Gopher softball 2021

[Panthadad2]

I hope Piper has some ideas about how to go about handling her catchers. What a disaster under Trachsel, and another two catchers hit the transfer portal before Trachsel departed.

Alyssa was a catcher at NDSU under Trachsel and Mueller. She could obviously handle whatever catching regimen was implemented there, but since that method is all she knows, will Piper look elsewhere for someone to work with the catchers?

Sara Kinch, listed as a catcher and utility, and arguably the top-rated catcher candidate since Lindaman, signed a NLI on National Signing Day last fall. She was quoted in her signing story on gophersports.com that she has family ties here, so she may not be a huge risk to ask for a release and reopen her recruitment due to the coaching change. If she is in the mix for the catcher position, I hope she has a better experience under Piper than other catcher candidates allegedly had under Jamie.

We really need to develop some stability at the catcher position going forward.

The two of the catchers currently in the portal weren't getting any playing time (at that position at least). I was under the impression Lindaman and Burns had personal and style differences with Trachsel more than position-specific issues.

For a good incoming catcher, this all just presents a bigger opportunity to play early.

 

[Hrothgar]

I know I am a broken record in this but I don’t have the first clue how you can blame the program for the Brandner situation. Have you checked out her twitter? There may be serious stuff going on that is far beyond coaching or playing.

Emotional stuff unconnected or just tangentially connected with coaching or softball may have been involved in some transfers as well. I don’t know. I just don't KNOW if others KNOW either. What if kids were going through romantic relationship issues and felt they needed to get away. I don’t know. It’s possible. Did you consider it?

One more thing on the “lack of enthusiasm” to start 2020. I honestly wonder if they missed Rachel Lowery in that regard. She came off to the casual follower/viewer as the biggest personality on the team during 2028/2019. She seemed like fun personified. I think the 2020 team may have missed that dugout energy she provided.

I wasn't "blaming" the players or contending that the student/athletes themselves should've been involved in any public media comments or involved in any aspects of the discourse in public. I felt that the professionals, that is, the Athletic Dept. officials and the HC needed to be airing out these reported troubles, directly but also diplomatically, so the public, especially those who pay to help support the program, would not be left to hearing rumors and making judgments based on hearsay, but it seems to me that's exactly what happened.

Anybody watching many of the Gopher games close-up in person couldn't miss the "lack of enthusiasm" or poor play. I lay that at the door of the HC, not the team itself.

 

[rwlarson]

Regardless of the reasons, we have been unable to attract and retain catchers since Allister left. Hope that changes under Piper. It is one of the most important positions on the team and we need some stability and depth there. Maybe Strelow wants to continue learning the catcher position, we add promising prospects and the problem goes away. I hope so.

 

[ClassOf98Gopher]

Regardless of the reasons, we have been unable to attract and retain catchers since Allister left. Hope that changes under Piper. It is one of the most important positions on the team and we need some stability and depth there. Maybe Strelow wants to continue learning the catcher position, we add promising prospects and the problem goes away. I hope so.

Strelow certainly will be in the lineup starting next year. If Partain does not return, I bet she will be at 2nd base. If Partain does return, which I guess is doubtful, then Strelow will be at catcher.

 

[4EverAGopher]

As the saying goes, "I heard it from the horses mouth".....I personally had a one on one conversation with a Gopher softball player. At that time, she stated that the players were not necessarily a fan of the first base coach. I will just leave it at that.

Yes to bring in Katie and Sara in some type of coaching positions. I would love to see that.

 

[ClassOf98Gopher]

I wasn't "blaming" the players or contending that the student/athletes themselves should've been involved in any public media comments or involved in any aspects of the discourse in public. I felt that the professionals, that is, the Athletic Dept. officials and the HC needed to be airing out these reported troubles, directly but also diplomatically, so the public, especially those who pay to help support the program, would not be left to hearing rumors and making judgments based on hearsay, but it seems to me that's exactly what happened.

Anybody watching many of the Gopher games close-up in person couldn't miss the "lack of enthusiasm" or poor play. I lay that at the door of the HC, not the team itself.

Hrothgar, taking the second point you raised above first, clearly the team was rusty in Clearwater, and it was very clear we lost some players from last year’s team that were harder to replace then we thought, I am thinking of you Allie Arneson. I can’t totally defend the poor play part, but my theory on “lack of enthusiasm” is not yet totally disproven in my view.

