Gopher Softball 2022

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GopherAlum03 said:
I was glad to see Chavez earn her spot back. Also Valencia coming in cold off the bench in her first at-bat and going yard, incredibly difficult to do considering the circumstances. I would like to see her get more opportunities or I’m afraid we may not keep her. A 2023 power lineup with Kinch, Evans, Valencia and Chavez sounds really good to me.
I agree 100% that we need more pop in the lineup. Seems like whenever we have runners in scoring position that we have a slapped up. We need a base knock on the moment not a slap hit in the infield.
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Agree 100%. Does DenHartog have an extra yr of eligibility?
 

Chase the Rise said:
Agree that we need more pop in the lineup, but thinking that Kinch, Evans, Valencia, and Chavez are going to provide it seems a little premature from a group that only has 21 homeruns in their collective careers (with Kinch having 11 of those 21). I think Evans is on the cusp of being that type of player, but don't see what you are seeing from Chavez and Valencia to say they are the power we need in 2023 (1 HR each through 24 games).
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I saw DenHartog in fall ball as a freshman; her alhleticism was absolutely unmistakable & she was a star already by the spring. I had the same impression of Valencia at fall ball 2021. Since then? One single at bat? C'mon....
 

Hrothgar said:
Agree 100%. Does DenHartog have an extra yr of eligibility?
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I have no inside information but to me the primary question for Ritter going into next year is if the Gopher softball team will offer DenHartog, Pease, and Jensen their COVID years.

The Secondary question will be if Sydney Schwartz, on her own, is enough to strengthen our pitching staff or if a transfer will be needed - lot of that question is, of course, answered by the answer to the primary question above as it pertains to Pease.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I have no inside information but to me the primary question for Ritter going into next year is if the Gopher softball team will offer DenHartog, Pease, and Jensen their COVID years.

The Secondary question will be if Sydney Schwartz, on her own, is enough to strengthen our pitching staff or if a transfer will be needed - lot of that question is, of course, answered by the answer to the primary question above as it pertains to Pease.
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Absolutely no inside information, but I know that Autumn came to Minnesota for the dental program. If she is accepted into dental school and can manage her schedule, she may opt to play another year.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I have no inside information but to me the primary question for Ritter going into next year is if the Gopher softball team will offer DenHartog, Pease, and Jensen their COVID years.

The Secondary question will be if Sydney Schwartz, on her own, is enough to strengthen our pitching staff or if a transfer will be needed - lot of that question is, of course, answered by the answer to the primary question above as it pertains to Pease.
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Excellent questions! Coyle has allowed it for certain players on the nationally-competitive teams like softball, volleyball, and gymnastics, but no idea whether he will allow it for players who missed their junior, sophomore, or freshman year rather than their senior year. Jensen is a fifth-year senior, but she only played 13 games at the start of the 2019 season, thus qualifying her for a potential medical redshirt, so her presence doesn’t tip the scales on that question either way.

Regarding the second question, if Pease returns, I’d say probably. But I would still love to see another transfer pitcher of at least Tori Finucane quality, given that our pitching staff would still be very young, and because moving forward I’d like to see Valencia focus 100% on hitting!

However, the answers to both of these questions will likely depend on the scholarship $$$ we have available once all players scheduled to use some of that money have decided whether they will stay or transfer at the end of the season.
 


With our pitching struggles - It looks like to me from the games I've watched is that we get a 1st pitch strike about 60% of the time but then we put a few that aren't close to the zone and we often end up going 3-2 on a lot of batters. Wondering if the philosophy is that if your even or ahead in the count then make sure you don't put one over the plate. Is that what you guys are seeing? Also does anyone know why they play Strelow so tight at 2B ?
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I have no inside information but to me the primary question for Ritter going into next year is if the Gopher softball team will offer DenHartog, Pease, and Jensen their COVID years.

The Secondary question will be if Sydney Schwartz, on her own, is enough to strengthen our pitching staff or if a transfer will be needed - lot of that question is, of course, answered by the answer to the primary question above as it pertains to Pease.
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Given they're the best players tough to lose them, but it really stunts developing rest of team needing to keep 5th and 6th year players at key positions
 

rowdaboat said:
Given they're the best players tough to lose them, but it really stunts developing rest of team needing to keep 5th and 6th year players at key positions
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I agree with this. You are potentially sacrificing the teams future success for immediate gratification. The only problem is that while trying to do this, we still aren’t winning the games we are supposed to. We can’t be carried by 3-4 players and expect to win many games. If our pitching is struggling power bats need to be in the lineup so that we can make up for the runs given up.
 

