Gopher softball 2021

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Switching to the Volleyball match at Northwestern.

Hope the girls can close out the softball game with another win in Illinois.
 

Three up, three down on the weekend. Starting to look a bit more like Gopher teams of old, but still plenty to improve on.
 

To go on the road and beat a pretty good hitting team three times on their home field is saying something. Remember this team handed two Michigan loses. I see the team coming along nicely, Our hitting has very much improved since the first few games. When you play a team four times they will get on your pitchers so good hitting is important.
 

Gotta hand it to them for coming back multiple times today. All hands on deck pitching tomorrow.
 


I think it is fair to say that the lineup for the remainder of the year, absent injury, is pretty much set... whether we the fans perfectly agree with it or not. So, finding reasons for optimism in it is that it does seem to me that at least DenHartog, Drey, and Jensen should all be better hitting performers over the remainder of the year tthan they have been over this past ten game win streak. There is further room for improvement to the potency of this lineup in my opinion.

One a side note, despite her statistics not being good this year so far, I am much more confident in this starting lineup with Jensen in as opposed to out. I was concerned during their first weekend in Florida.

Lastly, my potential concern. Should I be concerned that Pease was all taped up today? I known Fiser can throw thousands of pitches in a season. She is so strong and durable. I don’t know for sure how Pease’s elbow will hold up getting huge amounts of work.
 


I thought the home plate umpire in game one on Saturday had the worst strike zone I've ever seen. Even the announcers commented on it. Luckily, he didn't seem to favor either team.
 

Tied for 7th in hitting. Tied for 2nd in ERA. 1st in fielding. This is the Gopher formula. Keep it up. And we have almost double the HRs of the 2nd place team.
 



Well the wheels are coming off today. Bottom of 3 and Ill. Up 5-0. Fisher has given up6 hits already and the D can’t make a play. Wild pitch and now 6-0. Guess this is there bad one. Hope it’s the last one.
 

Completely fell apart today.

Well, I guess three out of four isn't bad.

On to next weekend (at home) against Purdue.
 

Why leave Fiser in so long? After 5 runs you could see she had nothing.
 




Mid-40s with 35 mph gusts is tough on a Defense, especially pitchers. That umpire should be ashamed of himself. Two different zones. The announcers even commented on it. But our batters had no plate discipline at all today.
 


That game wasn’t great. The softball team played like the baseball team today.

It leaves a bitter taste, but everyone knew all along that we were going to have to win at least 3 against Northwestern in two weeks. That is still the case.
 



The implications of today’s 8-0, 5-inning shellacking was tough to process as a die-hard fan.

I know now how this season is going to end. I have seen a roughly equivalent Gopher team before, in 2015, 2016, and 2018. A good team but with enough perceptible weaknesses to know where this is heading. This will be a team that does very well in the Big Ten (top 3, maybe 4 in the conference), makes the NCAA tournament, and gets buzz-sawed by the regional host. And I should be fine with that. There are about 10 other Big Ten programs that would love that 2021 season. But, I would just like the chance for a little more during this Super Senior class’s last season.

The implications of today’s 8-0, 5-inning shellacking was tough to process as a die-hard fan. I maintain that if they want to give their Super Seniors, their whole team and fan base for that matter, anything close to those 2017 and 2019 teams, a player who is currently sitting on the bench is going to have to get to be a starter in games and really perform swinging the bat. It’s worth the risk.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
The implications of today’s 8-0, 5-inning shellacking was tough to process as a die-hard fan.

I know now how this season is going to end. I have seen a roughly equivalent Gopher team before, in 2015, 2016, and 2018. A good team but with enough perceptible weaknesses to know where this is heading. This will be a team that does very well in the Big Ten (top 3, maybe 4 in the conference), makes the NCAA tournament, and gets buzz-sawed by the regional host. And I should be fine with that. There are about 10 other Big Ten programs that would love that 2021 season. But, I would just like the chance for a little more during this Super Senior class’s last season.

The implications of today’s 8-0, 5-inning shellacking was tough to process as a die-hard fan. I maintain that if they want to give their Super Seniors, their whole team and fan base for that matter, anything close to those 2017 and 2019 teams, a player who is currently sitting on the bench is going to have to get to be a starter in games and really perform swinging the bat. It’s worth the risk.
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Agreed. This team is far from being in the national conversation.

