Gopher Softball 2020

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ClassOf98Gopher said:
My uneducated guess is, from a “known knows” perspective, if she had to exert to get a second qualifying senior to come back for another year of college ball it would be Partain over Konwent, as good as Konwent certainly is. Partain herself may have other plans that are out of Jamie’s control. I just don’t even know if they have space for a second returning senior.
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How big a roster can they realistically have next year? Are any of the incoming fresh(wo)men superstar-gifted enough to preclude Partain? To be honest, I'd prefer Brandner over Konwent. What is Brandner's status (she'd technically have 2-3 years of eligibility left)? But why not Konwent, too?
 

I thought Barry Alvarez' comment that the women seniors at WI essentially should get out if they graduate or have anything else to do was pretty dismissive. Maybe his wording wasn't quite as nonchalant as I read it, but I wonder if he speaks about/to men's teams the same way? (Come to think about it, what men's spring teams does WI have --- men's track & field?)
 

rugger14 said:
With the Wisconsin announcement about not letting their seniors come back, anyone think Jamie could find a way to get Konwent to come here for a year?
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I had a brief daydream about landing Konwent, but then I remembered that although she is a senior, she missed her entire sophomore year due to injury, so I am almost positive that she still has another season with the Badgers.
 

MNsoftballfan said:
I had a brief daydream about landing Konwent, but then I remembered that although she is a senior, she missed her entire sophomore year due to injury, so I am almost positive that she still has another season with the Badgers.
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So she was really a RS/JR this year?
 

Hrothgar said:
I thought Barry Alvarez' comment that the women seniors at WI essentially should get out if they graduate or have anything else to do was pretty dismissive. Maybe his wording wasn't quite as nonchalant as I read it, but I wonder if he speaks about/to men's teams the same way? (Come to think about it, what men's spring teams does WI have --- men's track & field?)
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I didn't see anything that distinguished between men and women, although softball is probably the most visible sport and there is certainly an aspect of this that might be different if revenue sports were implicated. There's a USA Today article mentions that Louisiana Tech has decided to honor scholarships next year, but only for baseball and softball. Men's teams impacted at Wisconsin include golf, tennis and rowing, in addition to track and field.
 


Rowing, golf, and tennis all compete (not exhibition, official competitions) in the fall.

But the NCAA championship for each is in the spring. So I wonder if these are considered "spring sports" officially, or if they could wiggle out of it?

Tennis in particular has Big Ten individual championships in the fall.
 

MplsGopher said:
Rowing, golf, and tennis all compete (not exhibition, official competitions) in the fall.

But the NCAA championship for each is in the spring. So I wonder if these are considered "spring sports" officially, or if they could wiggle out of it?

Tennis in particular has Big Ten individual championships in the fall.
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Are those teams having just one season next year then? (no Spring)
 






So, four of the seniors are returning.

Still waiting on Partain and Krueger at this point.

It would be great if we could get the whole group back for one more year, especially MaKenna for obvious reasons.

Assuming Brandner can get back into the fold, the team will look pretty darn good next year.
 

Latest update from Top Tier, think it was originally Gold for state and got renamed.

TTFC Update Re:2020 Summer Tournaments

Hi, hope all are staying healthy. We have had discussions with many of our clubs that are holding tournaments this summer. Currently tournaments starting late May-early June and beyond are still scheduled to play. We will closely monitor any changes and distribute information as soon as we receive it.

USSSA sent out a bulletin this past week that will extend the season from the end of July to August 31st, 2020. On the face of this it would appear an opportunity for us to extend the season and get games for our players.

The rough scenario currently in place would have the early tournaments, more in jeopardy of not playing, moving back to the latter part of the season with choices being made to reschedule dependent on size of tournaments and field availability. Smaller tournaments may be scheduled mid-week as an example Tuesday-Wednesday. Another piece of the rescheduling puzzle is if national sanctioning bodies will be moving their tournaments deeper into summer. At this time we have no indication this may happen. If this should happen our local tournaments that are being rescheduled will use the now open weekends to choose from if they desire.
 

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MRJ said:
So, four of the seniors are returning.

Still waiting on Partain and Krueger at this point.

It would be great if we could get the whole group back for one more year, especially MaKenna for obvious reasons.

