Gopher softball 2023

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John3298 said:
Looking through the stats posted on Minnesota's website (back to 2018), I'd argue that the problem is not necessarily that they don't have speed but rather they don't attempt steals often enough.
Team Stolen Bases:
2022: 35/36 (97.2%) - (Indiana was 114/143 or 79.7%)
2021: 33/43 (76.7%) - (Indiana was 96/117 or 82.1%)
2020: 19/21 (90.5%) - (Indiana was 55/68 or 80.1%)
2019: 41/50 (82%) - (Indiana was 141/179 or 78.8%)
2018: 64/71 (90.1%) - (Indiana was 112/158 or 70.9%)

Minnesota's percentage of successful stolen bases is quite high. For example, DenHartog is 28/30 in her career. Why isn't she stealing more often if she's so successful?!

IMO this is a coaching issue/philosophy, not simply a lack of speed. A lot of things have to go right to catch a runner stealing.
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I don't disagree with this at all. But I also don't think that we even double our attempts from last year. Those types of wholesale changes don't just happen.

The goal has to be to get runners in scoring postion more often. I also feel like our deficiences in the running game can be attributed to our lack of being able to bunt. We haven't been good at it in forever. If defenses aren't threatened with the rotation of bunt coverage, throwing out a straight steal becomes much easier. Whether we are protecting runners stealing with fake bunts or actual sac bunts, we aren't helping the situation if all we are trying to do is straight steal. Watch other teams, small ball, and fake bunts make defenses rotate, may throw a pticher off thier focus, then a lot has to go right. Straight steal....I would expect most catchers to be competitive in that situation.

Our philosophy needs to change, I just question if that will happen. But I will stand by my first comment in that we as a team are not fast...not in the sense where we can straight steal.
 
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D1 Softball's preseason rankings came out today...only one B10 team in the top 25. We need that to change....even if it is just perception.
 

Chase the Rise said:
I don't disagree with this at all. But I also don't think that we even double our attempts from last year. Those types of wholesale changes don't just happen.

The goal has to be to get runners in scoring postion more often. I also feel like our deficiences in the running game can be attributed to our lack of being able to bunt. We haven't been good at it in forever. If defenses aren't threatened with the rotation of bunt coverage, throwing out a straight steal becomes much easier. Whether we are protecting runners stealing with fake bunts or actual sac bunts, we aren't helping the situation if all we are trying to do is straight steal. Watch other teams, small ball, and fake bunts make defenses rotate, may throw a pticher off thier focus, then a lot has to go right. Straight steal....I would expect most catchers to be competitive in that situation.

Our philosophy needs to change, I just question if that will happen. But I will stand by my first comment in that we as a team are not fast...not in the sense where we can straight steal.
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This makes me miss Partain so much. Excellent hitter who could drop a sneaky bunt at any time. She was a game changer.
 

Chase the Rise said:
D1 Softball's preseason rankings came out today...only one B10 team in the top 25. We need that to change....even if it is just perception.
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Completely agree. I do think Nebraska and/or Illinois might be included in some of the other rankings that come out. I think the B1G is deep this year, but besides Northwestern, is lacking truly excellent teams.
 

John3298 said:
Completely agree. I do think Nebraska and/or Illinois might be included in some of the other rankings that come out. I think the B1G is deep this year, but besides Northwestern, is lacking truly excellent teams.
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I’m optimistic that the gophers will be good this year. If you look back Pease out pitched Fiser two years ago when her innings were down and she was healthy. That’s our dominant pitcher. Oakland is a stud. The new catcher is a real good hitter. Our defense will be very good. Please send me a note saying I’m right and your wrong when we win the big ten
 

Twocents said:
I’m optimistic that the gophers will be good this year. If you look back Pease out pitched Fiser two years ago when her innings were down and she was healthy. That’s our dominant pitcher. Oakland is a stud. The new catcher is a real good hitter. Our defense will be very good. Please send me a note saying I’m right and your wrong when we win the big ten
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Hope this is true… but I won’t bet the farm on it.
 


GopherAlum03 said:
The lineup will end up being surprisingly different than most expect it to be(good thing). The pitching will be better than it should be. Hitting will be something we thought we’d never see. We will win the B1G Tournament this season. Save this post.
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I like the predictions but I would find more interesting as well as enjoyable to see the reasoning behind the predictions.
 



