 18th? Not logical IMO. Now, will MN be that good this year? Well, that is why we play the games.

Happy to answer any questions.
Click to expand...

Thank so much for the explanation and post. FPN's articles and podcasts discussing this, and fastpitch in general, are awesome too. This type of stuff is great for growing the sport. Way to go!
 

Early signs are UNLV are doing the slightly inhospitable thing and only streaming the games in their tournament (Sportco Kick Off Classic) that they are playing in. I registered at Livestream at Mountain West Network and they didn't ask me for any money so maybe it's free. I couldn't tell for sure.

02/10/18 UNLV vs. Minnesota Las Vegas 3:30 PM CentralT GT WATCH

We play Southern Utah at 11am and Utah Valley at 3:30 both on Friday the 9th.
And we play North Dakota State on the 10th at 11am.
 

Tucker said:
Early signs are UNLV are doing the slightly inhospitable thing and only streaming the games in their tournament (Sportco Kick Off Classic) that they are playing in. I registered at Livestream at Mountain West Network and they didn't ask me for any money so maybe it's free. I couldn't tell for sure.

02/10/18 UNLV vs. Minnesota Las Vegas 3:30 PM PT GT WATCH

We play Southern Utah at 11am and Utah Valley at 3:30 both on Friday the 9th.
And we play North Dakota State on the 10th at 11am.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 



Just checked, Massey Ratings has the Gophers ranked #9.

Not sure where it had them last year going into the tourney, or if the pre-tourney ranking is the same as the final ranking, but it had the Gophers at #6 at the end of last year.
 

Renewed my season tix today!

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Me to. Maybe we can sell this out with season tickets.
 

dlw4gophers said:
Me to. Maybe we can sell this out with season tickets.
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I don't know. They would not let me buy two more tickets. They put me on a wait list and if someone does not renew I have a shot to get more tix. I think that is based on Gopher points.

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http://www.mndaily.com/article/2018/02/s-new-head-coach-but-the-gophers-still-have-big-goals

MN Daily article on Jamie Trachsel:

Job applications can involve a long, arduous process, with potential employees waiting months to hear back.

While that may be the case for some, it doesn't describe new Minnesota head coach Jamie Trachsel's path to the Gophers.

“It happened pretty fast,” Trachsel said. “[Former head coach] Jess Allister left and I had a phone call the next day.”

Then, in a span of just four days, Trachsel came to Minnesota's campus and was hired as the next coach. Trachsel went from preparing to start her second year at Iowa State at the beginning of the week, to packing her bags, to being head coach the Big Ten champion Gophers...

...“I love defense and that's my area of expertise,” Trachsel said. “I think I've maybe added some excitement to that side of the ball in this program, especially because it's such a strong hitting program and pitching program.”

While Trachsel said she adds a defensive element to an already championship-caliber team, she brings other intangibles as well.

Players described her as enthusiastic, intense and encouraging. They said that not much is essentially different between Trachsel and their former coach.

"She loves seeing us succeed," catcher Kendyl Lindaman said. “She's always telling you 'good job' and [is] just always there for you, always backing you up."

Trachsel is a Duluth, Minnesota native and an alumna of St. Cloud State. She spent six years as the co-head coach for North Dakota State. Her stop at Minnesota is with a team that had accomplished program-highs last season.

“She's really passionate,” infielder Sydney Dwyer said. “It's fun to see her fire on the side that we really haven't seen in previous years. That aspect of her has been fun.”
 

21 games on the slate for opening day. Some of the contests...

#11 Tennessee plays #19 Arizona State late tonight in Tempe
#3 Oregon plays #25 Georgia also in Tempe
#14 Auburn at home plays Marshall
#15 Mississippi plays Virginia Tech
#8 LSU at home plays Illinois-Chicago
#10 Alabama plays South Alabama
#24 Louisiana-Lafayette at home plays Samford
Stanford in action today also. One of their games is a match up with #22 BYU in Tempe
No Big Ten teams scheduled today.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
21 games on the slate for opening day. Some of the contests...

#11 Tennessee plays #19 Arizona State late tonight in Tempe
#3 Oregon plays #25 Georgia also in Tempe
#14 Auburn at home plays Marshall
#15 Mississippi plays Virginia Tech
#8 LSU at home plays Illinois-Chicago
#10 Alabama plays South Alabama
#24 Louisiana-Lafayette at home plays Samford
Stanford in action today also. One of their games is a match up with #22 BYU in Tempe
No Big Ten teams scheduled today.
Click to expand...

As grateful as I am for what Allister did here, I don't know if I'm mature enough to root for Stanford yet. It might take time.

Regarding the other openers, I probably won't be getting much work done today or tomorrow. Heck, I was live streaming D2 and NAIA games last weekend!
 



Not too bad of a transfer to Oregon. The Ducks now play DJ Sanders at shortstop this season. All she did was lead the nation in home runs with 29 and also led the nation in RBI's with 89. Not bad. #3 Oregon trouncing #24 Georgia 7-1 in the 6th inning.
 

Results from some Thursday games

#25 Georgia beat San Diego State 23-2
#14 Auburn over Marshall 4-0
#22 BYU beat Stanford 10-1
#15 Mississippi beat Virginia Tech 5-1
#11 Tennessee beat Boise State 8-1
#24 Louisiana-Lafayette over Samford 7-1
#14 Auburn over Wichita State 2-0
#8 LSU beat Illinois-Chicago 3-0
#10 Alabama 1-0 over South Alabama
#3 Oregon beat #25 Georgia 8-3
#23 James Madison 8-7 over Nevada
#15 Mississippi 6-0 over Florida A&M
#22 BYU lost to Western Michigan 2-1
#11 Tennessee beat #19 Arizona State 7-4
 

Games today for the Big Ten teams

Ohio State plays Northern Illinois, Duke
Michigan plays UAB, Georgia State
Indiana plays Boise State, Oregon State
Minnesota plays Southern Utah, Utah Valley
Illinois plays Providence, North Florida
Wisconsin plays Colorado State, Texas
Penn State plays Alabama, Virginia Tech
Iowa plays Illinois-Chicago, Eastern Illinois
Northwestern plays Arizona, San Diego State
Maryland plays Cal Poly, UCLA
Michigan State plays Duke, Florida Atlantic
Purdue plays Arizona State, San Jose State
Rutgers plays UC Riverside, Cal State Fullerton
Nebraska plays BYU, Arizona State
 

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Who is using the crutches?
 





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