Assuming Brandner can get back into the fold, the team will look pretty darn good next year.
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I admit this is total “tea-leaf reading” but if the Gophers are accepting all of these Senior’s back, I am not optimistic about Brandner’s return. I assume they think they may have “lineup-space.”

This weird situation does have the effect of balancing out our classes somewhat. The Senior class next year would have been tiny, at best (absent any transfers) and potentially nonexistent from a batting or pitching perspective (excluding base-running).
 



ClassOf98Gopher said:
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I admit this is total “tea-leaf reading” but if the Gophers are accepting all of these Senior’s back, I am not optimistic about Brandner’s return. I assume they think they may have “lineup-space.”

This weird situation does have the effect of balancing out our classes somewhat. The Senior class next year would have been tiny, at best (absent any transfers) and potentially nonexistent from a batting or pitching perspective (excluding base-running).
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I wouldn't assume anything close to that at this point, mainly because the U already stated that they would welcome the seniors back, but wouldn't have scholarship money available for them.

In other words, they'd have to pay their own way due to scholarship commitments to other players and you can bet Brandner is getting the full amount she was going to get regardless.

There will be plenty of room for Brandner if she wants to return and is healthy. Yes, the roster will be bigger. But it'll be that way across the board in college softball next year if seniors from this year return.
 

MRJ said:
I wouldn't assume anything close to that at this point, mainly because the U already stated that they would welcome the seniors back, but wouldn't have scholarship money available for them.

In other words, they'd have to pay their own way due to scholarship commitments to other players and you can bet Brandner is getting the full amount she was going to get regardless.

There will be plenty of room for Brandner if she wants to return and is healthy. Yes, the roster will be bigger. But it'll be that way across the board in college softball next year if seniors from this year return.
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I sure hope you are right. Brandner is such a critical piece of our lineup to have any real potency at all against average to better than average pitching. But maybe this huge class of freshmen hitters can assist in changing that as well for the 2021 season.

Now we just have to hope the CoronaVirus doesn’t knock out next season as well.
 

Emma transferring to Syracuse to play softball again
 







That’s quite a gut-punch to these players, considering the past 6 weeks. Especially since most of the seniors just committed to return next year.
 

Jaydee said:
That’s quite a gut-punch to these players, considering the past 6 weeks. Especially since most of the seniors just committed to return next year.
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Think positive. Maybe Partain will be back now that Jamie is gone!
 

Arg!!! Even more emotional turmoil (2017 [Allister],2018[Lindaman], 2020 [Brandner]) for a program like this just can’t be good. These poor women on that team on a emotional roller coaster!

While I never loved all of Jamie’s coaching style, I am on record, in writing, assuming that she would provide long term stability to our program; which to me is the single most underrated/under-appreciated positive aspect for a college sports team to have in a head coach... and now this. I was so wrong in putting my faith in her upper midwestern background! I so misjudged her.
 

I think she’s a good coach and I don’t begrudge people for trying to advance their careers. But 4th school in 5 years? That’s not a good look.
 

I forgot to mention the emotional turmoil of CoronaVirus; although I guess all teams are equal in having to deal with that.

And I thought Katie Reitkovich Bowser was good too. I assumed she was ambitious and wanted a head spot. I thought she was maybe head coaching material for the Gophers If Jamie left... and now she is gone too. I hope they don’t take Den Hartog with them. It looked to me like Den Hartog really liked Katie Bowser.
 

Jaydee said:
I think she’s a good coach and I don’t begrudge people for trying to advance their careers. But 4th school in 5 years? That’s not a good look.
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Maybe an also-ran in the SEC is an upgrade? I think they pay quite a bit more than we do. I have been to their campus. It is nice....
 

rugger14 said:
Maybe an also-ran in the SEC is an upgrade? I think they pay quite a bit more than we do. I have been to their campus. It is nice....
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Like I said, it’s a career, not a marriage, so props to Jamie for getting what she considers to be a better position. I just wouldn’t want hire someone who doesn’t stay put long enough to build a team. Classof98 said it best; team stability is underrated.
 

Jaydee said:
Like I said, it’s a career, not a marriage, so props to Jamie for getting what she considers to be a better position. I just wouldn’t want hire someone who doesn’t stay put long enough to build a team. Classof98 said it best; team stability is underrated.
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We are way better off without her if Coyle can make a good hire. Watch what happens at Ole Miss.
 

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