Ragnor said:
I like the predictions but I would find more interesting as well as enjoyable to see the reasoning behind the predictions.
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I agree that if these confident predictions are not coming from someone with keen and inside knowledge… well that ain’t cool. They just MUST be coming from someone with inside knowledge of the situation.
 
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rugger14 said:
I like your optimism. I am hoping that the pitching staff sorts itself out.
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If coach uses all 4 pitchers it should help keep the opposition off balance. They were to predictable with just 2 pitchers and both struggled with control. Not disappointed with Leavitt leaving. Will miss Kinch behind the plate.
 

Wow, just two more weeks. I hope we come out on a tear with a few run-rule victories.
 

Ragnor said:
I like the predictions but I would find more interesting as well as enjoyable to see the reasoning behind the predictions
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Ragnor said:
I like the predictions but I would find more interesting as well as enjoyable to see the reasoning behind the predictions.
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Fair enough
The main reason I believe this will be a successful season is that this team seems to have great chemistry. I realize thats not a concrete answer but it’s probably the most important aspect. For concrete
Bradley- swings like Esplin and may be faster
Chavez- seems to be a crunch time player. I believe her Ave with RISP was very high last year
DenHartog - appears more calm at the plate and her hands are more consistent
Oakland- very strong and athletic. They will have to pitch to her
Krapf- has a lot of power. And she will get the ABs to mature.
Cox- has always had a good eye and been a great off speed hitter. This fall she looked good vs firm pitching as well
Strelow- I thought was great when she was aggressive early in the count last year. She did that more in the fall
Valencia- great low ball hitter and has the grit to will herself to complete.
Burnett- she’s got legit track speed. Might be inconsistent at the start but she’s a great athlete.
Pease- being healthy and having a staff around her will bring out her best and her best is very good.
Hambrick- good power pitcher who is going to benefit a lot from Ritters coaching
Schwartz- throws three different speeds and is not timid about the moment. She may be the key.
Enter- throws a good down ball and we have a good defense to eat ground balls.

The season of course will have ups and downs but I think this group will hold each other accountable to always compete.
 



Twocents said:
Fair enough
The main reason I believe this will be a successful season is that this team seems to have great chemistry. I realize thats not a concrete answer but it’s probably the most important aspect. For concrete
Bradley- swings like Esplin and may be faster
Chavez- seems to be a crunch time player. I believe her Ave with RISP was very high last year
DenHartog - appears more calm at the plate and her hands are more consistent
Oakland- very strong and athletic. They will have to pitch to her
Krapf- has a lot of power. And she will get the ABs to mature.
Cox- has always had a good eye and been a great off speed hitter. This fall she looked good vs firm pitching as well
Strelow- I thought was great when she was aggressive early in the count last year. She did that more in the fall
Valencia- great low ball hitter and has the grit to will herself to complete.
Burnett- she’s got legit track speed. Might be inconsistent at the start but she’s a great athlete.
Pease- being healthy and having a staff around her will bring out her best and her best is very good.
Hambrick- good power pitcher who is going to benefit a lot from Ritters coaching
Schwartz- throws three different speeds and is not timid about the moment. She may be the key.
Enter- throws a good down ball and we have a good defense to eat ground balls.

The season of course will have ups and downs but I think this group will hold each other accountable to always compete.
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Thanks for the pitching analysis. The variety of styles is key( off speed, power, zone ) to effective pitching.
 


That’s the truth. How many leads did the gophers blow last year because their pitchers couldn’t make outs. Answer: too many to count.
 

This coming season will be like no season we have seen in years as this is the easiest pre-conference at least 6 and probably 10+ years.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
This coming season will be like no season we have seen in years as this is the easiest pre-conference at least 6 and probably 10+ years.
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Remember what happened the last time they played a easy non conference schedule? They were 51-3 and they didn’t get to host a regional and ended up in god forsaken Alabama. I prefer a more challenging non conference schedule to prepare for B1G.
 
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Nipomo 56 said:
Remember what happened the last time they played a easy non conference schedule? They were 51-3 and they didn’t get to host a regional and ended up in god forsaken Alabama. I prefer a more challenging non conference schedule to prepare for B1G.
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I'll take my chances on that once in awhile though.
 


