Gopher Softball 2022

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I have watched a lot of softball this season(not just UMN) and you see other coaches going to their bench for a spark. Heck, Oklahoma State did it multiple times last game. Why doesn’t our coaching staff do it? Why aren’t Costa, Denison, Cox, Ehlke give some at bats? I just don’t understand why. Lindner is given opportunities but it seems she is only going up there looking for a walk. Dray is a HR or nothing. Strelow is batting .189. If you were a potential recruit would you want to come to Minnesota when it seems the coaches don’t like utilizing the bench? I wouldn’t.
 

GopherAlum03 said:
I have watched a lot of softball this season(not just UMN) and you see other coaches going to their bench for a spark. Heck, Oklahoma State did it multiple times last game. Why doesn’t our coaching staff do it? Why aren’t Costa, Denison, Cox, Ehlke give some at bats? I just don’t understand why. Lindner is given opportunities but it seems she is only going up there looking for a walk. Dray is a HR or nothing. Strelow is batting .189. If you were a potential recruit would you want to come to Minnesota when it seems the coaches don’t like utilizing the bench? I wouldn’t.
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I don't think the current coaching staff is the right fit for the offense
 

GopherAlum03 said:
I have watched a lot of softball this season(not just UMN) and you see other coaches going to their bench for a spark. Heck, Oklahoma State did it multiple times last game. Why doesn’t our coaching staff do it? Why aren’t Costa, Denison, Cox, Ehlke give some at bats? I just don’t understand why. Lindner is given opportunities but it seems she is only going up there looking for a walk. Dray is a HR or nothing. Strelow is batting .189. If you were a potential recruit would you want to come to Minnesota when it seems the coaches don’t like utilizing the bench? I wouldn’t.
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I agree. I have posted on this multiple times in the past. I have refrained from continuing to post this frustration myself, as it becomes too negative. Clearly, this is an issue.

For additional insight, I have a recruit that had an interaction with the Gophers hitting coach. It was not positive. She would not consider the Gophers as long as she is still there. I haven't said that previously, as there can be many reasons why a player may not feel a coach is the right fit. And this also looks like negative whining on a message board. Unfortunately for the Gophers, this player is very positive and a coaches dream player: great attitude, great effort, and great teammate. The issue was about her hitting philosophy and changing her swing. This player is our top hitter, playing all the top competition in the country. She actually rebuilt her swing with DenHartog as her inspiration, when Natalie was a freshman for the Gophers. The Gophers were her dream school, that is no longer true.
 


AZGopher8 said:
I agree. I have posted on this multiple times in the past. I have refrained from continuing to post this frustration myself, as it becomes too negative. Clearly, this is an issue.

For additional insight, I have a recruit that had an interaction with the Gophers hitting coach. It was not positive. She would not consider the Gophers as long as she is still there. I haven't said that previously, as there can be many reasons why a player may not feel a coach is the right fit. And this also looks like negative whining on a message board. Unfortunately for the Gophers, this player is very positive and a coaches dream player: great attitude, great effort, and great teammate. The issue was about her hitting philosophy and changing her swing. This player is our top hitter, playing all the top competition in the country. She actually rebuilt her swing with DenHartog as her inspiration, when Natalie was a freshman for the Gophers. The Gophers were her dream school, that is no longer true.
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Happy that this girl got this feeling before she made a bad decision!
 

Gopherholegirl said:
Ritter needs to go. She is failing these girls in every single way possible. I just wish the testimonies of these girls could come to surface. This roster will not look the same next fall. 1/2 the team wants to leave.
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Yikes! The natives get restless fast.
 

rowdaboat said:
ASU/UNC tournaments are very weak fields, needed to take Wisconsin's spot at Clearwater or something with more SEC teams

neutral #8 Georgia x2
@ #27 UCF
neutral #28 Fresno St
@ #21 Arizona St
neutral #24 Wichita St x2
neutral #36 Stanford
@ #6 Oklahoma St x2
neutral #1 Oklahoma
@ #12 Texas x2
@ #19 Michigan x3
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Maybe we should have elected to take on an easier schedule. I fear this tough schedule is tearing our team and fanbase apart.
 