With regards to "super scholarships": I believe that was essentially a special one year deal by the NCAA. In other words, athletes who would've been seniors during the spring 2020, fall 2020, and winter 2020-21 seasons were given the ability to return to the same school the following season and be awarded a scholarship that did not count against the maximum roster or scholarship limits, IF the school was willing to fund the extra cost of those extra spots.

I seem to recall that for the non-revenue sports, Coyle was willing to allow the expanded rosters but was not willing to fund the extra scholarships. Someone can correct me there if I'm wrong.

For football, of course, no problemo. This past fall (2021) it was pretty well known that Fleck had some "extra" scholarships and even had a player who was playing his 7th year of college football.


But starting this spring (2022) and moving forward, expanded rosters/scholarship limits beyond the established maximums is not even an option anymore. So it's not even a thing for Coyle to sign off on or not.


Now, all those players got their free extra year of eligibility, sure. That's a done deal. They have six calendar years to participate in four seasons, with the 2020 year seasons not counting as a participated season.

But the roster size and scholarship limits are what they are. So it's up to the coach to decide if "6th year seniors" are worth it for taking up a roster spot and/or scholarships from the limited amount. Pros/cons either way, certainly.
 
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Twocents said:
With our pitching struggles - It looks like to me from the games I've watched is that we get a 1st pitch strike about 60% of the time but then we put a few that aren't close to the zone and we often end up going 3-2 on a lot of batters. Wondering if the philosophy is that if your even or ahead in the count then make sure you don't put one over the plate. Is that what you guys are seeing? Also does anyone know why they play Strelow so tight at 2B ?
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Various philosphies: 1) The philosophy I like best is one I learned from an old coach in my youth: Every at-bat is a battle between pitcher & hitter; the one who wins the 2-2 count will (normally always) win the at-bat. 3-2 is up for grabs. The pitcher MUST be toughest at the 2-2 count. 2) Regarding your words about balls & strikes. What a pitcher wants ideally is to throw strikes (paint the corners) and get ahead 0-2 (it's ok to give up 400-ft foul balls; they're only strikes). Then at 0-2 it's not a matter of "wasting pitches," as fans often think (for pitches 1 or 2 feet off the plate, then it is truly a wasted pitch). At 0-2 the pitcher's job is to throw strikes exactly where the batter is known from scouting reports not to want them (her weakness), or near-strikes half an inch off the plate, where the batter will be forced to swing or risk striking out looking. If behind in the count against a good pitcher with command, the hitter is forced to "guard the plate," that is, be defensive with the bat. 3) Thow unhittable with velocity & get endless strikeouts. Lot of pitchers can do that for few innings. One in a hundred for a whole game. In 2021, Pease was, for example, an expert at getting ahead in the count, working the strike zone, and befuddling hitters. In 2022 she's often behind in counts & giving up BBs. With a super fastball, she could overpower her way out of those jams, but that velocity is lacking; so she has to come over the plate and we see the unhappy result. You can't throw chanegups over the middle of the plate. She & Leavitt need to paint the corners consistently. IMHO.
 

Gophers_4life said:
With regards to "super scholarships": I believe that was essentially a special one year deal by the NCAA. In other words, athletes who would've been seniors during the spring 2020, fall 2020, and winter 2020-21 seasons were given the ability to return to the same school the following season and be awarded a scholarship that did not count against the maximum roster or scholarship limits, IF the school was willing to fund the extra cost of those extra spots.

I seem to recall that for the non-revenue sports, Coyle was willing to allow the expanded rosters but was not willing to fund the extra scholarships. Someone can correct me there if I'm wrong.

For football, of course, no problemo. This past fall (2021) it was pretty well known that Fleck had some "extra" scholarships and even had a player who was playing his 7th year of college football.


But starting this spring (2022) and moving forward, expanded rosters/scholarship limits beyond the established maximums is not even an option anymore. So it's not even a thing for Coyle to sign off on or not.


Now, all those players got their free extra year of eligibility, sure. That's a done deal. They have six calendar years to participate in four seasons, with the 2020 year seasons not counting as a participated season.

But the roster size and scholarship limits are what they are. So it's up to the coach to decide if "6th year seniors" are worth it for taking up a roster spot and/or scholarships from the limited amount. Pros/cons either way, certainly.
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This all makes sense. Excluding transfers in or out, we as fans know we have three (Espalin, Dowell, Dray - current super seniors) and very likely 5 (Hansen and Lindner - current seniors) graduating out of the team.

And we as fans know we will have five freshman newcomers, again excluding any transfers, coming in next year (Schwartz, Oakland, Leschber, Burnett, and Connell).