Nipomo 56 said:
Remember what happened the last time they played a easy non conference schedule? They were 51-3 and they didn’t get to host a regional and ended up in god forsaken Alabama. I prefer a more challenging non conference schedule to prepare for B1G.
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With how bad the conference should be this year it won't be too much of an adjustment
 

rowdaboat said:
With how bad the conference should be this year it won't be too much of an adjustment
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Because of our weaker conference, the Gophers should be able to compete for a spot as one of the top 4 - 5 teams in the Big Ten even if our pitching isn’t as strong as it was between 2014 and 2021. If our pitching is stronger than expected, watch out Northwestern.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
Because of our weaker conference, the Gophers should be able to compete for a spot as one of the top 4 - 5 teams in the Big Ten even if our pitching isn’t as strong as it was between 2014 and 2021. If our pitching is stronger than expected, watch out Northwestern.
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It won’t take long to see how our pitching stacks up against northwestern since we open B1G against the wildcats. Hopefully diverse pitching will offset the strength of the 5 returning seniors for the wildcats.
 

Is it just me or is this the most diversity I've seen on this roster in a long time?
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
Because of our weaker conference, the Gophers should be able to compete for a spot as one of the top 4 - 5 teams in the Big Ten even if our pitching isn’t as strong as it was between 2014 and 2021. If our pitching is stronger than expected, watch out Northwestern.
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There's being optimistic and then there's being unrealistic. IMO this post is definitely in the latter. Top 4-5 in the conference is very achievable. Challenging Northwestern for a conference title is almost certainly not. Northwestern is a legit top-5 caliber team nationally and a favorite to return to the WCWS. Minnesota has very few "knowns" coming into the season. Their known returners consist of DenHartog (a fantastic player and likely the heart of the team), Pease (a great pitcher, but not All-American by any means), Strelow (an amazing defensive player but a career sub-.225 hitter), and Chavez (great defensive player, ok offensive season for a freshman). There are so many new faces on this team. Minnesota will be relying on a catcher who has the potential to be great but didn't see much playing time at Duke. She also transferred late, so can she get on the same page as her pitchers quickly? They will likely have multiple freshmen in the lineup, and while they may have TONS of potential, it's always an unknown how they will adjust to college ball. Outside of Pease, their pitching staff includes a freshman, a transfer from a non-P5 conference, and a transfer from a P5 conference who saw very limited innings. Can Minnesota surprise a lot of people this year? Absolutely. Could they take the series from Northwestern? Absolutely - Minnesota has been one of the few teams who have consistently hit Williams over her career. But winning a conference title is about consistency, not only beating the best teams in the conference but also beating the "lesser" teams that you are favored against. You can't drop games to bottom dwellers like Rutgers and Iowa like last year. The B1G likely doesn't have any exceptional teams outside of Northwestern, but the conference is deep this year. Outside of Iowa, Rutgers, Purdue, and to some extent Michigan State, there are no easy weekends in conference play.
 