GopherAlum03 said:
I have watched a lot of softball this season(not just UMN) and you see other coaches going to their bench for a spark. Heck, Oklahoma State did it multiple times last game. Why doesn’t our coaching staff do it? Why aren’t Costa, Denison, Cox, Ehlke give some at bats? I just don’t understand why. Lindner is given opportunities but it seems she is only going up there looking for a walk. Dray is a HR or nothing. Strelow is batting .189. If you were a potential recruit would you want to come to Minnesota when it seems the coaches don’t like utilizing the bench? I wouldn’t.
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Same story, different sport for Ben Johnson and the Men’s BB tonight. 51 secs for one sub.
 






ClassOf98Gopher said:
Maybe we should have elected to take on an easier schedule. I fear this tough schedule is tearing our team and fanbase apart.
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If you want to destroy a great program in a big hurry, start a tough 54-game+ schedule w/ only 2 pitchers (one being a FY) & a batting order w/ BAs like .000, .185, .204, a catcher w/power who never drives the ball, leaving the bases loaded w/o touching a single pitch, etc. When have the Gophers been run-ruled so often? This is really depressing & disturbing.
 



Gopherholegirl said:
Ritter needs to go. She is failing these girls in every single way possible. I just wish the testimonies of these girls could come to surface. This roster will not look the same next fall. 1/2 the team wants to leave.
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Program starting from Coyle down to coach and resources needs an overhaul to be properly equipped to be taking care of and helping everyone off the field
 


I’ve come off the ledge a bit. We still have a winning record. What’s our worst loss? GCU? They are 16-5! The Stanford loss was bad, but that’s a team that’s going to be good in the PAC-12. Wichita State was probably the next worst loss - they too are good. Other than that we played a lot of teams culminating with the Oklahoma teams that it just wasn’t likely we were going to win - let’s be honest with ourselves.

We have about 25 straight winnable games coming up leading into Northwestern and Michigan and then the Big Ten title. Gaining momentum by winning ballgames will ease some of the emotional strain on the team.

I have my gripes. My two in particular are that the pitching staff is too thin (Our young reliever should be more serviceable by now) and I don’t understand Cox (a proven clutch, big bat) not getting swings. There probably is a reason for both cause I am just a fan.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I’ve come off the ledge a bit. We still have a winning record. What’s our worst loss? GCU? They are 16-5! The Stanford loss was bad, but that’s a team that’s going to be good in the PAC-12. Wichita State was probably the next worst loss - they too are good. Other than that we played a lot of teams culminating with the Oklahoma teams that it just wasn’t likely we were going to win - let’s be honest with ourselves.

We have about 25 straight winnable games coming up leading into Northwestern and Michigan and then the Big Ten title. Gaining momentum by winning ballgames will ease some of the emotional strain on the team.

I have my gripes. My two in particular are that the pitching staff is too thin (Our young reliever should be more serviceable by now) and I don’t understand Cox (a proven clutch, big bat) not getting swings. There probably is a reason for both cause I am just a fan.
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Valencia would be more serviceable if the coaching staff would have decided to put her in more games to garner experience, get rid of the nerves or what have you. Instead they put her in against top 25 teams that are on a hit parade. Tough spot for that kid. There are plenty of games coming up where the coaching staff can give her and Hollifield some innings.
 

GopherAlum03 said:
Valencia would be more serviceable if the coaching staff would have decided to put her in more games to garner experience, get rid of the nerves or what have you. Instead they put her in against top 25 teams that are on a hit parade. Tough spot for that kid. There are plenty of games coming up where the coaching staff can give her and Hollifield some innings.
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I was a coach for 32 years and it’s pretty consistent that when things don’t go well the coach gets blamed. Having two pitchers leave the program has been difficult and put the team in a tough spot. ABs hopefully are earned in the thousands of hours of practice that they have had. I think this group is going to turn out all right. If they can keep grinding and be supportive then I think they will make some good memories.
 

Ugh, my guess right now is maybe 5th or 6th in conference. Unless the conference is worse than expected too. But I doubt it.
 