Now we don’t know scholarship allocations amongst those 10 players, but on its face, the math could work to keep DenHartog, Pease, and Jensen if those three wanted to continue playing Gopher softball.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
This all makes sense. Excluding transfers in or out, we as fans know we have three (Espalin, Dowell, Dray - current super seniors) and very likely 5 (Hansen and Lindner - current seniors) graduating out of the team.

And we as fans know we will have five freshman newcomers, again excluding any transfers, coming in next year (Schwartz, Oakland, Leschber, Burnett, and Connell).

Now we don’t know scholarship allocations amongst those 10 players, but on its face, the math could work to keep DenHartog, Pease, and Jensen if those three wanted to continue playing Gopher softball.
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Why wouldn't Linder return? She was only a (true) freshman in 2019, so 2023 would "only" be her fifth calendar year regardless (with 2020 not counting as a participated season).

Jensen would depend if they applied for a medical hardship waiver for the 2019 season. That requires that she played in <=30% of the total games that season (it says she played in 13) and suffered a season-ending injury. If they didn't apply for it or were denied, then this is her last season of eligibility.


All of the other players on the roster listed as "seniors" who started their college careers in the 2019 season are all in the same boat as Linder. They're all eligible for the 2023 season the same, since the 2020 season did not count as a participated season.

I guess it is up to the coach to decide whose scholarship offer will be renewed for next year, based on incoming players and overall roster management.
 




The softball roster on the website reported Jensen as a redshirt (R- SO) as early as the 2020 season.
 

FYI - The question was asked several posts back how many times the batters are leaving 3 on the bases. Through this past weekend, as a team roughly 21 at bats (Dray 4 times, Espalin 5 times and Denhartog 3 times wiith Chavez, Kinch and Dowell 2 times each leading the team in that category).

As a team they have left 2 batters on the bases roughly 29 at bats (Dray, Strelow and Denhartog each 5 times, Kinch 4 times and Espalin 3 times lead the team in that category).
 
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4EverAGopher said:
FYI - The question was asked several posts back how many times the batters are leaving 3 on the bases. Through this past weekend, as a team roughly 21 times (Dray 4 times, Espalin 5 times and Denhartog 3 times lead the team in that category).

As a team they have left 2 batters on the bases roughly 29 times (Dray, Strelow and Denhartog each 5 times, Kinch 4 times and Espalin 3 times lead the team in that category).
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Very interesting. This problem seems present for about the past 2 1/2 seasons.
 

TNGophfan said:
Bottom line for me is I think it's hard to get enough offense to be a top echelon team if your pitching is just average. Need to find the next dominant or way above average pitcher.
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“…[T]op echelon…” and what that means for our Golden Gophers has been a topic on conversation for a while. To me, top echelon means consistently in the top 3-4 teams of the Big Ten. However, to some masochists, it means something different - I couldn’t live that way - too dissatisfied and frustrated.

Anyway, I am on record saying I wouldn’t be too surprised to see our Gophers in the Big Ten Championship game. They are battle-tested and deep through nine batters of the line-up by Big Ten standards. I am feeling good about our next two months.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
The softball roster on the website reported Jensen as a redshirt (R- SO) as early as the 2020 season.
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I think you're right.

The note on her current roster bio https://gophersports.com/sports/softball/roster/ellee-jensen/20203 for the 2019 season says:

Missed the majority of the season to injury and still has three seasons of eligibility left.

To me this would indicate they intended for her to play the 2020, 2021, and 2022 full seasons as normal, which would be her four when combined with 2018 and so the 2019 did not count as participated.

So with the 2020 then not counting from covid, she could come back for 2023 and her four would be 2018, 2021, 22, 23.
 

I watched Rutgers last wknd. They suck. This better be a sweep for the Gophers.
 

mngolf said:
I watched Rutgers last wknd. They suck. This better be a sweep for the Gophers.
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I expect it will be. I think most of us as fans are going to like what we see in terms of our talent as compared to the talent of our peer Big Ten teams that we will play over the next couple months.
 





Make that 8 plus a HBP. This game has me wanting to poke my eyes out.
 

Not optimistic that Pease finishes the season, offseason shoulder issues/surgery and total lack of control they'd be better off shutting her down. Problem again is we have nobody else
 

I am unable to watch the game. Is there also a strike zone issue with the home plate umpire? I am asking because both of our pitchers have been giving up walk after walk after walk.
 

11 walks, 1 HBP, and 47 / 111 strikes to first 24 batters between the 2 pitchers
 

The umps aren't perfect but it's the pitchers. Grand slam. Now thinking we'll get run ruled.
 


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