John3298 said:
There's being optimistic and then there's being unrealistic. IMO this post is definitely in the latter. Top 4-5 in the conference is very achievable. Challenging Northwestern for a conference title is almost certainly not. Northwestern is a legit top-5 caliber team nationally and a favorite to return to the WCWS. Minnesota has very few "knowns" coming into the season. Their known returners consist of DenHartog (a fantastic player and likely the heart of the team), Pease (a great pitcher, but not All-American by any means), Strelow (an amazing defensive player but a career sub-.225 hitter), and Chavez (great defensive player, ok offensive season for a freshman). There are so many new faces on this team. Minnesota will be relying on a catcher who has the potential to be great but didn't see much playing time at Duke. She also transferred late, so can she get on the same page as her pitchers quickly? They will likely have multiple freshmen in the lineup, and while they may have TONS of potential, it's always an unknown how they will adjust to college ball. Outside of Pease, their pitching staff includes a freshman, a transfer from a non-P5 conference, and a transfer from a P5 conference who saw very limited innings. Can Minnesota surprise a lot of people this year? Absolutely. Could they take the series from Northwestern? Absolutely - Minnesota has been one of the few teams who have consistently hit Williams over her career. But winning a conference title is about consistency, not only beating the best teams in the conference but also beating the "lesser" teams that you are favored against. You can't drop games to bottom dwellers like Rutgers and Iowa like last year. The B1G likely doesn't have any exceptional teams outside of Northwestern, but the conference is deep this year. Outside of Iowa, Rutgers, Purdue, and to some extent Michigan State, there are no easy weekends in conference play.
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John3298 said:
There's being optimistic and then there's being unrealistic. IMO this post is definitely in the latter. Top 4-5 in the conference is very achievable. Challenging Northwestern for a conference title is almost certainly not. Northwestern is a legit top-5 caliber team nationally and a favorite to return to the WCWS. Minnesota has very few "knowns" coming into the season. Their known returners consist of DenHartog (a fantastic player and likely the heart of the team), Pease (a great pitcher, but not All-American by any means), Strelow (an amazing defensive player but a career sub-.225 hitter), and Chavez (great defensive player, ok offensive season for a freshman). There are so many new faces on this team. Minnesota will be relying on a catcher who has the potential to be great but didn't see much playing time at Duke. She also transferred late, so can she get on the same page as her pitchers quickly? They will likely have multiple freshmen in the lineup, and while they may have TONS of potential, it's always an unknown how they will adjust to college ball. Outside of Pease, their pitching staff includes a freshman, a transfer from a non-P5 conference, and a transfer from a P5 conference who saw very limited innings. Can Minnesota surprise a lot of people this year? Absolutely. Could they take the series from Northwestern? Absolutely - Minnesota has been one of the few teams who have consistently hit Williams over her career. But winning a conference title is about consistency, not only beating the best teams in the conference but also beating the "lesser" teams that you are favored against. You can't drop games to bottom dwellers like Rutgers and Iowa like last year. The B1G likely doesn't have any exceptional teams outside of Northwestern, but the conference is deep this year. Outside of Iowa, Rutgers, Purdue, and to some extent Michigan State, there are no easy weekends in conference play.
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A key indicator will be how the gophers play in the Judi Garmin tournament. Facing Oregon, LSU and CS Fullerton should be a good test to see if they handle they top teams.
 

John3298 said:
There's being optimistic and then there's being unrealistic. IMO this post is definitely in the latter. Top 4-5 in the conference is very achievable. Challenging Northwestern for a conference title is almost certainly not. Northwestern is a legit top-5 caliber team nationally and a favorite to return to the WCWS. Minnesota has very few "knowns" coming into the season. Their known returners consist of DenHartog (a fantastic player and likely the heart of the team), Pease (a great pitcher, but not All-American by any means), Strelow (an amazing defensive player but a career sub-.225 hitter), and Chavez (great defensive player, ok offensive season for a freshman). There are so many new faces on this team. Minnesota will be relying on a catcher who has the potential to be great but didn't see much playing time at Duke. She also transferred late, so can she get on the same page as her pitchers quickly? They will likely have multiple freshmen in the lineup, and while they may have TONS of potential, it's always an unknown how they will adjust to college ball. Outside of Pease, their pitching staff includes a freshman, a transfer from a non-P5 conference, and a transfer from a P5 conference who saw very limited innings. Can Minnesota surprise a lot of people this year? Absolutely. Could they take the series from Northwestern? Absolutely - Minnesota has been one of the few teams who have consistently hit Williams over her career. But winning a conference title is about consistency, not only beating the best teams in the conference but also beating the "lesser" teams that you are favored against. You can't drop games to bottom dwellers like Rutgers and Iowa like last year. The B1G likely doesn't have any exceptional teams outside of Northwestern, but the conference is deep this year. Outside of Iowa, Rutgers, Purdue, and to some extent Michigan State, there are no easy weekends in conference play.
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This is about an honest of evaluation as I've seen about our squad. I feel like we can compete with anyone if everything goes our way (Pease 100%, freshmen contribute, upperclassmen improved, etc.) But what can't happen is losing to the likes of Iowa..but every other B10 opponent...they have the game in the barrel to knock off someone they shouldn't. The key is to not lose too many of those.
 