Pitching depth is regrettable, but so far pitching hasn't been the problem. It's the abyssmal hitting & run production. Having to wait through the entire hitting order for DenHartog to come up again is, well, very sad. This isn't new, though. It was the same RLOB syndrome in 2020 & 2021, except then Partain was also in the order. Except for Dowell, the 2022 infield BAs,including catcher, are pretty much rock bottom.
 

mngolf said:
Ugh, my guess right now is maybe 5th or 6th in conference. Unless the conference is worse than expected too. But I doubt it.
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I am sticking with 3rd in the conference prediction! I am also adding an outside chance at the conference tournament championship game prediction.

We have faced (and candidly lost to) some extremely, like nationally, talented pitchers this season so far. Not much shame in that and we won’t have to face that cabinet of pitching again in many weeks.

I think we (me included) should remember that we knew it was going to be different with Fiser/Partain/Kemmetmueller gone. While it may be tough to watch a team like Northwestern rise while we sink back a little, I just believe Northwestern is going to get their “sink back year” next year. Ours just came a year earlier than theirs.

This year so far is such a reminder to me that pitching is so very (and obviously) important in this game.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I am sticking with 3rd in the conference prediction! I am also adding an outside chance at the conference tournament championship game prediction.

We have faced (and candidly lost to) some extremely, like nationally, talented pitchers this season so far. Not much shame in that and we won’t have to face that cabinet of pitching again in many weeks.

I think we (me included) should remember that we knew it was going to be different with Fiser/Partain/Kemmetmueller gone. While it may be tough to watch a team like Northwestern rise while we sink back a little, I just believe Northwestern is going to get their “sink back year” next year. Ours just came a year earlier than theirs.

This year so far is such a reminder to me that pitching is so very (and obviously) important in this game.
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MN has faced "some extremely, like nationally, talented pitchers". Why is MN not attracting that level of pitchers? That's what frustrates me most. BIG successes and a CWS spot don't seem to have brought in any great pitching recruits. Lucky that Pease transferred in.
 

Hrothgar said:
Pitching depth is regrettable, but so far pitching hasn't been the problem. It's the abyssmal hitting & run production. Having to wait through the entire hitting order for DenHartog to come up again is, well, very sad. This isn't new, though. It was the same RLOB syndrome in 2020 & 2021, except then Partain was also in the order. Except for Dowell, the 2022 infield BAs,including catcher, are pretty much rock bottom.
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I think the Gopher hitting has been better than you are saying. For comparison, last year mostly facing only Big 10 pitching the team BA was .244. This year, against better pitching teams the BA is .269. The fact that clutch hitting is still missing is definitely an item of concern.
 

Hrothgar said:
MN has faced "some extremely, like nationally, talented pitchers". Why is MN not attracting that level of pitchers? That's what frustrates me most. BIG successes and a CWS spot don't seem to have brought in any great pitching recruits. Lucky that Pease transferred in.
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Because we only can host 5 home series a season from weather and practice in domes during winter compared to south where they can play outdoors year round and host invitational in February. Same reason the average club talent is higher in south they're playing multiple full seasons per year so FL/FSU/UCLA/OU/AL win almost every title
 

Hrothgar said:
MN has faced "some extremely, like nationally, talented pitchers". Why is MN not attracting that level of pitchers? That's what frustrates me most. BIG successes and a CWS spot don't seem to have brought in any great pitching recruits. Lucky that Pease transferred in.
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I do think that the Kiana Jones miss as a pitching talent has become a problem for the team. I think they thought she had the potential to be a 1 or 2 pitcher than could successfully pitch lots (100 plus) of innings a year. I think even the Canadian national team had hopes for her to be a future talent for them. And it just didn’t pan out for her as a pitcher.

And then, one year later, Hollifield came into the program with a lot of momentum being a successful senior year pitcher out of talent-rich Georgia. They probably thought she could get 30-40 plus quality innings a year as well. We have not, to date, seen that on the field in Maroon and Gold yet.
 

I'd say pitching is definitely part of the problem. It's not just the hitting. Last night, they had 2 leads in extra innings against OKS and Pease couldn't hold it. Once, 2 runs. You gotta be able to hold that lead.
 