Now on your first point, that just cannot be right. I am sorry but if I am on a college sporting team and have a certain health event/issue, be it mental health or a type of physical health event/issue, the university should not be giving away to the public my health information. That is private heath information. There is HIPPA and I believe other federal and state law(s) protecting me. Do I care if the public knows that I have an ankle sprain? No. But there are a whole host of other mental or physical health events that should not be reported and then viewable on the internet when my name is Google-searched, forever.

 

[ComoGopher]

I wasn't "blaming" the players or contending that the student/athletes themselves should've been involved in any public media comments or involved in any aspects of the discourse in public. I felt that the professionals, that is, the Athletic Dept. officials and the HC needed to be airing out these reported troubles, directly but also diplomatically, so the public, especially those who pay to help support the program, would not be left to hearing rumors and making judgments based on hearsay, but it seems to me that's exactly what happened.

I have no idea what planet you live on... What did you want Coyle to say? How about we move on to next year with Piper at the helm?

 

[Hrothgar]

Hrothgar, taking the second point you raised above first, clearly the team was rusty in Clearwater, and it was very clear we lost some players from last year’s team that were harder to replace then we thought, I am thinking of you Allie Arneson. I can’t totally defend the poor play part, but my theory on “lack of enthusiasm” is not yet totally disproven in my view.

Now on your first point, that just cannot be right. I am sorry but if I am on a college sporting team and have a certain health event/issue, be it mental health or a type of physical health event/issue, the university should not be giving away to the public my health information. That is private heath information. There is HIPPA and I believe other federal and state law(s) protecting me. Do I care if the public knows that I have an ankle sprain? No. But there are a whole host of other mental or physical health events that should not be reported and then viewable on the internet when my name is Google-searched, forever.

I'm not talking about mental health or any personal issues for the student/athletes, nor have I even mentioned such issues concerning student/athletes; if you can document where I did so, please help me out there. I've never met a single member of the Gophers team. All I know is what I see on the playing field.

What I have referred to more than once is alleged dissension on the team aimed, according to hearsay, at also alleged dubious tactics and questionable treatment by the coaching staff. One poster even referred to the situation as a "near mutiny." Whether any of that ever happened, it was alleged by posters here to have happened. It was, in my opinion, the job of the professionals in the U administration & the softball coaching staff to deal with the hearsay, unsubstantiated to my knowledge, and clarify the situation, puttng it to rest in a reasonable way and with transparency. None of the problem was on the student/athletes. Neither did I claim it was. The team members seem to have dealt very maturely with the situation, as far as I could see from a distance. I wish the U authorities had done better. IMO they didn't.

 

[goherfan48]

Hrothgar, taking the second point you raised above first, clearly the team was rusty in Clearwater, and it was very clear we lost some players from last year’s team that were harder to replace then we thought, I am thinking of you Allie Arneson. I can’t totally defend the poor play part, but my theory on “lack of enthusiasm” is not yet totally disproven in my view.

Now on your first point, that just cannot be right. I am sorry but if I am on a college sporting team and have a certain health event/issue, be it mental health or a type of physical health event/issue, the university should not be giving away to the public my health information. That is private heath information. There is HIPPA and I believe other federal and state law(s) protecting me. Do I care if the public knows that I have an ankle sprain? No. But there are a whole host of other mental or physical health events that should not be reported and then viewable on the internet when my name is Google-searched, forever.

I totally agree, there are things that have happened and are going to happen in the future regarding the players that we are not going to understand and will never be shared for the above stated reasons. rightfully so.
What we do need to do is trust in Piper that she is doing what's right for the team. I feel that she will be as transparent as she can be.

 

[rowdaboat]

Haley Cruse coming back to Oregon for another year

 

[Hrothgar]

I have no idea what planet you live on... What did you want Coyle to say? How about we move on to next year with Piper at the helm?

I used the expression 'diplomatically' so as to lessen the effect of hearsay. That's one duty highly placed university administrators are employed to do when necessary.

 

[ClassOf98Gopher]

I used the expression 'diplomatically' so as to lessen the effect of hearsay. That's one duty highly placed university administrators are employed to do when necessary.

I may agree with your view in general. I just don’t know anything about the situation regarding our power hitting student/athlete defending First Base and think there is at least a fair chance that neither I nor any member of the general public should know anything about it... and that is nobody’s, including the professionals’, fault.

As to the mutiny stuff, I am far less defensive.