There are just too many times where they mentally check out and don't produce when they have the chance. Also, it seems the pitching can be very spotty at times.

Just not good enough. Not top-25 and certainly not a regional-host worthy team.

It'll probably be another regional appearance and early elimination.

It is what it is.
 

Are Big Ten teams ever really in a reasonable position to compete nationally with the best programs in the other four power conferences?
 

MplsGopher said:
Are Big Ten teams ever really in a reasonable position to compete nationally with the best programs in the other four power conferences?
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I'd say the closest in recent memory was in 2019. I felt the Gophers could compete with almost anybody that year, the showing in OKC notwithstanding. This year? No chance.

Northwestern looks like they're the best team, but they apparently aren't hitting home runs. Other than that, they've been the best team in the conference to this point both in the circle and at the plate.

Michigan is Michigan. Good to great pitching and enough in the lineup to make things competitive for the conference crown.

The Gophers? Disappointing in large measure. Not because of the youth, but because the vets aren't getting it done enough in key spots.

Sad, but true,

Alas, they'll still have a nice season imo, but they're a far cry from what the 2019 team brought to the table.
 

MplsGopher said:
Are Big Ten teams ever really in a reasonable position to compete nationally with the best programs in the other four power conferences?
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Short answer is, on a year-over-year basis, no.

The expectation for all Big Ten teams and their fans should be to win the Big Ten. There will be occasional years where an unusually strong Big Ten team can make an SuperRegionals or even OKC run, but that should not the expectation, or else Big Ten teams’ fans are going to be continuously disappointed leading to dejection with the game.

All that being said, with so many key Super Seniors and DenHartog back from that OKC team of 2019; I thought a SuperRegionals run in 2021 was not crazy thinking.
 


The drop-off after Hansen is dramatic. And looks like Denson should be batting more. Brandts ob% and hrs helps offset her avg. But Strelow, Kinch, and the number of strike outs on Kinch.......
 

mngolf said:
The drop-off after Hansen is dramatic. And looks like Denson should be batting more. Brandts ob% and hrs helps offset her avg. But Strelow, Kinch, and the number of strike outs on Kinch.......
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Kinch is the best defensive catcher on the roster. Brandt's value at short is also an asset.
 

But we're losing due to offense. Status quo gets us no conference title, no conference tournament title, and as stated earlier no distance in ncaa
 

Jaydee said:
Mid-40s with 35 mph gusts is tough on a Defense, especially pitchers. That umpire should be ashamed of himself. Two different zones. The announcers even commented on it. But our batters had no plate discipline at all today.
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The umpire was just as bad the day before; the worst strke zone I've ever seen. It was definitely tilted in one team's favor, but an umpire doesn't beat you 8-0.
 

I think the problem traces back to mediocre recruiting. Allister hit a gold mine w/ the first-yr stars who came in the fall of 2016. In 2017 she brought in no great future standouts (a sign she felt she'd be leaving?) Since then, the true standouts have only been transfers (Brandner, Pease, etc.), except for maybe DenHartog. We can only get a team of national stature if we get superstar recruits, which is possible but not happening. This year's Gophers have no real central-figure leader(s) on the field, who can pull the team through on a bad day. In Sunday's poor team performance, at Illinois, if they'd had the likes of Groenewegen or Fiser (of 2017-2019 caliber) in the circle the score after 5 innings would likely still only have been 0-0, anybody's game. The Fiser of 2019 would be striking out 10-15 a game against the 16 lackluster teams faced so far this year.

.
 

mngolf said:
But we're losing due to offense. Status quo gets us no conference title, no conference tournament title, and as stated earlier no distance in ncaa
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I understand that. I wish our defensive players were better hitters. Some of them are on their fourth hitting coach. Perhaps, Katie will get them to be better hitters. Meanwhile, who do you want to play short? Will that player hit any better? Dray had been catching. She wasn't hitting and wasn't as good defensively. Is there a hidden talent to play catcher? I agree that at his point, the Gophers are mediocre. I hope they can put it together for the remainder of the season.
 

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