Hrothgar said:
MN has faced "some extremely, like nationally, talented pitchers". Why is MN not attracting that level of pitchers? That's what frustrates me most. BIG successes and a CWS spot don't seem to have brought in any great pitching recruits. Lucky that Pease transferred in.
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Why are we entitled to nationally talented pitchers let alone being a perennial nationally ranked team? Shouldn't a reputable, nationally-known school in the more populated NE like Penn State be attracting that level of talent? Yet somehow they won less than 10 games all season in 2021. There are hundreds of other programs out there that have the same desire that we do. Why do we deserve these pitchers and not them?

There are only so many top pitchers. Some sign with the top teams, some sign with the home teams, some were not highly recruited but make it big, and some end up not panning out. The Gophers have had an embarrassment of riches in pitching workhorses over the last several years. We are down this year in the pitching depth department... it happens. We just don't like with it happens to us.

Sports- collegiate sports in particular- is more fun without dynasties and super teams. I hate seeing the same teams win again and again. The games are more fun when teams other than OU, FL, UCLA, etc. are not winning. I'm sure the rest of the B1G says that same about us, MI, and NW in conference play. In an ideal world, teams would be mostly equal in talent and their fortunes would rise and fall in a cyclical fashion based on intangibles so that everyone gets to taste success every decade or so.
 

TNGophfan said:
I'd say pitching is definitely part of the problem. It's not just the hitting. Last night, they had 2 leads in extra innings against OKS and Pease couldn't hold it. Once, 2 runs. You gotta be able to hold that lead.
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That’s where the lack of depth this year really hurts. Most teams would bring in a fresh arm that the opponent hadn’t yet seen, even if that pitcher wasn’t quite as good as the starter.
 

Hrothgar said:
Pitching depth is regrettable, but so far pitching hasn't been the problem. It's the abyssmal hitting & run production. Having to wait through the entire hitting order for DenHartog to come up again is, well, very sad. This isn't new, though. It was the same RLOB syndrome in 2020 & 2021, except then Partain was also in the order. Except for Dowell, the 2022 infield BAs,including catcher, are pretty much rock bottom.
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In a tough pre-conference schedule, It has been a pleasure to watch Nat hit. She is one of the program’s all-timers.
 

Gopher68 said:
I think the Gopher hitting has been better than you are saying. For comparison, last year mostly facing only Big 10 pitching the team BA was .244. This year, against better pitching teams the BA is .269. The fact that clutch hitting is still missing is definitely an item of concern.
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Interesting comment.
ecoperson said:
Why are we entitled to nationally talented pitchers let alone being a perennial nationally ranked team? Shouldn't a reputable, nationally-known school in the more populated NE like Penn State be attracting that level of talent? Yet somehow they won less than 10 games all season in 2021. There are hundreds of other programs out there that have the same desire that we do. Why do we deserve these pitchers and not them?

There are only so many top pitchers. Some sign with the top teams, some sign with the home teams, some were not highly recruited but make it big, and some end up not panning out. The Gophers have had an embarrassment of riches in pitching workhorses over the last several years. We are down this year in the pitching depth department... it happens. We just don't like with it happens to us.

Sports- collegiate sports in particular- is more fun without dynasties and super teams. I hate seeing the same teams win again and again. The games are more fun when teams other than OU, FL, UCLA, etc. are not winning. I'm sure the rest of the B1G says that same about us, MI, and NW in conference play. In an ideal world, teams would be mostly equal in talent and their fortunes would rise and fall in a cyclical fashion based on intangibles so that everyone gets to taste success every decade or so.
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Of course, we aren't "entitled" to nationally talented pitchers (or position players), unless we have a recruiter/recruiters, with the skill to convince them to come here, which is what the job entails and what one MN head coach had the charisma to do. Her seasons weren't always flawless, but she brought in some super talent. Too bad the U didn't have the guts to fight to keep her. I felt she could eventually have challenged for a nat'l title by staying here for the long haul. I think what we're doing now is hoping for the best, not planning for it.
 

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