 

[Softballjunkie]

I may agree with your view in general. I just don’t know anything about the situation regarding our power hitting student/athlete defending First Base and think there is at least a fair chance that neither I nor any member of the general public should know anything about it... and that is nobody’s, including the professionals’, fault.

As to the mutiny stuff, I am far less defensive.

All student medical and personal situations are covered under HIPPA which is the reason the university cannot and will not comment. We’ll never get the specifics. I do know Brandner left the university in late February.

 

[Softballjunkie]

Very very happy for coach Ritter!!

She's more than paid her dues (as we all know!), she's already one of the best pitching coaches in the country and it'll be fun to see her fully in charge of things.

Has there been any confirmation/news about assistants? Just want to make sure my post regarding Piper and Katie Richardson comes to full fruition!!

I believe one of the assistants will be an alum. I’m thinking Richardson as Piper has often spoken of the Southwest being a great area to recruit. This leads me to the alum being Katie Richardson. She is from Arizona and was an assistant at Arizona State a few years back. She’d be terrific in recruiting in the Southwest as she already has all of the contacts and experience in recruiting there. The other assistnant role is probably not an alum but I’m going to guess that it could be Mike Lewis. He has played fast pitch for years, he pitches BP to the team and he’s from Minnesota. He was a grad assistant last year but could easily make the jump to assistant. I think Alyssa stays as well; she’s got one year of grad school left and has been here for a few years now. Again, just my opinion...we’ll see once the hiring freeze is over.

 

[Softballjunkie]

Michael definitely deserves a promotion to paid assistant role. How big of a part of recruiting was Piper under Jamie?

From what I can tell, Piper didn’t do much of the travel out to see players playing at travel ball, that seemed to be Katie and Jamie. I’m positive Piper is the one identifying the pitching recruits she wants, but probably mostly from film and other sources. If the Michael you are referring to is Mike Lewis, I agree!! He deserves a promotion!

 

[ComoGopher]

I used the expression 'diplomatically' so as to lessen the effect of hearsay. That's one duty highly placed university administrators are employed to do when necessary.

I just don't think there is a GOOD way to sugarcoat it so as the AD you assume your subordinate will do as instructed. You don't air the dirty laundry because you believe the situation is fixed. When it isn't fixed, you fix it like he did. There will most-likely never be an official statement even alluding to issues with the team. I think that is just fine.

 

[MRJ]

I believe one of the assistants will be an alum. I’m thinking Richardson as Piper has often spoken of the Southwest being a great area to recruit. This leads me to the alum being Katie Richardson. She is from Arizona and was an assistant at Arizona State a few years back. She’d be terrific in recruiting in the Southwest as she already has all of the contacts and experience in recruiting there. The other assistnant role is probably not an alum but I’m going to guess that it could be Mike Lewis. He has played fast pitch for years, he pitches BP to the team and he’s from Minnesota. He was a grad assistant last year but could easily make the jump to assistant. I think Alyssa stays as well; she’s got one year of grad school left and has been here for a few years now. Again, just my opinion...we’ll see once the hiring freeze is over.

If all that takes place, I'll be thrilled.

In fact, that would be the exact staff I was hoping for.

 

[goherfan48]

I believe one of the assistants will be an alum. I’m thinking Richardson as Piper has often spoken of the Southwest being a great area to recruit. This leads me to the alum being Katie Richardson. She is from Arizona and was an assistant at Arizona State a few years back. She’d be terrific in recruiting in the Southwest as she already has all of the contacts and experience in recruiting there. The other assistnant role is probably not an alum but I’m going to guess that it could be Mike Lewis. He has played fast pitch for years, he pitches BP to the team and he’s from Minnesota. He was a grad assistant last year but could easily make the jump to assistant. I think Alyssa stays as well; she’s got one year of grad school left and has been here for a few years now. Again, just my opinion...we’ll see once the hiring freeze is over.

I am pretty sure Piper, knows who she wants to bring in, I am concerned as I have stated, the U hiring freeze might effect Piper getting her assists in

 

[Gopher68]

If all that takes place, I'll be thrilled.

In fact, that would be the exact staff I was hoping for.

I believe Lewis is a pitcher. Piper will not need pitching assistant.

 

[Hrothgar]

All student medical and personal situations are covered under HIPPA which is the reason the university cannot and will not comment. We’ll never get the specifics. I do know Brandner left the university in late February.