John3298 said:
There's being optimistic and then there's being unrealistic. IMO this post is definitely in the latter. Top 4-5 in the conference is very achievable. Challenging Northwestern for a conference title is almost certainly not. Northwestern is a legit top-5 caliber team nationally and a favorite to return to the WCWS. Minnesota has very few "knowns" coming into the season. Their known returners consist of DenHartog (a fantastic player and likely the heart of the team), Pease (a great pitcher, but not All-American by any means), Strelow (an amazing defensive player but a career sub-.225 hitter), and Chavez (great defensive player, ok offensive season for a freshman). There are so many new faces on this team. Minnesota will be relying on a catcher who has the potential to be great but didn't see much playing time at Duke. She also transferred late, so can she get on the same page as her pitchers quickly? They will likely have multiple freshmen in the lineup, and while they may have TONS of potential, it's always an unknown how they will adjust to college ball. Outside of Pease, their pitching staff includes a freshman, a transfer from a non-P5 conference, and a transfer from a P5 conference who saw very limited innings. Can Minnesota surprise a lot of people this year? Absolutely. Could they take the series from Northwestern? Absolutely - Minnesota has been one of the few teams who have consistently hit Williams over her career. But winning a conference title is about consistency, not only beating the best teams in the conference but also beating the "lesser" teams that you are favored against. You can't drop games to bottom dwellers like Rutgers and Iowa like last year. The B1G likely doesn't have any exceptional teams outside of Northwestern, but the conference is deep this year. Outside of Iowa, Rutgers, Purdue, and to some extent Michigan State, there are no easy weekends in conference play.
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This is a very wise post and I do appreciate it. My only quibble with this post is that I don’t see a Rachel Lewis-less Northwestern as a top 15, let alone a top 5 team.

Rachel Lewis, in my opinion, was very important to that Northwestern team; she was the only Northwestern batter over the past few years that had equal skills with the greatest recent Minnesota bats of Lindaman, Partain, Brandner and DenHartog. I believe we will see how much Northwestern misses her this year.
 

John3298 said:
There's being optimistic and then there's being unrealistic. IMO this post is definitely in the latter. Top 4-5 in the conference is very achievable. Challenging Northwestern for a conference title is almost certainly not. Northwestern is a legit top-5 caliber team nationally and a favorite to return to the WCWS. Minnesota has very few "knowns" coming into the season. Their known returners consist of DenHartog (a fantastic player and likely the heart of the team), Pease (a great pitcher, but not All-American by any means), Strelow (an amazing defensive player but a career sub-.225 hitter), and Chavez (great defensive player, ok offensive season for a freshman). There are so many new faces on this team. Minnesota will be relying on a catcher who has the potential to be great but didn't see much playing time at Duke. She also transferred late, so can she get on the same page as her pitchers quickly? They will likely have multiple freshmen in the lineup, and while they may have TONS of potential, it's always an unknown how they will adjust to college ball. Outside of Pease, their pitching staff includes a freshman, a transfer from a non-P5 conference, and a transfer from a P5 conference who saw very limited innings. Can Minnesota surprise a lot of people this year? Absolutely. Could they take the series from Northwestern? Absolutely - Minnesota has been one of the few teams who have consistently hit Williams over her career. But winning a conference title is about consistency, not only beating the best teams in the conference but also beating the "lesser" teams that you are favored against. You can't drop games to bottom dwellers like Rutgers and Iowa like last year. The B1G likely doesn't have any exceptional teams outside of Northwestern, but the conference is deep this year. Outside of Iowa, Rutgers, Purdue, and to some extent Michigan State, there are no easy weekends in conference play.
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For nearly 10 years I followed Gophers Softball as a strong optimist. The past 3 seasons have left me in the defeatist/nihilist camp. I'll keep our season tickets and see or follow every single game, as always, but with no expectations until we see a squad with some fire and grit plus the ability to produce wins under pressure. .
 

Hrothgar said:
For nearly 10 years I followed Gophers Softball as a strong optimist. The past 3 seasons have left me in the defeatist/nihilist camp. I'll keep our season tickets and see or follow every single game, as always, but with no expectations until we see a squad with some fire and grit plus the ability to produce wins under pressure. .
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Since 2019 it’s been unbalanced results, first with Covid, then the coaching change. I think the team relied too heavily on Fiser and didn’t develop a deeper pitching rotation. Last year was horrible in regards to the pitching. Using only two pitchers and both had control issues. Hopefully coach Ritter will use all four pitchers this season. Success will depend upon the team’s pitching.
 

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