There seems to be misunderstanding of my previous comments. Nowhere did I advocate or imply that student/athletes' or colleagues' privacy should be pried into or breached. I was a full-time teacher from 1961 to 2012, during which time I gained more than a nodding acquaintance with the needs for student privacy and the nature of HIPPA. Neither did I argue that the university break HIPPA guidelines or give any specifics about the apparent disaffection in the softball program or name any student/athletes by name in that regard. (My only comment about the missing first baseman was that nobody, in my opinion, gave her adequate credit for her brilliant play in 2019 and lament what a loss her absence from the playing field was in 2020). The key word I use about disaffection is 'apparent,' but many people argued that the disaffection was real, not just apparent. I know nothing about this. My only sentiment was that I felt the University authorities should have used diplomacy to address the situation and assure the public that they were in control of the situation. Those who choose to interpret my comments otherwise are misreading my feelings.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

I hope Piper has some ideas about how to go about handling her catchers. What a disaster under Trachsel, and another two catchers hit the transfer portal before Trachsel departed.

Alyssa was a catcher at NDSU under Trachsel and Mueller. She could obviously handle whatever catching regimen was implemented there, but since that method is all she knows, will Piper look elsewhere for someone to work with the catchers?

Sara Kinch, listed as a catcher and utility, and arguably the top-rated catcher candidate since Lindaman, signed a NLI on National Signing Day last fall. She was quoted in her signing story on gophersports.com that she has family ties here, so she may not be a huge risk to ask for a release and reopen her recruitment due to the coaching change. If she is in the mix for the catcher position, I hope she has a better experience under Piper than other catcher candidates allegedly had under Jamie.

We really need to develop some stability at the catcher position going forward.

More out of curiousity than anything, but whatever happened to the catcher that handled the task before Lindaman arrived? Forgot her name. She was excellent defensively and also was a grad assistant for a year or so, if I recall correctly. Just wondering if she is still somehow in the coaching circles.

 

[Gopher68]

More out of curiousity than anything, but whatever happened to the catcher that handled the task before Lindaman arrived? Forgot her name. She was excellent defensively and also was a grad assistant for a year or so, if I recall correctly. Just wondering if she is still somehow in the coaching circles.

Taylor LeMay (also noted for her bangs) is a PhyEd teacher at Liberty Ridge Elementary.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

Taylor LeMay (also noted for her bangs) is a PhyEd teacher at Liberty Ridge Elementary.

Thanks. What a teammate she was. Blocked that change up like it was no one's business. Allowed Sara G to really use it as a strike out pitch.

 

[goherfan48]

Sarah Kinch, is a blue chip catcher. catching is not going to be an issue

 

[MplsGopher]

All student medical and personal situations are covered under HIPPA which is the reason the university cannot and will not comment. We’ll never get the specifics. I do know Brandner left the university in late February.

I think HIPPA would only prevent the university from releasing medical documents, such as detailing the doctor's notes during an appointment about diagnosis and physical or mental treatments, etc. No school would dare do that, anyway. But, of course, that should be illegal. Which is good.

However, I think it should not be illegal for a coach or university athletic dept employee to make a generic statement about a player. "Yes, she was injured in the ___ game and will be out for some time." or "Yes, she is not participating for the moment due to personal reasons, and will be out for some time." And so on.

But also of course, the athletic dept. itself could establish its own, internal rules prohibiting such statements, and take action (ie, fire) an employee that broke those rules. That is up to the dept. I'm merely saying it shouldn't be illegal.

 

[Dchris]

I am pretty sure Piper, knows who she wants to bring in, I am concerned as I have stated, the U hiring freeze might effect Piper getting her assists in

Any update on asst coaches? I thought Piper would have settled on her asst coaches by now. Is the
salary freeze the main stumbling block? There seems to be a number of great candidates (Katie R.,
Colleen P., Sara G, Mike L and others).

 

[goherfan48]

Any update on asst coaches? I thought Piper would have settled on her asst coaches by now. Is the
salary freeze the main stumbling block? There seems to be a number of great candidates (Katie R.,
Colleen P., Sara G, Mike L and others).

I am sure it is! I think she knows who she wants but freeze is an issue

 

[rowdaboat]

Hope they can unfreeze, 2 assistants seems like it'd be 150k max

 

[goherfan48]

Hope they can unfreeze, 2 assistants seems like it'd be 150k max

We can only hope. Piper will need them

 

[MRJ]